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Bridging the Digital Divide
Brooke Power 22:54, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Topic: The Culture of Cyberspace: Gender, Race and Class on the Internet
Spender, Dale (1995) Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace, Spinifex Press, North Melbourne, Chapter 7, ISBN 1875559094.
- This book chapter provides an insight into the impact the internet is having on human society. The author, Dale Spender articulates a focal argument that the potential of cyberspace to create a global world of democracy and equality is far from the truth. She argues that gender inequality and differentiation exist largely in cyberspace, just as it does in real life. The chapter offers a critical argument that women are somewhat excluded or denied access to the new information technologies, or when they do participate, they are bombarded with sexual discrimination, abuse and pornography. Her statements are justified by strong and logical evidence, ranging from the statistical numbers of men and women contributing to forum discussions, to cases of women who have been harassed by sexist jokes, limericks and hostile comments whilst online. The chapter also examines the issue of pornography on the internet in relation to perpetrating sexual discrimination. This allows the issue to be viewed in a sense that pornography reinforces male supremacy, objectifies women and degrades the power and civil rights of women. This book is highly valuable as it delivers issues of significant contemporary importance to society.
Bosah, Ebo [ed](1998) Cyberghetto or Cybertobia: Race, Class and Gender on the Internet, Praeger Publishers, Westport, ISBN 0275959937.
- The essays in this anthology are provoked from the intriguing debate between the perspectives of cyberghetto and cybertopia. Cyberghetto is based on the notion that virtual communities are another dimension of traditional relationships, with the same established prejudices of class, race and gender. Cybertopia is described as the belief that the internet operates without hierarchical political associations, disregards rigid gender roles, race and class categories found in traditional communities. The essays draw on a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives outlooks, including historical, philosophical, sociological and cultural introspection, as well as discourse and quantitative analysis. This anthology is a worthy resource as it provides a detailed discussion onto the issues of race, class and gender in relation to the Internet.
Kollock, Peter; Smith, Marc (1999)Communities in Cyberspace, Routledge, London, ISBN 0415191394
- This book examines virtual communities in cyberspace in comparison to communities in the physical world. The focus of the book is describing and analyzing patterns of online social interaction and organization as they exist. The book articulates interesting details of the role of identity formation and deception in the virtual community, highlighting the ambiguousity of the disembodied world. In relation to the theme of identity formation in cyberspace, the authors' integrate the notions of the gender and race to provide an insightful body of work. It also examines hierarchies of power, social order and control, based on the users' ability to manipulate the elements of the virtual environment. Lastly, the book looks at the formation and nature of social networks within virtual communities.
Sussman, N.M; Tyson, D.H (2000) Sex and power: Gender differences in computer mediated interactions, Department of Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, The College of Staten Island, The City University of New York, Staten Island
- The article outlines the study conducted by the City University of New York, which was conducted to discover whether gender differences in relation to linguistic and written communication exist within computer mediated interactions. The article describes the substantial amount of empirical investigation that was conducted, which ranged from gender differences in simultaneous talk/interruptions; non-verbal communication; interpersonal conversation distance; power dynamics as well as the effect of the gender identity on the conversation.(Sussman & Tyson, 2000) The results gathered from this study indicate that sheer significance of this research. It was found that men wrote longer entries than women and they tended to be more opinionated. However, women communicated more frequently than men. The article concluded that cyberspace is a male-dominated atmosphere, where gender inequality and plays for power exists just as they do it reality-based communication. This resource is particularly valuable as it highlights important trends between gender and the Internet.
Crang, Mike; Crang, Phil; May, Jon (1999) Virtual Geographies: Bodies, Space and Relations, Chapter 11: Gender and the landscapes of computing in an Internet Café, Routledge, London, ISBN 0415168279
- This chapter focuses on the internet in relation to its forms of communality. The author draws on theoretical frameworks of approaching gender and technology as mutually intertwined. In other terms, technology plays a significant role in the manufacturing of personified gendered roles and practices. This theory is then applied to the context of an Internet café in London. This study allows the research into how gender operates in a ‘real’ setting where the internet is being used. This valuable study allows the new media technologies to be approached as entities incorporated into reality-based settings, with codes of conduct and practices, rather than a prearranged body. Additionally, the chapter presents the internet in such a way that it allows it to be viewed as being comprised and challenged by multiple genderings.
