What do you think about men and women’s uses of technology and the Internet?

[lynetteshef]

What do you think about men and women’s uses of technology and the Internet?

What are your experiences as a man, or as a woman, of technology, the Internet and this site’s message boards?


Hello,

My name is Lynette and I’m a researcher (academic) looking at gender and technology on the Internet. I have chosen to look at WebRats as the message boards on this site are lively and discuss issues of technology and gender. I would be very grateful if people could discuss with me their views on gender and the uses of technology, and their experiences of these message boards and of the Internet in general. I’m specifically interested in issues such as:

• Gender cultures on these forums and online in general

• Whether people disclose their gender when posting on these forums

• How people feel as a man or as a woman posting on these forums

• Whether people’s gender influences how people treat them on these message boards and online in general

• Whether there are differences in how men and women use and discuss technology

• Whether people’s identities are shaped in anyway by the technologies that they interact with, and if so how?

Please also feel free to discuss anything else that you feel is relevant to the subject of gender and technology and feel free to respond to other people’s posts - I would like to encourage a discussion of the topic rather than a survey response.

Thank you for your help and time.


Anonymity: All responses will be anonymised prior to the writing up of my notes – the name of the site and individual’s usernames will be changed.

[carstunts]

Well I've been on these forums for a while and everyone is a pretty good bunch. The mods keep good control on the boards and if something gets out of hand, they do what they have to do in order to resolve the problem.

People may disclose their gender depending on the topic they are discussing. This usually comes out in their topic (eg. my wife is having a problem with...), assuming that is a male talking. So it usually becomes obvious. To my knowledge, this information about their gender is published in their profile, but not everyone may have access to that.

There are probably more men on this forum then women, but regardless I feel I can come to this board anytime and post. I feel welcomed when I come here. I think the more users (regardless if they are men or women) makes for a good conversation that can provide two objective views from both sexes.

I don't think that the gender influences how people treat them, however the age of the person can. If the person is immature and is underage, then defintely, they are asking for a ban and for people to say "you sound like you are underage."

I don't think there is a large difference in between how men and women use technology/internet. They tend to use it for similar purposes. Perhaps us as men can be more enthused about using technology then women. Some women just don't like technology at all and think it's complicated. Any people born in this day of age have practically grew up with computers, in comparision to prior 1990.

Peoples identities could be shaped depending on how they interact with technology. It may help them in their every day lives however it may cause them to have more communication with people (eg. Forums, Instant Messaging, Social Networking Sites, etc). All of these create connections to speak with people, but it's what they do with them that can change them as a person. People usually use the internet for research, recreation (eg. watching videos, music, games, talking, etc), or communication (eg. email, instant messaging, etc).

I know this is a long response, but perhaps this helps with your study.