The Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture __________________________________________________________________ ISSN 1068-5723 July 26, 1994 Volume 2 Issue 3 CUNNINGH V2N3 Guidelines for an introduction to networking: a review of the literature Sally Jo Cunningham Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato Hamilton, New Zealand sallyjo@waikato.ac.nz Abstract: The Internet offers a wide variety of forums for exchanging information, forming professional associations, gathering information, and socializing. Its base of active users, however, does not include an equal proportion of men and women--despite the meteoric spread of Internet access beyond its original, predominantly male domain. Studies have noted that many women feel uncomfortable with experimenting on a computer or "playing" with new software. A formal course or training session may give these women the support and guidance they need to explore the capabilities of the Internet. This paper reviews the literature in computer science education, scholarly virtual communities, and bibliographic instruction to determine the desirable characteristics of such a course. Research indicates that an introduction to the Internet should: use software that encourages exploration; stress practical applications of the Internet in the students' interest areas; ensure equal access to hardware and a non-sexist learning environment; contain explicit instruction in Internet communication styles; and provide support for collaborative work and peer group formation. 1. Introduction [1] The Internet and assorted commercial networks have made available a number of resources for research and professional support. The primary resources include: --electronic mail (email): Email provides a fast, efficient, and low-cost means for maintaining connections between pairs of users. --group communications: There are two common mechanisms for supporting distribution of messages between members of a formal or informally defined group: bulletin boards such as the Usenet News, and email-based discussion groups (also known as mailing lists and listservs). --publicly available archives: A wide variety of text files, programs, databases, images, videos, and sound files are freely retrievable by ftp. [2] Despite the tremendous growth of the Internet in recent years, however, the population of Internet users has continued to contain a larger proportion of men than women (Cunningham, 1993). This gender gap has tremendous implications for the educational and career opportunities of women, particularly as the use of networked resources and communication technology moves from its traditional domain--engineering and the sciences--to enrich a wide variety of fields, including the humanities and social sciences. [3] This paper is an attempt to ground instruction in using the Internet for professional communication and resource location by examining the characteristics needed to make such a course accessible and attractive to female students, as well as to males. The literature in three research areas was examined: the extensive body of work on gender and computer science education; research on scholarly communities, particularly the ways that computer-mediated communication is altering the traditional "invisible colleges"; and studies of gender and bibliographic instruction for online information services. A number of other areas may also be pertinent to course development: for example, human- computer interaction, computer-mediated collaborative work, and sociolinguistic discourse analysis. These additional areas may offer insights to further refine the desired structure of a course on effective Internet use. 2. Lessons from computer science education research [4] As computing technology increasingly permeates education and employment, researchers have documented a widening gap between the experiences of men and women with that technology . Studies in the US (Frenkel, 1990), Western Europe (UNESCO, 1990), Canada (Industry, etc., 1990), and Australia (Kay, 1986; Porter, 1983) are consistent in reporting that at the tertiary level women account for only one-quarter to one-third of computer science students, and that in general these numbers are at best holding steady, and at worst, declining. In most applications of computing that have been studied--including for recreation, education, and professional use--men predominate. [5] Given these statistics, it is not surprising that the causes for the poor representation of women in computing has been extensively studied, and that a number of works address the problem of tailoring computer science courses to make the subject area more attractive to women. While no such studies are specific to a course on Internet use, the following recommendations have been gleaned from this literature: * provide support for exploration and experimentation * [6] In general, males are more assertive when using computers: they are more comfortable using computers in unstructured situations (Kiesler, 1985), more persistent in attempting to learn new technology, and are more willing to risk failure in experimenting with software (Cardman, 1990). This low comfort level with computing and with experimentation has serious implications for a course on Internet use, since searching and experimentation with located resources are an integral part of the curricula. Course assignments can alleviate some of the discomfort women feel with "playing" with software by making that play part of the expectation; i.e., by crafting assignments that involve all or most of the software's capabilities, or by explicitly asking the students to experiment with the software. * use appropriate software * [7] Software that is difficult to use discourages novice users or users with a low comfort level for computers, and women tend to fall into one or both of those groups (Collis, 1985; Frenkel, 1990). Menu-driven software or point-and-click interfaces may alleviate this