Virtual Take Our Daughters to Work Day 1998

During each hour of the day from 6:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time one select women will be available for conversation via a live web chat. These women have been selected based on their diverse professions, background and experiences; their education and training; their interesting career paths, and the positive impact their dialogue will have on young people.

This select group of women representing diverse professions were carefully chosen as they are highly acclaimed and respected in their own fields but not always in the public eye. Our research has shown that professions represented at this level give students a better understanding of the background and education necessary to pursue these careers and a true sense of what a career such as this entails, whereas dialogue with celebrities in the public eye tend to focus on the celebrity status of the individual.

Preregistration is necessary for all chats. There is a limit to the number of participants who can post questions during the web chat although any number of participants can observe. If you register and find that a chat is full, you may try registering for another time slot or go to the observation room on the day of the chat. Observing is also a very powerful and informative experience for participants. All chat dialogue will be archived and available as a link from the featured women's profile on our Women of the World pages following the event.

This day of online conversations coincides with the national initiativeTake Our Daughters to Work Day on Thursday, April 23rd.

The Virtual Take Our Daughters to Work Day is comprised of four interrelated components:

• Profiles and biographies of the featured speakers are available for online research prior to the event, and can be found by linking from the featured woman's name on the schedule or on the profiles page. You are strongly encouraged to research the featured women prior to the chats in order to form appropriate questions that cannot be answered by another source. Women from the Women of NASA's Women of the World component are also included on this page which provides biographical information to supplement the Virtual Take Our Daughters to Work Day experience.
• Preregistration is essential. Although an unlimited number of participants can take part in the chats as observers, the number of students able to submit questions live during the chat is limited. Therefore, once you have researched the featured women and have decided which chat(s) you wish to participate in, you must preregister. The registration is done by filling out a web based form and takes approximately 5 minutes.
• There are two ways in which to participate in the live chats. When you preregister for a chat that is not filled, you will immediately receive confirmation that the chat you have selected is available. We will send you a URL (chat room Web address/location), user name and a password to your email address. If the chat is filled, you will receive a message stating so and you may go to the listed observation URL or you can link there from the schedule page.
If you are actively participating, there are specific chat directions that you should become familiar with prior to the chats.
• All contents and information from these pages and this event will be archived and available as a link from the Women of NASA page. The archived chats and profiles are a rich source of information when studying careers, gender equity, women's issues, and information specific to each woman's profession. Teaching tips on how you may use this event and the Women of NASA project are available on our teaching tips page.

Archived chat dialogue from the 1997 event is available on the 1997 schedule page.

Executive Producer of this NASA Quest Project is Tish Krieg

Consultant to the project is Elizabeth Share, Vice President of the Autodesk Foundation.

Responsible NASA Official: Karen Traicoff traicoff@quest.arc.nasa.gov