Course Proposal

L567: Gender and Computerization

Semester:	Spring 2004	Instructor:	Dr. Susan Herring
Time:	M 5:45-8:30 p.m.	Office:	LI 005 B
Place:	Library Bldg. Rm. 001	Phone:	856-4919 (voice mail)
Office hours:	M 4-5 p.m.; TH 4-5 p.m. and by appointment	Email:	herring @ indiana.edu

Class majordomo list: herring_gencomp @ indiana.edu

Required reading:

Photocopied articles to be made available electronically on ereserves (http://ereserves.indiana.edu/) or on print reserve in the SLIS library (articles in Cherny & Weise, Harcourt, and Kramarae books).

Recommended texts:

Cherny, L. & E. Weise, eds. (1996). wired_women. Seattle: Seal Press.

Harcourt, W., ed. (1999). women@internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace. London: Zed Books.

Kramarae, C., ed. (1988). Technology and Women's Voices: Keeping in Touch. New York: Routledge.

1. Background

Technology, with its associations with engineering, has traditionally been a mostly male preserve. Information technology (IT) continues this tradition. More men than women study computer science; design, implement, and administer computer networks; and—until very recently—use the Internet. Moreover, girls and women still express less interest than boys and men in learning to program computers and in entering IT careers.

The IT "gender gap" takes on increasing social, political and economic importance as computerization spreads globally, pervading every aspect of human existence from medicine to education to grocery shopping. Democratic societies have an interest in ensuring equitable access to all of their members to the benefits of computing, out of fairness and in order to maximize the productive potential of the population as a whole. Practically speaking, female users may have different experiences, needs and perspectives from male users, such that when it comes to IT design and use, “one size” may not necessarily “fit all”. Finally, the Internet and the World Wide Web are attracting increasing numbers of female users, challenging the historically male culture of computing in interactive, online domains. More than ever before, IT professionals, educators, gender scholars and critics of science and technology are called upon to understand and act on these social contexts and dynamic trends.

2. Course description

This course explores the history and mechanisms of—and alternatives to—traditional male control of computer technology, with special focus on information and communication technologies such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. Questions to be addressed include:

• How do computers come to be associated with masculine interests and aptitudes?

• What are the consequences of this association for females' and males' educational, work and leisure experiences?

• How is the association of computing with masculinity challenged now that computers have become widely accessible and easy to use? (cf. recent statistics that show that equal numbers of women and men in North America now use the Internet)

• What might computers and computer networks look like if they were designed by women?

• What factors prevent girls and women from acquiring technical skills and entering computing-related professions in numbers equal to men, and how might those factors be changed?

The course is based on readings and critical discussion, and is conducted in a part-lecture, part-seminar format in which opportunities to speak are available to all students in each class session. Students have the option of taking a final exam or writing a term paper as the primary basis for evaluating their performance in the course.

3. Course objectives

The aim of this course is to explore in a critical, balanced and nuanced manner issues related to gender and computers, with special focus on the "IT gender gap" and its current status in the Internet Age. As a result of completing this course, you should gain:

• an understanding of the role of gender as a social and historical force in shaping computer technology

• practical awareness of gender and computing issues in educational, workplace, recreational and global contexts

• a critical perspective on gender and computer system design

• knowledge of possible interventions at the level of home environment, education, system design and administrative policy

• enhanced skills in summarizing and synthesizing concepts from published scholarship.

4. Student requirements

Readings. You are expected to read the assigned readings and take informal reading notes on them (1-2 paragraphs identifying each article's main claim(s), and commenting on or questioning some aspect of the article that is of interest to you). The reading notes will help prepare you for class discussion, and will provide feedback that will enable me to conduct the course to better meet your interests and needs. Reading notes will be collected at the end of each class period. Therefore, you will need to print them on individual sheets of paper, rather than write them in a bound journal.

Observation reports. There will be three observation reports during the semester for which you will collect and present data related to gender and computerization based on first-hand observation. The reports should be 2-3 typed pages long, and may include appendices listing the instances observed.