problem, as they can be mastered more quickly than software requiring the memorization of commands and control-key sequences. [8] Fortunately, a number of user-friendly Internet resources have been made available in the past few years: for example, Fetch for managing file transfer, Gopher and Veronica for locating online resources, Nuntius for reading the Usenet News, and Eudora for sending and receiving electronic mail. These programs (and others like them) have gone beyond the old-style command-line interface to provide menus of options, multiple windows for interactions, more easily readable displays of results, etc. Furthermore, they intelligently handle the mechanics of Internet access and file manipulation for the user: for example, Fetch can automatically detect the type of compression used on retrieved files, and will choose the appropriate decompression tool for the user; Veronica allows users to simply specify a search term, and the software then handles the messy process of ftp-ing to search indexes, using them to locate the desired online resources, and then ftp-ing the located files; and Gopher lets the user browse Internet sites without having to worry about IP addresses, domain names, and connection protocols. [9] (Note: these particular programs are publicly available at the following sites: Fetch is at ftp.dartmouth.edu:/pub/mac; Gopher available from boombox.micro.umn.edu: /pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher; Veronica is accessed through Gopher services; Nuntius is at sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/comm/nuntius-113.hqx; Eudora is at ftp.qualcomm.com/quest/mac/eudora. Other network access software exists, and indeed more is being released regularly.) [10] On the other hand, care must be taken to ensure that user-friendly software is as powerful as the alternatives; Cardman (1990) reports that students choosing the menu- driven online catalogue system at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champagne) are disadvantaged, as they cannot perform subject searching as thoroughly as is possible on the corresponding command-line interface catalogue. * avoid gendered language and course materials * [11] The association of computers with men and masculinity is reflected in the jargon that has grown up around the field (i.e., the "man-month") and in the popular media. For example, Ware and Stuck (1985) report that in mass market computer magazines, men appear in illustrations nearly twice as often as women, and that women were most likely to be portrayed as sex objects or clerical workers. Further, men are featured overwhelmingly in active roles, and women are shown in in passive or actively anti-computer roles. Introductory computing texts often share this bias; women are commonly depicted as handling low-level input/output devices, while men are more likely to be shown as supervisors, analysts, or "experts" of some type (EOC, 1983). Given the alienation that many women bring to a computing course, stereotypic portrayals and sexist language can hardly help the situation (Schau, 1984). [12] The two commonly used metaphors for network use, "surfing the Internet" and "cruising the information highway", are potentially neuter but can also easily be assigned macho overtones. Lectures and course materials should avoid emphasizing the stereotypically masculine aspects of these phrases. * ensure equitable access to hardware * [13] Female students tend to be less aggressive than males in obtaining and retaining computer time; in a first-come first-served computer lab, the male students are likely to shoulder aside the female students (Frenkel, 1990). One strategy to address this problem is to use sign-up sheets to allocate computing resources, and to enforce time limits for each work session. Another commonly reported problem is that safety concerns make many female students reluctant to use computing labs after dark. Solutions include installing computers in dormitories, subsidizing home computer purchases for students, and installing a generous number of dial-up lines for university computers. 3. Building scholarly communities through electronic communication [14] "Invisible colleges" are informal scholarly communities whose members may be widely scattered geographically. These communities are united by exploration of a shared problem domain, and form a power group that may influence the distribution of prestige in a field and control the general strategy of research in that area . In the past, their communication with each other was marked by the exchange of scholarly correspondence (including pre-prints and reviews), telephone calls, gatherings at conferences, and informal meetings between researchers sharing a particular interest The mark of belonging in an invisible college is to have personal contact with members of the college, generally face-to-face (Price, 1961 and 1966). [15] The composition and communication patterns of the invisible colleges are being dramatically changed by the increasing use of electronic communication in the form of email, bulletin boards, and discussion lists. There is evidence that as electronic communication is introduced into an invisible college, the composition of the college tends to shift to include more former non-members who are "on the net", and to delete former members who can only be reached by postal ("snail") mail or the telephone (Lincoln, 1992). These electronic communities have greatly increased the pace of academic research and the extent of inter-institutional collaboration (Wilson, 1992). [16] At the same time, the computer-mediated colleges are marked by a more democratic communication pattern. These computer-based communities are less hierarchical and rigid than the old invisible colleges, and can both develop and disappear more quickly. Junior scholars have much greater direct access to senior researchers, as email exchange between the two groups is much more common and accepted than