Cook, Kimberly; Stambaugh, Phoebe (1997) Everyday Sexism in the Third Millennium, Chapter 7, Tuna Memos and Pissing Contests: Doing Gender and Male Dominance of the Internet, Routledge, London ISBN 0415915503
- This chapter examines the problem of male dominance on the Internet. The authors suggest that male dominance in 'real' culture is being reproduced in similar ways on the internet. That is, in the forms of unwanted sexual advances, the presence of violent pornography and sexual harassment. As well as having to deal with hostile or unwelcoming attitudes when women are participating in some male dominated on-line chatrooms. The chapter also provides details of a significant study conducted on an on-line discussion list called 'SASH-L' (Sociologists Against Sexual Harassment). The study draws upon direct observations as 'insider' participants on the discussion list and the interpretation of comments made by other participants. This research concluded that male dominance was displayed in this setting, regardless of the nature and resistance the chatroom had to it. This chapter is a relevant resource as it provides accurate examples of how acts of males' dominance can occur in everyday settings. Lastly, the chapter leaves the reader with an inspirational vision that perhaps one day the internet will be a forum where women can speak, be heard, feel safe, supported and empowered.
Nakamura, Lisa (2002) Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet, Routledge, London ISBN 0415938368
- The author of this book, Lisa Nakamura has provided insight into what actually happened to the issue of 'race' with the development of the Internet and how societies' ideas towards race, ethnicity and identity are continually being changed and molded by new media technologies. Each chapter of the book addressed the question of how race operates in the different metaphorical spaces of the internet. This valuable resource emphasises the fact that racial inequality does exist online and attempts to show how race is represented in cyberspace. This is achieved by examining user-to-user interactions in social role-playing situations on the internet. For example, MUDs, MOOs, and chat rooms. Although this book focused on the ways race is configured in English-language based cyberspace, hosted in the United States, it acknowledges that future research is need to understand the environment of race and ethnicity in non-English speaking, non-American spaces of the Internet.
Silver, Larissa WE International, Same Message, different medium, Toronto: Fall 1997/Winter 1998, Iss 42/43; pg 24, 2pgs
- The author of the article, Larissa Silver contends that due to the ambiguousity of the internet, or lack of physical appearances that indicate gender, race or sexual orientation whilst on-line, is resulting in on-line discussions perpetuating gender stereotypes. Silver draws upon examples of chat room discussions, which display various types of classic patriarchal discourse in which men insult, degrade or harass women. This is a useful resource as it shows that the internet is not changing patriarchal notions of gender norms and roles, but mimicking the same oppressive nature of the reality-based culture.
Anonymous, Media Report to Women: U.S. Women surging online, closing gender and reshaping social landscape, Silver Springs, Spring 2000, Vol. 28, Iss 2; pg.1,3 pgs
- This article provides insight to the flipside to the argument that the internet is a male-dominant environment. The article states that due to a recent study, they have found that a large number of women using the internet for the first time in the last six months, have brought gender equivalence to cyberspace. The article also reports that women believe that the internet, and email in particular has strengthened their relationships and increased the amount of contact they share with their friends and family. Statistics are provided to display what men and women are generally using the internet for, eg; web searching, email, news, fun, health information, hobby information, job-searches, instant messages or participating in online auctions. Although the study was conducted in America, the report acknowledges that the gender population gap of internet users is still quite dramatic in some areas. This is a valuable resource for understanding the gender differences in terms of the population of users, as well as gender trends and roles.
Cherny, Lynn; Wrise, Reba [ed] (1996) Wired_Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Group West, United States of America, ISBN 1878067737
- Wired_Women is a collection of articles written by women, that explore the issues that women are presented with when participating in the male-dominated internet arena. The articles of the collection vary in content, discussing issues such as safety in cyberspace, harassment and struggles with power relationships. Although the some of the articles explore the negative effects of the internet, collectively, the authors' of the book share a common belief that internet holds the power to connect and bond together groups and allow for communities of information, knowledge and experience sharing. A notable aspect of this book is that the issues discussed in this book, are important to any female that that is actively participating in cyberspace today, even though the book was written quite a few years ago. This timeless book is an excellent resource as it offers a realistic and accurate recount of not only some women's experiences of participating in cyberspace, but also portrays the relationships that they shared with this new media technology.
Brooke Power 11:07, 13 Aug 2004 (EST)