Exam. There will be a comprehensive final take-home exam. The essay-type exam questions will be of a synthetic nature, requiring you to draw together, relate and apply key concepts from the readings and class discussions. A review sheet of key concepts will be distributed before the exam. You will have four days in which to write the final exam.

Term paper (OPTIONAL). Instead of taking the final exam, you may choose to write a 5,000-7,000 word term paper (excluding references and appendices) reporting on the results of original research on some aspect of gender and computerization. The topic need not be a phenomenon we have discussed in the course, but the analysis should be theoretically grounded in concepts from the course. Students wishing to write a term paper instead of taking the final exam should submit a one-page proposal by week 10 identifying the topic, research question, methods, data and preliminary observations on which the paper will be based. The final paper should follow the formal conventions for a publishable-quality research article, including footnotes and citations of scholarly work in APA (American Psychological Association) style.

There is a majordomo list for this course. You are expected to check your email at least twice between class meetings, including the afternoon before class for last-minute announcements and reminders. Interactive participation on the majordomo list is encouraged, although it is not a requirement of the course.

5. Student evaluation

The final grade for students enrolled in the course will be calculated as follows:

Reading notes and participation	30%
Observation reports (3 x 10%)	30%
Final exam or term paper	40%
Total:	100%

Grading policies:

• Late reading notes will be accepted once during the semester, no questions asked, provided they are turned in by 5 p.m. Saturday before the next class meeting. If you turn in late notes electronically, please send them as plain (ascii) text, rather than as an attachment.

• Reading notes and class participation will be graded with a check mark for each class meeting, to indicate that the requirement was met. Reading notes are to be handed in on the day the reading is discussed. Class participation means being willing and prepared to speak intelligently in class about the topics under discussion. (Note: this does NOT necessarily mean speaking a lot—you may be penalized if you habitually dominate class discussions.) In order to be able to speak intelligently about a topic, you will need to have done the readings for that topic before class. You will also need to be physically present and alert. Participation cannot be made up if you miss a class.

• Observation reports and the exam or term paper will be assigned letter grades (A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, etc.). Generally speaking, an A denotes 'outstanding' work, a B is 'good', and a C is 'average' (but below the level expected for graduate-level work).

• Observation reports will be graded on the method of sampling, which should be clearly explained, and the quality and number of observations. High quality observations are systematic, insightful, and relate (as appropriate) to themes presented in the readings and class discussions.

• The final exam will be graded on quality (depth and accuracy) of understanding of key concepts; ability to extend, apply and relate concepts beyond what was discussed in class; appropriate citation of sources; and clarity and organization of written presentation.

• The term paper (if you choose this option) will be graded on content—originality of the research question, appropriateness of the data and methods used to investigate the question, plausibility of your interpretations—and form—organization, clarity and quality of written expression, and appropriate use of scholarly conventions such as citations and footnotes.

Statement on academic integrity:

Learning is a collaborative enterprise. However, plagiarism, copyright infringement, and other types of academic dishonesty will NOT be tolerated. To help you recognize plagiarism, the IU Writing Center has prepared a short guide: Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It. Please read this guide and refer to it when you produce your written assignments for this course.

6. Tentative Course Schedule

(Note: All reading notes are due in class on the dates indicated for the readings.)

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Week 1 (1/12/04):

Introduction to course. Stereotypes about gender and computers: (Soft) nature vs. (hard) technology. The "gender gap" in the age of the Internet.

(No readings for first class meeting)

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Week 2 (1/19/04):

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - Class does not meet.

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Week 3 (1/26/04):

Historical contributions of women to technology. Women as users, women as inventors.

Browse:

Past notable women of computing. http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html

Read:

1. Davies, M. (1988). "Women clerical workers and the typewriter: The writing machine." In C. Kramarae (Ed.), Technology and Women’s Voices: Keeping in Touch (pp.29-40). New York: Routledge.