telephone contact has been in the past. Discussion lists and bulletin boards also permit junior researchers to acquire a scholarly identity and reputation more quickly than was possible when the primary medium of written exchange was journal pre-prints and technical reports. The shorter messages and more rapid, "conversational" exchange of the bulletin board or discussion list may give junior researchers an opportunity to participate in the development of their discipline (Lincoln, 1992). [17] Given the increasing importance of these electronic communities to building a professional career, it is important that students be made aware of both the opportunities and problems that electronic communication poses: * give instruction in online interaction styles * [18] Internet communication is governed by "netiquette"-- the expected manners to be observed by users. Novice users feel more comfortable in their initial attempts to use email or post if they understand these expectations. For example, the excessive use of capital letters makes a message difficult to read, and may be misinterpreted as "shouting". Similarly, messages containing sarcasm, irony, or self-deprecating humor are easily misinterpreted, given the lack of facial/body cues and vocal intonation. To avoid unintentional rudeness, special symbols called "smileys" or "emoticons" are used to signal the appropriate emotional content. [19] On a more subtle level, the user's personal pattern of discourse can have a significant impact on his/her participation in computer-mediated communication. Not surprisingly, gendered communication styles identified in face-to-face conversations are carried over into written, computer-aided conversations. Herring (1992) distinguishes two common discourse patterns: adversarial, adopted rarely by women, and attenuated/personal, commonly used by women. The adversarial style is "characterized by strong assertions, imperatives, exclusive use of [first person plural] pronouns, and an overall tendency to promote oneself while belittling one's conversational 'adversary'". In contrast, the attenuated/personal style "combines features of attenuation- -hedges, qualification, apologies--with an emphasis on personal aspects of the communication" (Herring, 1992, p. 7). Not surprisingly, adversarial (predominantly male) conversants dominated the discussion studied by Herring. [20] Herring notes that women are much less likely to contribute to adversarial exchanges, and that this aversion inhibits their ability to participate in activities that might benefit them professionally (the most vocal contributors to the discussion she studied were later invited to collaborate on a book). It is problematic, to say the least, that the alternative to avoidance appears to be adoption of the (masculine) adversarial conversational style. [21] Students should be made aware of these styles, of how communication style can affect the audience's reception of a message, and the professional implications of adopting one or the other. To avoid disadvantaging students using the attenuated/personal style, students should be introduced first to those portions of the Internet that are least adversarial. For example, moderated discussion groups tend to "flame" less than the unmoderated, and BITNET groups tend to enforce a greater degree of civility (Hardy, 1993). * provide support for collaborative work * [22] There is some evidence that female students prefer collaborative learning environments, where cooperative group interactions are encouraged and a sense of connection between learners is fostered (Hawkins, 1985; Lewis, 1987; Kleifgen, 1989). A teaching strategy that capitalizes on this preference while avoiding some of the problems discussed above in introducing students to existing "electronic colleges" is to structure assignments around building an open, non- adversarial discussion group specific to the course.. This option is explored by Fey (1992), in the context of a computer conference for collaborative writing. She reports that male students as well as female felt themselves advantaged by the feelings of connection between the class members, and by the opportunity to explore ideas without fear of non-constructive criticism or ridicule. Students also felt that participation in discussion was more democratic than it would have been in a physical classroom, with everyone contributing rather than having the discussion dominated by a few people. * encourage students to join inter-institutional peer groups * [23] Women are still a minority in some of the groups that have Internet access. Enabling inter-institutional contact between these women can help them feel less isolated in their fields and give them a sense of community they may be lacking. As an example, one successful group for women in computer science, SYSTERS, has provided a forum for women-centered discussion, networking, and mentoring since 1987. The members of SYSTERS report that the discussion group prevents them from feeling that they are alone in experiencing the problems they face (Frenkel, 1990). A wide variety of peer groups are available on the Net, including groups centered along gender and cultural lines, by profession, and by personal interest. 