The Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture __________________________________________________________________ ISSN 1068-5723 July 26, 1994 Volume 2 Issue 3 SHADE V2N3 Introductory Comments: _EJVC_ Special Issue on Gender Issues in Computer Networking by Leslie Regan Shade [1] Not quite one year ago, I gave a talk at the Community Networking Conference in Ottawa on gender issues in computer networking and joked that the topic seemed to be "the flavour of the month". Much to my surprise, it seems that rather than be burrowed in last season's fad-heap, the topic of women and computers or gender and cyberspace has surpassed seasonal dictate. Articles have since appeared in _The Wall Street Journal_, _U.S.A. Today_, _The Washington Post_, _Los Angeles Times_, _Seattle Times_, _The Village Voice_, _The Globe and Mail_, _Lear's_, _Ladies Home Journal_, _Mademoiselle_, _Working Women_, _Midwifery Today_, _Mother Jones_, and _Newsweek_. [2] The tendency of some of these articles has been to concentrate on the "dangers" of cyberspace for women--online rape and "cyber-stalking"; aspects of sexual harassment; the titillating aspects of "cybersex"; or to indulge in tired stereotypes of computer use by men and women (the _Newsweek_ cover featured an Archie/Betty-like cartoon with Betty saying "Is he as cute as his e-mail?" and Archie saying "Bet she'll love my war games!"). [3] Although recent computer advertising has been reflecting women as more active consumers and producers of information technology (for instance, Apple PowerBook and Power Macintosh ads), occasionally the advertising lapses into gendered cliches. A recent ad for the IBM PS/1 showed a family of four describing what they could use the computer for. Father: wants compatability, speed, reliability and the ability to play "Pebble Beach". Pre-College daughter: wants software to help out with SATS, ability to provide connections ("I keep hearing things about all the things you can do with Prodigy and America OnLine"), and simplicity ("Could we please get a computer I won't have to ask my brother the geek for help with?"). The Little Brother: wants speed ("fast, so we need a 486"), memory ("Trust me on this, we have to have 4MB of RAM at least"), storage ("The bigger the hard disk the more stuff I can do"), modem ("This is key. It's how I get into on-line bulletin boards and the Internet"), and multi-media (for "cool" CD- ROM games and "educational junk"). Mom defers: wants the basics, since "we're buying it for the kids, so it should come with the software they'll need for school"), at a reasonable price, wants multi-media (for an encyclopedia and Photo CD for family pictures), and a fax modem ("to connect to my clients and pay our bills electronically"). [4] When the call-for-papers went out for this special issue of the _EJVC_, I received many positive responses; some skeptical comments from both men and women; and a few flames. Some took me to task and suggested that in my proposed topics for the issue I was implying that computer networking does not have positive effects for women (i.e, by mentioning the issue of sexual harassment and pornography on the net). [5] Although an increasing amount of work has been written on women and new information technologies, the literature has focused more on women's lack of representation as both producers, designers, and consumers; women's low visibility in the computer profession and academia; women's unequal status in the work force; and the difficulties women face in gaining access to computer hardware, software, and appropriate training to gain knowledge of emergent technologies. [6] It is heartening that in the academic and professional arena, gender issues in computer networking, including the participation of women in computer science, gender representation, social interactions, and issues of sexual harassment and online pornography, are being increasingly discussed and debated. [7] These four articles add immeasurably to this burgeoning literature. Much to my delight, these articles, rather than perpetrating stereotypes, provide both practical guides for women to gain access to computer networking, and offer a glimpse at how various women are using networking. [8] Access to computer networking remains one of the significant obstacles for women. Access includes access to the hardware and software to support such communication, access to training, and access to the relevant resources that will support women's communication needs. Sally Jo Cunningham's article, "Guidelines for an Introduction to Networking: a review of the literature" fills a necessary gap by providing lucid guidelines in designing a training course that specifically addresses the needs of women. Her article is particularly useful for the novice