This post seem to me of interest for the list, regarding the "ecology" of
the NET.
a bientot,
Bernard, Quebec.
>Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 09:39:04 +1100
>Errors-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Mary Hanrahan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: ARLIST: netiquette: gender differences
>X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
>X-Comment: Action Research List
>
>Dear ARLISTers,
>
>This came to me in a roundabout route, and I won't forward the entire
>articles as I know some people have to pay by volume and may not be
>interested. So just a taste. (Actually the whole lot is hardly longer
>than one of my usual posts!)
>
>I think it is particularly interesting in that I don't think the
>ARLIST is typical of the research findings, as consensus building,
>etc. is more typical of this list than of others. Yet I do wonder
>at the small number of women contributing to the conversation.
>_____________________________________________________________________
>>From "Digital Media Perspective 94.12.23" which was circulated by RRE.
>
> Sexist Netiquette
>
> By Margie Wylie
>
>Netiquette is sexist. The informal etiquette of the Internet not only
> discourages female participation on-line, but its rule structure
>also tends to squelch the voices of the few women who insist on
>speaking up, Susan Herring, a linguist from the University of Texas
>has found.
>
>Herring says her studies reveal women and men have different ideas of
> what constitutes appropriate Net behavior. Netiquette supports more
>typically male communication patterns.
>
>An outgrowth of the scientific community and of hackers' interest in
>talking to one another, the Internet's libertarian survival-of-the-
>fittest ideals codify men's speech patterns as the norm for Internet
>discourse. The aggressive, winner-take-all attitudes of netiquette
>don't appeal to the way women communicate. While women tend to
>create shorter posts that ask questions, hedge, seek consensus and
>encourage other points of view, men's posts tend to run much longer,
>use strong assertions, challenges and authoritative statements. That
>in itself keeps women away from conversations that they find
>insulting or simply exclusionary.
>...
>
>------------------------------
> Richard K. Moore - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Wexford, Ireland - fax:
>+353 5323970
>_____________________________________________________
> Ineffective Netiquette
>
> By Richard Moore
>
>...
>Thus a SUBSET (females) of the net community is losing out, since it
>encounters significant barriers to its full participation. But in
>another sense, the ENTIRE net community is losing out even more! By
>failing to value LISTENING and CONCENSUS BUILDING, it fails to make
>any progress! The net is kind of like a meeting that hasn't been
>brought to order -- the crowd is still mingling in haphazardly
>clustered groups, and the room as a whole is a cacophony.
>
>We need to learn to listen, to seek consensus, to build common
>agendas, and work together to implement solutions. Ms Wylie's
>material tells us that females exhibit just those skills that the
>net sorely needs. The rest of us NEED that contribution, so that we
>can learn to use the net less as a jousting field, and more as a
>serious tool.
>
>It's not so much that males need to be more supportive of females,
>but that males need to LEARN from females. It may turn out to be true
>that females ultimately make their contribution with many fewer words
>than the males find it necessary to use (There's a typically long
>male sentence for you!). If so, that would be wise use of leverage on
>the female's part, rather than a lack of soapbox access.
>_____________________________________________________
>End of CPSR-GLOBAL Digest 45 End forwarded message
> **]_
>
>Mary
>
>***********************************************************
>Mary Hanrahan
>Centre for Mathematics and Science Education
>Queensland University of Technology
>Locked Bag No. 2, Red Hill, Queensland, 4059, Australia
>Ph: (07) 3864 3967 Email address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>***********************************************************
>
