Women Leaving Computer Science–(NYT) The number of women studying computer science reached its peak in 1985 at 38%, but dropped to 28% by 2003. What’s up? From the point of view of this article, it’s about marketing. It’s the lack of promotion of comp-sci as a creative and interesting field, not just a boring life of code. CIQ: We could wax on for hours. Instead two points: (1) There is a hostile environment created by fellow– and we mean ‘fellow‘– students and professors toward women students. (2) The interactive space faces a dire need for technically proficient people who are also great communicators, a role that can be well filled by women.

American Airlines Launches Lavender Site for Women –(NYT) As long as we’re on a roll, this story: Among the advice offered to women business travelers: Bring a little black dress to wear with heels. Comments one woman road warrior, “There are so many things that are infuriating about this lip-service nonsense that I can’t begin to list them all.” CIQ: Though we are practically speechless, we will, nevertheless try: We and many women aver that gender-equity progress is rapidly eroding in business. And we are met with, to put it mildly, skepticism. Leaving aside years of confidential internal corporate emails we are privy to, the two above stories in our view leave thinking people with few questions.

Agencies Walk Away from Fickle Clients–(WSJ) While many of the “chummy” long-term relationships between client and agency didn’t work, the new model doesn’t seem to be much better. Clients casting about for the latest and greatest are putting more and more accounts into review. A review can cost an agency $200,000 to $1,000,000. CIQ: Agency-shifting is not just about seeking digital competency as some other articles have suggested. We think long-term vendor-client relationships are much better for business. However, in the current buy-it-own-it-flip-it environment of American business, we wonder how much anyone values “long term.”