networker, university computing centre, various academic departments, library trainees, or for the public library community that needs to develop Internet training materials due to the proliferation of community-based free-nets. [9] Cunningham examines three research areas (computer science/gender education, scholarly virtual communities, and bibliographic instruction) to extrapolate general guidelines in developing an introductory Internet course. Training courses that encourage exploration and experimentation of software should be encouraged, as well as utilization of the new crop of user-friendly Internet retrieval tools (Gopher, Veronica, Fetch, Nuntius, Eduora) and menu-driven software or point- and-click interfaces. Formal instruction in the use of online resources and communication, Cunningham believes, should introduce online interaction styles, provide support for collaborative work, and, in the academic arena, encourage women to join inter-institutional peer groups. [10] Ellen Balka and Laurel Doucette, in "The Accessibility of Computers to Organizations Serving Women in the Province of Newfoundland: preliminary study results", examined if computer networks would be accessible to women's groups in Newfoundland and Labrador, and if so, how the organizational structure could impact on the ability of the various groups to effectively utilize the necessary equipment and tools. Of equal importance is that the authors break new ground by examining the important relationship of gender and expertise when applied to a participatory design framework, which has been insufficiently explored in the literature to date. [11] This detailed case study serves almost as a "how- to" guide for organizations interested in implementing computer networking, and should be widely consulted by a variety of groups, including women's groups, non-profit groups, community networks, federal and provincial governments, rural communities, labour groups, and policy analysts focusing on concepts of "universal access" in information infrastructure initiatives. [12] Balka and Doucette also provide some cautionary words about the democratic potential of new information technologies. Such potential "lies in part in the social context and social relations of their use, which includes social relations that govern access to systems of expertise, as well as patterns of ownership. These in turn are located within larger webs of economic and social relations" (Para. 95). [13] In "Weavers of Webs: a portrait of young women on the net", Nancy Kaplan and Eva Farrell explore how some adolescent girls use BBSs via an ethnographic perspective and through Ruth Schwartz Cowan's notion of the "consumption junction". The authors observe that most studies of gender and CMC typically concentrate on women in the professional or academic sphere. Their study therefore offers an important glimpse at how some young women use networks in their daily lives, and highlights how electronic communication fosters and contributes to real-life communications, for both leisure and school purposes. [14] The authors concentrate on two participant- observers, Fish and Farrell, and relate how they were first introduced to networking (through friends), and at a time, Farrell speculates, that young women are induced to liven their social connections through expanded contact with young men and the subcultures of role-playing games. [15] For these young women, networking is used not to supplant human contact, but to provide supplemental information resources, and to facilitate social arrangements. Fish believes some young women like networked environments because they mask social cues (appearance, voice, etc.), creating a more comfortable space. But it is the vivid connection between electronic personas and real-life experiences in school and after-school activities that is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of how young women use networking; this contrasts sharply with the stereotyped image of the young male hacker, alienated from peers and extra- curricular social activities. [16] As Farrell and Kaplan conclude, it is important also to know the experiences and thoughts of young men who use BBSs, and of young women who opt out of the BBS culture. If computer networking is deemed to be a vital necessity for the future professional lives of these young women and men, more research needs to be conducted on the daily experiences of these young people. [17] In "Cross-Gender Communication in Cyberspace", Gladys We reports on a research project designed to elicit responses from men and women about the differences between the ways that men and women communicate online and face to face. [18] By letting those that responded to her survey speak in their own voices, We comes up with some candid