2. Rakow, L. (1988). "Women and the telephone: The gendering of a communication technology." In C. Kramarae (Ed.), Technology and Women’s Voices: Keeping in Touch (pp.207-228). New York: Routledge.

3. Gürer, D. (1995). "Pioneering women in computer science." Communications of the ACM 38 (1), 45-54.

4. Camp, T. (1997). "The incredible shrinking pipeline." Communications of the ACM 40 (10), 103-110. http://www.mines.edu/fs_home/ tcamp/cacm/paper.html

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Week 4 (2/2/04):

Are females less interested than males in computers? Attitudes towards computers.

Read:

1. Turkle, S. (1988). "Computational reticence: Why women fear the intimate machine." In C. Kramarae (Ed.), Technology and Women's Voices, 41-61.

2. Bentson, C. (2000). "Why women hate I.T." CIO Magazine, September 1.

3. Kramer, P. & S. Lehman (1990). "Mismeasuring women: A critique of research on computer avoidance." Signs 16(1), 158-172. http://www.cio.com/archive/090100_women.html

4. Ray, C. M., C. Sormunen, & T. M. Harris (1999). "Men's and women's attitudes toward computer technology: A comparison." Office Systems Research Journal 17(1), Spring. http://www.nyu.edu/education/alt/ beprogram/osrajournal/ray.PDF

Browse:

Ward, M. (2001). "Sexiest geek declared." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1400333.stm. More information about Ellen Spertus and the "sexiest geek" contest: http://www.mills.edu/ACAD_INFO/MCS/SPERTUS/Geek/

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Week 5 (2/9/04):

The cultural construction of computing as gendered: Popular representations of computer users.

1st Observation Report:

Photocopy 10-15 advertisements from current magazines showing computers and humans, and describe how females and males are portrayed. OR: Do the same for 10-15 current cartoons showing computers and humans.

Read:

1. Edwards, P. (1990). "The army and the microworld: Computers and the politics of gender identity." (pp.102-127).

2. Michaleson, G. (1994). "Women and men in computer cartoons 1946-1982." In A. Adam et al. (Eds.), Women, Work and Computerization.

3. Ware, M. & M. F. Stuck (1985). "Sex-role messages vis-à-vis microcomputer use: A look at the pictures." Sex Roles 13(3/4), 205-214.

4. Borsook, P. (1996). "The memoirs of a token: An aging Berkeley feminist examines Wired." In L. Cherny & E. Weise (Eds.), wired_women (pp.24-41). Seattle: Seal Press.

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Week 6 (2/16/04):

Computing culture: Hackers, geeks, and nerds.

Browse:

Definition of a hacker. http://home.planet.nl/~faase009/Ha_hacker.html

The code of the geeks v.3.12. http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html - type

Read:

1. Hacker, S. (1990). "The culture of engineering." In S. Hacker, D. Smith, & S. Turner (Eds.), Doing it the Hard Way: Investigating Gender and Technology (pp. 111-112). London: Unwin Hyman.

2. Turkle, S. (1984). "Hackers: Loving the machine for itself." In The Second Self. New York: Simon and Schuster.

3. Kendall, L. (1999). " 'The nerd within': Mass media and the negotiation of identity among computer-using males." The Journal of Men’s Studies 7(3), 353-369.

4. Gilboa, N. (1996). "Elites, lamers, narcs and whores: Exploring the computer underground." In In L. Cherny & E. Weise (Eds.), wired_women (pp.98-113). Seattle: Seal Press.

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Week 7 (2/23/04):

Environmental and educational factors. Experiences of girls and boys with computing. Experiences of female students in computer science programs.

Read:

1. Krendl et al. (1989). "Children and computers: Do sex-related differences persist?" Journal of Communication 39(3), 85-93.

2. Shashaani, L. (1994). "Socioeconomic status, parents’ sex role stereotypes, and the gender gap in computing." Journal of Research on Computing in Education 26(4), 433-451.

