2020 will be remembered for many reasons, technology being one of them. Technology helped in many domains but probably for the first time ever, Internet, information technology, education and the human will to overcome obstacles came together and education made use of all the available technology. Online conferences, online lectures, courses, all came in useful to let educators continue with their mission. It also required a lot of learning on part of teachers and education administrators. Educators across the world came together and kept the education process alive and well.

This pandemic provided many opportunities to teachers learn new technologies and to industry to develop technology that is easy to use, like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, among others. But there were many other thoughts, not all positive, some worrying. Anxiety, uncertainty, isolation, forming new collaborations, these are among the sentiments conveyed in Words of Women in Mathematics in the Time of Corona by German documentary filmmaker Irina Linke. This film is available on Vimeo and features 86 women from 37 countries who speak 25 languages (most of which are accompanied by English subtitles). The women describe how the pandemic has affected them professionally and personally. The montage of comments, faces, and surroundings paints a moving and memorable picture. The film was released on 12 May, the birthday of mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, who died in 2017 at age 40. 

Here is the link to the video on Vimeo.

Categories: Blog, education, Mathematics

Tags: German documentary filmmaker, Irina Linke, Mariam Mirzakhani, mathematicians, Mathematics, pandemic, vimeo, women in mathematics, words of womein in mathematics