and often surprising remarks. Although CMC can allow women more freedom to express their opinions, some female respondents reported incidences of monopolization of postings by men, incidences of "flaming", and other debate-confrontational modes of expression, as well as sexual harassment and online cruising. Other reported incidences indicated that often, behind the anonymity of the computer screen, friendships flourished and even wedding bells chimed. [19] For the most part, We found out that professional online relationships reduced the absence of gender cues, while recreational uses of the net increased gender cues. [20] We concludes that although gendered interactions via CMC can allow us to transcend physical and social barriers, they can also reproduce and duplicate real-life social inequities. Given the quickly evolving user base of the Internet, it is imperative that women be given the opportunity to participate equally in networked environments. [21] All four articles in this special issue of the _EJVC_ add immensely to the literature on women and communications technologies and offer tantalizing suggestions for conducting further research on women's access to and use of computer networking, gender relations, and on how women can become more involved in current policy talks regarding national information infrastructure platforms. [22[ I would like to thank all of the authors who have contributed articles to this issue, the reviewers, and a special thanks to editors Ermel Stepp and Diane Kovacs of the _EJVC_ for their encouragement of this special issue. Leslie Regan Shade McGill University Graduate Program in Communications [shade@ice.cc.mcgill.ca, shade@well.sf.ca.us] Selected Bibliography on Gender and Computer Networking: Benston, Margaret Lowe. "Feminism and system design: questions of control", pp. 205-223 in _The Effects of Feminist Approaches on Research Methodologies_. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1989. Balka, Ellen. "Women's access to on-line discussions about feminism". _Electronic Journal of Communication_ v.3 (1993). Balka, Ellen. _WomenTalk Goes Online: The Use of Computer Networks in the Context of Feminist Social Change_. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Simon Fraser University, 1991. Balsamo, Anne. "Feminism for the Incurably Informed", _SAQ_ (South Atlantic Quarterly), v,92, n.4 (Fall 1993):681-712 Borg, Anita. "Why Systers?", _Computing Research News_. (September. 1993). Brail, Stephanie. "Take back the net!", _On The Issues_ (Winter, 1994): 39-42. Bruckman, Amy. "Gender swapping on the Internet", _Proceedings of INET '93_, (International Networking Conference), San Francisco (August 17-20, 1993). Cadigan, Pat . _Synners_. New York, Bantam Books, 1991. Clarke, Valerie. "Strategies for involving girls in computer science". _In Search of Gender Free Paradigms for Computer Science Education_, edited by C. Dianne Martin and Eric Murchie-Beyma. Eugene OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 1992. Cottrell, Janet. "I'm a Stranger here Myself: A consideration of women in computing". In _Learning From the Past, Stepping into the Future_, the Proceedings of the 1992 ACM SIGUCCS User Services Conference, November 8-11,1992, Cleveland, OH. New York: The Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 71-76. Dibbell, Julian. "Rape in cyberspace". _ Village Voice_ (December 21, 1993):36. Edwards, Paul. "The Army and the Microworld: computers and the politics of gender identity". _Signs_ v.16, n.1 (1990):102-127. Erlich, R. "Sexual harassment an issue on the online frontier", _MacWeek_, p. 20. (December 14, 1992). Frenkel, Karen A. "Women & Computing". _Communications of the ACM _ 33(11), (1990): 34-46. Frissen, Valerie. "Trapped in electronic cages?: gender and new information technologies in the public and private domain: an overview of research". _Media, Culture and Society_ v. 14 (1992):31-49. Greenbaum, Joan. "The head and the heart: using gender analysis to study the social construction of computer systems"._ Computers & Society_ v.20, n.2 (June 1990):9-17. Halberstam, Judith. "Automating gender: postmodern feminism in the age of the intelligent machine". _Feminist Studies_, v.17, n.3 (Fall 1991):439-459. Haraway, Donna. "A Cyborg Manifesto: science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century", pp. 149-181 in _Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: the reinvention of nature_. NY: Routledge, 1991. Herring, Susan C. "Gender & democracy in computer- mediated-communication". _Electronic Journal of Communication_ 3(2) (1993). Huff, Charles W., Fleming, John H.; and Cooper Joel. "Gender differences in human-computer interaction". _In Search of Gender Free Paradigms for Computer Science Education_, edited by C. Dianne