3. Evard, Michele (1996). "So please stop, thank you: Girls online." In L. Cherny & E. Weise (Eds.), wired_women (pp.188-204).

4. Spertus, E. (1991). "Why are there so few female computer scientists?" [Skim entire article; read closely the sections and subsections on: "Ways that males and females are treated differently"; "The masculine environment"; "Problems with solutions"] http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/Gender/pap/pap.html

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Week 8 (3/1/04):

Computer games as socialization into computer use. Gender stereotypes and stereotype breakers.

Guest lecture:

Elena Bertozzi, Telecommunication

2nd Observation Report:

Go to a store where computer-related toys and games are sold and describe all of the products targeted at children. OR: Go to a video arcade and describe the themes and graphics of each game.

Read:

1. Gorriz, C. & C. Medina (2000). "Engaging girls with computers through software games." Communications of the ACM, January 43(1), 42-49.

2. Subramanyam, K. & P. Greenfield (1998). "Computer games for girls: What makes them play?" In J. Cassell & H. Jenkins (Eds.), From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games (pp. 46-71). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

3. Jenkins, H. (1998). "'Complete freedom of movement'': Video games as gendered play spaces." From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. Cambridge: MIT Press. http://web.mit.edu/21fms/www/faculty/henry3/pub/complete.html

4. Brown, J. (1997). "All-girl Quake clans shake up boys' world." [short] http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,1885,00.html

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Week 9 (3/8/04):

System design and human-computer interaction. Can machines be gendered?

Read:

1. Benston, M. (1989). "Feminism and system design: Questions of control." In The Effects of Feminist Approaches on Research Methodologies, W. Tomm (ed.), pp.205-223. Calgary: Wilfred Laurier University Press.

2. McDonough, J. P. (1999). "Designer selves: Construction of technologically mediated identity within graphical, multiuser virtual environments." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 50 (10), 855-869.

3. Eisenberg, A. (2000). "Mars and Venus, on the Net: Gender stereotypes prevail." The New York Times, October 12. [short] http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/ courses/SI110/readings/ Gendered_Web_Voices.pdf

4. Herring, S. et al. (2002). "Designing for community: The effects of gender representation in videos on a Web site." Proceedings of the 35th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Los Alamitos: IEEE Press.

5. Honey et al. (1991). "Girls and design." Transformations 2(2), 77-.

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SPRING BREAK

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Week 10 (3/22/04):

Computer-mediated communication on the Internet (Part I). Potential and struggle.

Read:

1. Light, J. (1995). "The digital landscape: New space for women?" Gender, Play and Culture 2(2), 133-146.

2. Herring, S. (1993). "Gender and democracy in computer-mediated communication." Electronic Journal of Communication 3(2). http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/ejc.txt

3. Camp, L. Jean (with Anita Borg) (1996). "We are geeks, and we are not guys: The systers mailing list." In L. Cherny and E. R. Weise (Eds.), Wired_Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace (pp.114-125). Seattle: Seal Press.

4. Dibell, J. (1998). "A rape in cyberspace. (Or TINYSOCIETY, and how to make one)." Chapter One of My Tiny Life. http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html

5. Spertus, E. (1996). "Social and technical means for fighting on-line harassment." http://www.mills.edu/ACAD_INFO/MCS/SPERTUS/Gender/ glc/glc.html

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Week 11 (3/29/04):

Computer-mediated communication on the Internet (Part II). Gender, identity, and sexuality.

Read:

1. Bruckman, A. (1993). "Gender swapping on the Internet."

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/elc/papers/bruckman/gender-swapping- bruckman.pdf

2. McRae, S. (1996). "Coming apart at the seams: Sex, text and the virtual body." In L. Cherny and E. Weise (Eds.), Wired_Women (pp.242-263). Seattle: Seal Press.

3. Egan, J. (2000). "Lonely gay teen seeking same." The New York Times Magazine, Dec. 10. http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001210mag- online.html

4. Hall, K. (1996). "Cyberfeminism." In S. Herring(ed.), Computer-Mediated Communication: Linguistic, Social and Cross-Cultural Perspectives.