4. From bibliographic instruction to online resources [24] The under-representation of women in computing has been linked to pre-existing attitudes toward science and mathematics--subjects with which computing is often associated. That girls are socialized to avoid mathematics and science, and to have less positive attitudes toward these subjects than boys, has been extensively documented (see, for example, Collis, 1987; Eddowes, 1983; Erickson, 1984; Crowley, 1988). The perceived similarity of computing to these subjects is reinforced by the introduction of computing studies in the context of science and math in the secondary schools (often taught by science or math teachers), and by the fact that computing departments in tertiary institutions have frequently grown out of mathematics departments. This association with predominantly masculine fields may compound computer anxiety in female students (Crowley, 1988). This situation is particularly ironic given that the professional use of computers often has little relation to either science or mathematics (Hawkins, 1985). [25] Countering this trend is evidence that when *tool* uses of computers are emphasized, student attitudes toward computing do not show the same gender differences Online information searching seems to have the potential to be particularly effective in this regard. While no studies exist specifically examining Internet searching, there is a body of related work studying the effects of gender on achievement and attitudes in other types of information gathering. [26] Early work with consumer reactions to teletext (Elton, 1982) showed that female customers used home teletext systems as often as males, though females spent less time than males on public systems. Studies of online library catalogs indicate that students using the catalogs associate their activity more with research and information processing than with computing, and the female students experience a reduction in their computer anxiety levels. In addition, both sexes showed a reduction in gender role association with computers (Eastman, 1987; Jacobson, 1991). Libraries appear to offer a "friendly" atmosphere to females (as opposed to the "library anxiety" often noted in males), and female students are more likely to use computers located in the library than those in other locations (Jacobson, 1991; Clark, 1989). On the other hand, the negativity female students associate with computers may spill over into computer-mediated activities such as online searching of library resources (Jacobson, 1991) [27] In the workplace, studies of library staff suggest that computer anxiety is controlled by positive impetus to computer use, such as the awareness that computers are playing an important role in libraries (Sievert, 1988; Dakshinamurti, 1985). The strongest evidence for this point is a study of the adoption of online patent searching software in the US Patent and Trademarks Office (Vernon- Gerrstenfeld, 1989). Female patent examiners were much more likely to voluntarily adopt the new computerized system than male examiners, proportionally more women than men encouraged other examiners to use the system, and the women spent more time online than the men. [28] Studies of the differential effects of gender on use of online bibliographic systems provide the following recommendations for instruction in Internet searching: * provide an immediate introduction to applications * [29] A conclusion common to the literature on gender and computer use is that at all ages, males are more likely to adopt computers than females for most activities, from education to career to recreational use (see, for example, Lockheed, 1985; Clarke, 1989; and Firkin, 1985). However, there is also evidence that when the *application* of computing to a discipline is stressed, rather than programming, that females will adopt computers at least as quickly as males, if not sooner. Studies indicate that women prefer to use computers as a means to an end, a tool, rather than as a toy (Rock, 1985; Form, 1983; Hawkins, 1985; Sanders, 1986; Frenkel, 1990). These results indicate that an introductory course on the Internet should immediately expose students to resources that are useful in their coursework or career. [30] Where initially the resources available over the Internet were concentrated in computing, engineering, and the "hard" sciences, now a wide range of information types-- data, text, images, video, and sound--are now included in online sources covering the humanities and social sciences as well. Case studies of information location and use in the liberal arts are coming into existence, as they have been in the sciences (see, for example, Atkinson (1990): women's studies; Christensen (1991): music history; Cherry (1991): legal studies). And, of course, information on topic-specific Internet resources is available on the Internet itself: for example, Gopher Jewels (at gopher://cwis.usc.edu/11/ Other_Gophers_and_Information_Resources/ Gophers_by_Subject//Gopher_Jewels) provides a catalog of gopher sites by the types of information to be found in them; and the Kovacs directory provides subject-structured information on scholarly listservs, ejournals, discussion groups, etc. (at gopher://gopher.kent.edu/Local Internet Resources/Directory of Scholarly E-Conferences). * use an appropriate level of technical detail * [31] An introductory corse on computer-mediated communication and online resources should concentrate primarily on *using* the Internet, and only secondarily on the low-level details of how computer networks are constructed. As discussed above, a concentration on aspects of the Internet that are immediately useful in a student's work, and prospectively useful for a career, should prove more attractive to female students than a lengthy discussion of hand-shaking protocols, TCP/IP, and operating system support mechanisms. While this point should be dictated by common sense, it is commonly missed by introductory texts on computer applications (see, for example, Capron 1992). 