:: Netwoman ::

:: Sunday, August 29, 2004 ::

Virtual Girlfriend

Let's talk some serious stereotypes here...Ugh!

"Girlfriends on your cell phone

HONG KONG (AP) - She needs to be coddled with sweet talk and pampered with gifts, but you'll never see her in the flesh, says a Hong Kong company that's developing a "virtual girlfriend" for new cell phones with video capability.

Artificial Life, Inc.'s electronic love interest will appear as an animated figure on a telephone screen. But she'll require a lot of attention, involving virtual flowers and diamonds, company spokeswoman Ada Fong said on Monday. The gifts will keep the relationship going from one level to the next - and even though it's all made up of cold, hard data, suitors will have to pay cold, hard cash for the gifts.

The amounts have yet to be determined, Fong said.

Users of so-called third-generation, or 3G, cell phones who subscribe to the game can send text messages to the virtual woman, who'll respond by voice, Fong said.

If she's neglected, "she'll be unhappy and she won't talk to you," she added.

The game doesn't allow interactions of a sexual nature, Fong said, calling it "suitable for all ages."

The company hopes to develop a virtual boyfriend for women by early next year.

The virtual girlfriend is similar to the popular Tamagotchi "pet" concept developed by Japan's Bandai Co., Fong said.

Artificial Life hopes to launch the service in the English, Japanese and Korean languages in late November. No 3G operators have agreed to offer it yet, she said. "

:: Netwoman 11:26 PM [+] ::
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Internet Turns 35

Thirty-five years after computer scientists at UCLA linked two bulky computers using a 15-foot gray cable, testing a new way for exchanging data over networks, what would ultimately become the Internet remains a work in progress.

Stephen Crocker and Vinton Cerf were among the graduate students who joined UCLA professor Len Kleinrock in an engineering lab on Sept. 2, 1969, as bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers. By January, three other "nodes" joined the fledgling network.

Then came e-mail a few years later, a core communications protocol called TCP/IP in the late 70s, the domain name system in the 80s and the World Wide Web now the second most popular application behind e-mail in 1990. The Internet expanded beyond its initial military and educational domain into businesses and homes around the world.

Today, Crocker continues work on the Internet, designing better tools for collaboration. And as security chairman for the Internet's key oversight body, he is trying to defend the core addressing system from outside threats, including an attempt last year by a private search engine to grab Web surfers who mistype addresses."

:: Netwoman 11:21 PM [+] ::
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Using Email to Communicate

...which I certainly do.

I am trying to clear some room on my old PC here. I have had this computer since November 24th, 2000. It is really time for a new one, but the graduate funds likely won't permit it this year. It's an Intel Pentium III - 700MHz, It only has 128MB with 19GB of hard drive space - most of which I have used already and this thing runs slower than dirt.

Did you know that I have sent 24,148 emails from my home computer since that date? Yes, I have kept them all. You have no idea how handy it is when someone says "You never sent that to me" or When you are having a disagreement with someone about the events of two years ago "Oh wait, I can tell you exactly what you said to me, and what my response was".

:: Netwoman 5:08 PM [+] ::
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Changing Things Around

Many people seem to change their Blog templates over time, but I haven't done this yet - one year, 10,000+ visitors and almost 400 posts later. I like the look of my blog.

I did decide to change things aroung a little. I have added some new things in the side bar, which I will add more to after I sleep (I am still on California time for some reason). I also took off my list of blog links, and instead listed my Bloglines Blog Roll that shows what Blogs I read. Do I really read almost 80 blogs. Hmm. This could be a problem when I start writing my dissertation (still collecting data).

:: Netwoman 2:22 AM [+] ::
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Virtual Bullying, Real or Not?

From Zephoria
Internet Gives Teenage Bullies Weapons to Wound From Afar By AMY HARMON NY Times.

"As soon as Amanda got home, the instant messages started popping up on her computer screen. She was a tattletale and a liar, they said. Shaken, she typed back, "You stole my stuff!" She was a "stuck-up bitch," came the instant response in the box on the screen, followed by a series of increasingly ugly epithets.

That evening, Amanda's mother tore her away from the computer to go to a basketball game with her family. But the barrage of electronic insults did not stop. Like a lot of other teenagers, Amanda has her Internet messages automatically forwarded to her cellphone, and by the end of the game she had received 50 - the limit of its capacity.

"It seems like people can say a lot worse things to someone online than when they're actually talking to them," said Amanda, 14, of Birmingham, Mich., who transferred to the school last year. The girls never said another word to her in person, she said. "

" The episode reflects one of many ways that the technology lubricating the social lives of teenagers is amplifying standard adolescent cruelty. No longer confined to school grounds or daytime hours, "cyberbullies" are pursuing their quarries into their own bedrooms. Tools like e-mail messages and Web logs enable the harassment to be both less obvious to adults and more publicly humiliating, as gossip, put-downs and embarrassing pictures are circulated among a wide audience of peers with a few clicks."

