Day Three Thursday, August 19 9:00-10:15 am Plenary Session: CYBERSPACE AS LEARNING SPACE 1. Gender Issues in Networking. Leslie Regan Shade, McGill University, Graduate Program in Communications There is increasing discussion of gender issues in networking. This increased interest is seen in discussion groups on the networks as well as in the popular media (articles in Time magazine, appearing as part of movie plots, etc.) Cyberspace is not gender-free. Participation of women in networks is increasing but women are still not represented relative to their percentage of the population. Some studies show that women are 10 to 15 percent of the network population--others show higher participation rates. It varies from net to net. Why? Cost was a barrier but now with Internet and Freenet the cost factor is gone. There are differences in the way men and women participate in networks. Reflecting the culture, men tend to dominate the conversations. When women participate, they are often ignored by men. Will this ever change? Some studies of boys and girls conversations in networked communications indicate that it may be changing. Women tend to participate more in women-only sub-groups. This is so even though studies have shown that woman do feel more equal on line. Should there be women-only lists? The speaker says yes. Note, though, that women-only lists are often infiltrated by men who adopt women's names for the purposes of network conversations. What does this gender swapping or 'online cross-dressing' mean? There are many ethical issues. Studies show that there is harassment, flaming, 'net-sleazing,' 'trolling for babes,' etc. occurring on the networks. Legal status of online harassment is unknown. Women must learn how to deal with online harassment: learning to use 'kill-files' and 'bozo filters' is a start. From the broader social and ethical perspective: how to deal with pornography and sexual imagery. Where to draw the line? To what extent should access be allowed. For example, should universities, through Internet, provide an 'on ramp' to the sexually explicit newsgroups. On the positive side, women have become empowered on the networks. There are now about 40 to 50 women's lists that cut across a variety of professional and interest areas giving women a chance to 'meet' and talk about shared interests. 2. Connecting School and Community Networks--Marita Moll, Research and Information Services, Canadian Teachers Federation, and National Capital Freenet Academy One Coordinator. Networks are changing society and schools need to be on the network so that they can participate. Literature and traditional book-learning is a left brain activity. Networks are more right brain and are visual, tactile, and oral. Most students are raised on television and Sesame Street: they have well-developed right brain capabilities. They come into traditional schools and run into a traditional left-brain type of system and are quickly turned off. Given television, given the culture, we must follow through in the schools with an educational approach that builds on the right brain background of the in-coming student: networks allow this to take place. And studies show that by allowing incoming students to network and become interactive, there is more involvement and there is more learning. The educational system still has large problems, but networking can help. Is change possible? Difficult to know. What is known is that across the educational system only the students are ready for networking! Consider the telephone connection itself. Teachers don't have access to phone lines, they are a continuing charge and are considered to be too expensive to have in each class. Most schools don't have a budget for phone lines to the classroom, or for long distance charges. Community networks can help here since they can provide access to the Internet and gateway to other networks. Networking can help end the isolation that many teachers feel. They are in their schools and feel cut off from the larger society. Schools are criticized for not getting involved in their communities: through Freenet teachers can find local individuals to visit classes by leaving messages on various discussion groups. Outreach is made easier. Businesses should be approached to sponsor a school with modems and computers so that they can log on to Freenet 3. The SchoolNet Project--Karen Kostaszek, Industry and Science Canada. Intent of the SchoolNet Project is to increase science and technology awareness in the schools. SchoolNet is a network now being developed and implemented that will allow schools to interact with the network in a variety of ways. Support is from the university community, governments, industry, etc. The federal government will be contributing over one million dollars. The telephone companies are covering long distance charges from rural areas. Original pilot program consisted of 12 schools. Now SchoolNet is going national with 300 elementary and high schools by this fall. How were the schools chosen? Provincial ministries were asked to pick out most likely schools that could take advantage of access to computer networks. The ones that were selected were those that were already familiar with computers and computer technology. SchoolNet will allow users to access files and information from many computer hosts. Already a committee has picked 100 of the best resources from many of the hosts on Internet. As well the committee has identified listservs that could be of interest to students. For those schools who are still in the early part of their learning curve, hard copy of the material will be made available on demand. Eventually everything will be networked: no more hard copy. An access manual is being prepared for teachers and students. SchoolNet will provide two support services: 1-800 number operating 24 hours a day and an email support. The speaker feels that training and support is key to the success of the enterprise. Many features of SchoolNet were outlined: Electronic Innovators is a list of people who can provide electronic mentoring and electronic tutoring. Some 420 professional scientists from around the world have agreed to participate in the project. They will answer questions and moderate discussion groups. Also, from time to time, scientists will be using the schools as gatherers of information in some of their on-going experiments. For example, having students collect soil samples, or water samples to measure acid rain, etc. Another feature of SchoolNet is the ability to access university course calendars; ability to access 42 university libraries; access to news feeds from the Globe and Mail and Southam News. Another effort is to provide access to Member of Parliament: students will be able to ask questions about the Canadian Political System and get answers from parliamentarians. For more information on SchoolNet, email Karen Kostaszek at wcscses3@ccs.carleton.ca Or call Mary Thompson at Industry and Science Canada at 613-941-6057. There is also SchoolNet Listerver: To subscribe . Send email to 'listserver@nstn.ns.ca' . In body of message, type 'subscribe schoolnet ' . You will receive a confirmation soon afterwards.