5. Conclusions [32] This paper examines literature in the fields of computer science education, bibliographic instruction, and scholarly virtual communities for their implications for an introductory course in Internet use . While a number of analogies can be drawn from these fields, the lack of directly applicable research points up the fact that most studies of Internet use and electronic communities are preliminary and conjectural, and tend to be descriptive rather than qualitative. Many aspects of large-scale computer-aided communication have yet to be adequately explored, and more cases need to be examined before further generalization is possible. [33] The literature in computer science education suggests that formal instruction in Internet use could encourage greater participation in the field by women. Activities supported by tool software, such as sending mail or searching for information, do not share in the sex stereotyping associated with other uses of computers such as programming or game playing (Lockheed, 1985). Furthermore, girls enroled in courses that stress applications of computing such as word processing, research applications, or information systems were more interested in taking future computer courses than girls whose initial contacts with "serious" computing was primarily programming (Lockheed, 1983; Clarke, 1989). Formal instruction in the use of online resources and communication provides an additional forum for extending the use of computers beyond their stereotypic applications in science and mathematics. Since the biggest predictor to taking more computing courses is the student's attitude toward computers, the best way to increase participation in the field by women is to let them discover their competence (Clarke, 1989)--a competence that studies in gender and online library resources suggest that female students will discover. [34] Finally, the ability to effectively communicate via email, bulletin boards, and discussion lists is becoming increasingly important as the traditional "invisible colleges" are being subsumed by electronic communities. Failure to participate fully in these media could imply relegation to secondary status in a field, as computing technology reconfigures the communication patterns within a field. 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(1984): "Females and science achievement: Evidence, explanations, and implications", Science Education 8, pp. 162-173. Fey, M.H. (1992): "Building community through computer conferencing and feminist collaboration", presented at the Computers and Writing Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, May, 1992. Firkin, J., Davidson, M., and Johnson, L. (1985): Computer culture in the classroom. Melbourne: Victorian Institute of Secondary Education. Form, W., and McMillen, D. (1983): "Women, men, and machines", Work and Occupations 10, pp. 147-148. Frenkel, Karen (1990): "Women and computing", Communications of the ACM 33(11), pp. 34-46 Hardy, H.E. (1993): The History of the Net. Master's thesis, Grand Valley state University, Allendale, MI. Available by anonymous ftp from umcc.umich.edu /pub/seraphim/doc/nethist8.txt. Hawkins, J. (1985): "Computers and girls: Rethinking the issues", Sex Roles 13, pp. 165-179. Industry, Science and Technology Canada (1991): Women in Science and Engineering, Vol. I: Universities. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services. Jacobson, F.F. (1991): "Gender differences in attitudes toward using computers in libraries: An exploratory study", LISR 13, pp. 267-279. Kay, J, Collings, P., Lublin, J., Pointer, G., Prosser, M., Bishop, R., and Watson, K. (1986): "Investigation of the status of women at early stages of professionally accredited tertiary computer science and data processing programmes", Dept of Computer Science, University of Sydney. Kiesler, S., Sproull, L., and Eccles, J.S. (1985): "Pool halls, chips, and war games: Women in the culture of computing," Psychology of Women Quarterly 9, pp. 451-462. Kleifgen, J.A. (1989): "Computers and opportunities for literacy development", ERIC/CUE Digest No. 54 (available from ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, Teachers College, Box 40, Columbia Univ., New York, NY 10027). Lewis, L.H. (1987): "Females and computers: Fostering involvement", in Women, Work, and Technology: Transformation, ed. B.D. Wright et al. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Lincoln, Y.S. (1992): "Virtual community and invisible colleges: Alterations in faculty scholarly networks and professional self-image", presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (Minneapolis, MN). Lockheed, M.E., Nielsen, A., and Stone, M.K. (1983): "Sex differences in microcomputer literacy", presented at the National Educational Computer Conference, Baltimore, MD. Lockheed, M. (1985): "Women, girls, and computer: A first look at the evidence", Sex Roles 13, pp. 115-121. Porter, A.L., and Pirie, I. (1983): "In the words of the students: A study of attrition in a first year tertiary computing course", Proceedings of the 4th Australian Computer Education Conference, Melbourne. Price, D.J. De Solla (1961): Science Since Babylon. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Price, D.J. De Solla and Beaver, B. De (1966): "Collaboration in an invisible college", American Psychologist 21(11), pp. 1011-1017. Rock, D., Eckstrom, R., Goertz, M., Pollack, J., and Hilton, T. (1985): A study of excellence in high school education: Longitudinal Study, 1980-1982. Quoted in Vernon- Gerstenfeld, 1989. Sanders, J.S., and Stone, A. (1986): The neuter computer: Computers for boys and girls. New York: Neal-Schuman. Schau, C.G., and Scott, K.P. (1984): "Impact of gender characteristics of instructional materials: An integration of the research literature", Journal of Educational Psychology 76 (April), pp. 183-193. Sievert, M.E., Albritton R.L., Roper, P., and Clayton, N. (1988): "Investigating computer anxiety in an academic library", Information Technology and Libraries 7, pp. 243-252. UNESCO (1990): Statistical Yearbook, 1990. Paris: UNESCO. Vernon-Gerstenfeld, Susan (1989): "Serendipity? Are there differences in the adoption of computers? A case study", Sex Roles 21(3/4), pp. 161-173. Ware, M.C., and Stuck, M.F. (1985): "Sex-role messages vis-a- vis microcomputer use: A look at the pictures," Sex Roles 13 (3/4), pp. 205-214. Wilson, D.L. (1992): "Huge computer network quickens pace of academic exchange and collaboration", Chronicle of Higher Education 39(6), pp. A17-A19. _____ 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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