Re(2): Human-Computer Interaction

Katherine Goff (Katherine_Goff who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu)
Thu, 21 May 1998 08:39:23 -0600

Tim writes:
>Jay, why do you view this as a particularly feminine way of interacting
>with technology? I haven't read much of Turkle's work, but when she
>discussed this in a keynote that she delivered at Educom last fall she
>didn't seem to be describing this as a gender-based difference. She
>referred to the play-like orientation to computer use as "the triumph of
>the tinkerer" and traced its origins to the early hackers and to video
>game
>players, two communities that tend to be predominantly male.

I also think that the article that Turkle wrote on epistemological
pluralism was based on observations of young men and women in formal
educational settings (where hackers are not likely to be seen.) I wonder
too, about the early hackers as bricoleurs and identifying this style of
computer interaction (with all awareness of the current discussion of this
word) as feminine.

In Sherryl Kleinman's book on gender and identity in an alternative health
organization, she proposes that part of the alternative identity is to
honor non-traditional styles of interaction. Hackers, as an alternative
computer culture, could be looked at in a similar way. Kleinman talks
about emotions and the appearance of vulnerability:

"Participants did think of the staff women as those who knew about
emotions. But that assumption didn't empower them. Because others thought
of the women's skills as 'natural,' the women didn't get any points for
displaying them. . . Since 'woman' is already associated with the
feminine, a woman who engages in emotion-talk gets a double dose of
femininity and thus further delegitimates herself. Men who express
vulnerability-especially those in high status positions-appear 'human' and
caring rather than nonauthoritative. Hence, the value participants placed
on traditionally feminine behaviors strengthened the authority of the men
but not the woman." (p. 88)

I wonder if the male hackers gained status and power because they worked
with computers in way that appeared to be creative and innovative because
they, as men, were feeling their way/tinkering/playing/allowing something
to emerge. When women were observed behaving this way with computers,they
were more likely to be seen as illogical and fuzzy-headed.

kathie

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Life's backwards,
Life's backwards,
People, turn around.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Sinead O'Connor and John Reynolds
Fire on Babylon: Universal Mother^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Katherine_Goff who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~kegoff/index.html