Martin and Eric Murchie-Beyma. Eugene OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 1992. Hunt, Laura. _Sources for Womens Studies/Feminist Information on The Internet_, (Fall, 1993). [Gopher: University of Maryland/Educational Materials/Women's Studies/Resources/Electronic Forums]. Jansen, Sue Curry. "Making Minds: sexual and reproductive metaphors in the discourses of the artificial intelligence movement". Paper presented at _The Electronic Salon: Feminism meets Infotech_, in connection with the 11th Annual Gender Studies Symposium, April 1993. Kantrowitz, Barbara. "Men, women, & computers". _Newsweek_ (May 16, 1994): 48-55. Kiesler, Sara; Sproull, Lee; and Eccles, Jacquelynne. "Pool halls, chips, and war games: Women in the culture of computing". _Psychology of Women Quarterly_ 9, (1985): 451-462. Kirkup, Gill. "The social construction of computers: hammers or harpsichords?", p. 267-281 in _Inventing Women: science, technology, and gender_. Ed. Kirkup; Keller. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992. Taylor, H. Jeanie; Kramarae, Cheris; Ebben, Maureen, eds. Women, Technology, and Scholarship_. Urbana, Il: Center for Advanced Studies, University of Illinois, 1993. Urbana-Champaign. Kramer, Pamela E.; Sheila Lehman. "Mismeasuring women: a critique of research on computer ability and avoidance". _Signs_ v.16, n.1 (1990):158-172. Laurel, Brenda. _Computers as Theatre_. Addison- Wesley, 1991. Perry, Ruth; Lisa Greber. "Women and computers: an introduction"._ Signs_ v. 16, n.1 (1990): 74-101. Price, W. "Low tech problem hits PC networks", _U.S.A. Today_, (August 6. 1993) p. B1. Reid. _Electropolis: Communication and Community on Internet Relay Chat_. Honours Thesis, 1991, University Of Melbourne. Shade, Leslie Regan. "Gender Issues in Networking". Proceedings of the 5th IFIP Conference on: Women, Work, and Computerization, UMIST, Manchester, United Kingdom, July 2nd-5th, 1994. Shade, Leslie Regan."Is Sisterhood Virtual? women on the electronic frontier". Royal Society of Canada Symposium on Women in Scholarship in the Information Age, June 11, 1994, Calgary, Alberta. Shade, Leslie Regan. "Gender Issues in Networking". Keynote Presentation given at _Community Networking: the International Freenet Conference_, August 18-19, 1993, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Shade, Leslie Regan; Gladys We. "The Gender of Cyberspace". _Internet Business Journal_, v.1, n.2 (August 1993):12-13. Span, Paula "Women and computers: is there equality in cyberspace?" _ The Washington Post Magazine_ (February 27, 1994): 10. Spertus, Ellen. "Why are There so Few Female Computer Scientists?" Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, 1991. Truong, Hoai-An. "Gender Issues in Online Communication". Paper Presented at _Third Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy_, Burlingame, CA, March 1993. [In conjunction with BAWIT-Bay Area Women in Telecommunications] Turkle, Sherry; Seymour Papert. "Epistemological pluralism: style and voices within the computer culture". _Signs_ v. 16, n.1 (1990):128-157. Van Gelder, Lindsy. "The strange case of the electronic lover" , in Dunlop, C.; Kling, R., _Computerization and Controversy:value conflicts and social choices_, New York, Academic Press, 1991: 364. van Zoonen, Liesbet. "Feminist theory and information technology". _Media, Culture and Society_ v. 14 (1992):9-29. Yang, J. "Computer Goddesses, Not Geeks", _Mademoiselle_ (October, 1993): 170. Online Resources: University of Maryland Women's Studies: UMDD: Telnet Inform.umd.edu, Login: gopher/Inform-- Gopher interface/Educational Resources/ Womens Studies Has an extensive collection of materials on gender and computing. OISE/Canadian Women's Studies Education gopher: gopher:/porpoise.oise.on.ca:70/11/resources/CWSE Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Gender Directory: CPSR: ftp.cpsr.org/cd CPSR, CD gender, or through Gopher Through BAWIT (Bay Area Women in Telecommunications), maintains an extensive collection of materials on gender and computing and telecommunications. _____ Articles and Sections of this issue of the _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ may be retrieved via anonymous ftp to byrd.mu.wvnet.edu or via e-mail message addressed to LISTSERV@KENTVM or LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU (instructions below) or GOPHER gopher.cic.net Papers may be submitted at anytime by email or send/file to: Ermel Stepp - Editor-in-Chief, _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ M034050@MARSHALL.WVNET.EDU _________________________________ *Copyright Declaration* Copyright of articles published by Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture is held by the author of a given article. 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