Sponsored by Google UK, a new gallery, “Women in Computing” has been opened at the National Museum of Computing (TNMOC, www.tnmoc.org) in Britain. The opening speech was delivered by Dame Stephanie Shirley, one of the female pioneers in British computing. The gallery aims to highlight for visitors the role women have played in IT history.

The idea mainly came from Google, and the opening of the gallery was part of their “Heroines of Computing” initiative. However, it coincided with the dissatisfaction of TNMOC management with the low, 10-per-cent attendance of women of their acclaimed learning programme.

Six interactive displays using the latest technology present the contribution of women to computer science, and many stories we know little of. Videos, photos, graphics and text can be viewed on six touch screens, with a number of artefacts also displayed at the exhibition.