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Week 12 (4/5/04):

Gender on the World Wide Web. Uses of the Web. Visual representations of females and males. Women's portals.

3rd Observation Report:

Find 10-15 commercial websites which display images of humans (photographs and/or graphics), and describe how females and males are portrayed. OR: Go to a graphical chat environment and describe the avatars in use.

Read:

1. Arnold, J. & Miller, H. (1999). "Gender and web home pages." http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/miller/cyberpsych/cal99.htm

2. Kibby, M. (1997). "Babes on the Web: Sex, identity and the home page." Razón y Palabra 9(2). http://www.cem.itesm.mx/dacs/publicaciones/logos/anteriores/n9/ babe.htm

3. Herring, S. & Martinson, A. (2003). "Representational bias in Web pornography." [To be provided by instructor]

4. Brown, J. (2000). "What happened to the Women’s Web?" Salon, August 25. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/08/25/womens_web/

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Week 13 (4/12/04):

Gendered impacts of computers on office work, telework, and IT-intensive professions.

Read:

1. Iacono, S. & R. Kling (1984). "Office routine: The automated pink collar." IEEE Spectrum, 73-76.

2. Calabrese, A. (1994). "Home-based telework and the politics of private woman and public man: A critical appraisal." In U. Gattiker (Ed.), Women and Technology (pp.161-199). New York: Walter de Gruyter.

3. Lie, M. (1995). "Technology and masculinity: The case of the computer." The European Journal of Women’s Studies 2: 379-394.

4. Harris, R. (2000). "Squeezing librarians out of the middle: Gender and technology in a threatened profession." Women, Work and Computerization: Charting a Course to the Future. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Women, Work and Computerization. Vancouver, British Columbia: June 2000. E. Balka, and R. Smith (pp. 250-259). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishing.

Optional reading (useful overview):

Genderreach. (n.d.) "Impact of information technology on women's work." http://www.genderreach.com/pubs/it/sections3_4.pdf

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Week 14 (4/19/04):

Gender and globalization of the Internet.

Read:

1. Pastore, M. (2001). "Internet remains a man's domain." [short] http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/demographics/article/ 0,,5901_809341,00.html

2. Hafkin, N. & N. Taggart (2001). "Gender, information technology, and developing countries: An analytic study." http://www.usaid.gov/wid/pubs/it01.htm

3. Inayatullah, S. & I. Milojevic (1999). "Exclusion and communication in the information era: From silences to global conversation." In women@internet, ed. by W. Harcourt.

4. Lennie, J. et al. (1999). "Empowering on-line conversations: A pioneering Australian project to link rural and urban women." In women@internet, ed. by W. Harcourt.

5. Wheeler, D. (2001). "Women, Islam, and the Internet: Findings in Kuwait." In Culture, Technology, Communication: Towards an Intercultural Global Village, C. Ess (ed.), pp.158-182.

6. Howe, R. (1999). "Cyber feminism in Japan." http://www.macteks.com/PDF/Japaneseinternet.pdf

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Week 15 (4/26/04):

Postmodern imaginings; practical interventions.

Read:

1. Haraway, D. (1991). "A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist feminism in the late twentieth century." In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (pp.149-181). New York: Routledge.

2. Lynch, D. (2000). "High tech gender bending: Computer scientist Lynn Conway debunks gender gap myths." [short] http://abcnews.go.com/ sections/tech/WiredWomen/wiredwomen.html

3. Blum, L. (2001). "Transforming the culture of computing at Carnegie Mellon." http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~lblum/PAPERS/ TransformingTheCulture.pdf

4. Frieze, C. & L. Blum (2001). "Building an effective computer science student organization: The Carnegie Mellon women@scs action plan." http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~lblum/PAPERS/women@scsActionPlan.pdf

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Week 16 (5/3/04):

Take-home final exam (or term paper) due by 5 p.m.

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