" For many teenagers, online harassment has become a part of everyday life. But schools, which tend to focus on problems that arise on their property, and parents, who tend to assume that their children know better than they do when it comes to computers, have long overlooked it. Only recently has it become pervasive enough that even the adults have started paying attention. "

I am really glad that the this wasn't around when I was in High School. I had enough issues with harassment from girls in my class.

:: Netwoman 2:33 PM [+] ::
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Knock Knock

Who's Knocking at the Door? Check Your E-Mail First - JULIET CHUNG

"THE Internet is renowned for its ability to create communities of people with common interests, no matter where in the world they are. But a new Web site aims to build a community among users who are not so far-flung.

The site, called I-Neighbors, seeks to connect people with others nearby, enabling them to get to know people well enough to trade plant-sitting duties, perhaps, or feel comfortable dropping by for a chat.

By offering a one-stop shop where people can exchange e-mail with their neighbors, find information about them and be matched to those with similar interests through a social networking feature, the free site aims to initiate online interactions that will translate into more contact offline.

"The idea is that this breaks down some existing barriers to communication," said Keith Hampton, the site's founder and an assistant professor of technology, urban and community sociology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I honestly don't want to connect with my neighbours, but great idea!

:: Netwoman 2:27 PM [+] ::
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New CWIT Initiatives

The Center for Women and Information Technology is pleased to announce funding from the National Science Foundation to support three new CWIT initiatives.

1) Conduct research - five UMBC faculty representing Information Systems, Sociology, and Imaging and Digital Arts have been funded for a 30-month multi-method, multi-disciplinary study to investigate the interrelationships among gender, digital media technology usage and perceptions, self-efficacy, and career intentions.

2) Support women as entrepreneurs - three UMBC Centers have partnered to create a systematic model for increasing the commercialization of technology innovations from universities and federal labs by training women as entrepreneurs to create technology-based start-up companies. The Centers include the Center for Women and Information Technology, The Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, and the techcenter@UMBC. UMBC's Office of Technology Development is also a partner in the project.

3) Building the pipeline - UMBC's Center for Women and Information Technology, The Shriver Center, and the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland California have partnered to implement and beta test Chabot's TechBridge curriculum in six middle schools over three years to increase the number and diversity of students, and particularly girls, pursuing an interest in IT. Activities will include after-school, weekend, and a four-week summer program.

For additional information or questions, fee free to contact the
Center at 410-455-2822 or CWIT at umbc dot edu

:: Netwoman 2:19 PM [+] ::
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Fashion Rave in Cyberspace

When "Ratava's Line" made its on-line debut on April 23, 2003 it modeled a paradigm shift in several disciplines - fashion, animation, story telling, technology, education, communication, marketing, - and was immense fun for all involved. The goal of the collaboration was to open the door to new possibilities and be the starting point of collaboration between disciplines.

Although the live event was time-based, the project is not over. The response from people present in both locations, as well as the students and visitors who dropped in wearing their own avatars, has stimulated thinking about future adaptations and presentation of the project. "

:: Netwoman 2:11 PM [+] ::
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Losing Authorial Voice in RSS Feeds

Danyel Fisher has an interesting blog post about our adventures with Howard Rheingold last week. Howard and Danyel hadn't met before, but apparently Howard has been reading Danyel's blog. Danyel reflects on this. Two virtual ships passing in the night.

This made me think about my use of RSS feeds - and how life was before I used Bloglines. In the old blog days (ha! Last Year),I would visit each person's blog on my blogroll. This way I could really engage with the people who were writing the posts, see pictures of the person on the sidebar etc. But truthfully, it became crazy when I was reading 70 different blogs a day. The aggregator was the way to go. Yes, you do lose some of the personality of the blogger this way - you miss template changes, new profile pics and so forth. I do find that if there is an interesting blog post, I will click and go and read it on the site. I really feel like I am a part of the Blog author's community.

So, RSS feeds efficient and time saving? Yes. RSS feeds rob bloggers of their personality? Yes.

:: Netwoman 12:19 AM [+] ::
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Male Priviledge

Trish Wilson has some very good blog entries about "White Guys and Privilege" and "Feminist Issues, Feminist Men, and Female Representation". Trish blogs about an article by Chris Crass :

" I'm aware that one criticism of this article is that it doesn't go nearly far enough. It doesn't have enough pointers regarding being aware of how white, middle-class men benefit from societal attitudes, such as their opinions would be accorded more value, they get to define the debate, and all sorts of other little things they may take for granted that women overall cannot. A woman has to work twice as hard as a man.

The article mainly about men being aware of other men and wanting to dominate in meetings rather than listen or ask what is needed. There may also be criticism that it focuses too much on awareness and not enough on actually taking action that would relieve men of the benefits of their status. Letting go of the benefits of privilege is not something a lot of people would willingly give up."

Have a look, it is pretty interesting.

Reminds me of "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"

"I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group" by Peggy McIntosh

:: Netwoman 11:49 PM [+] ::
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Technology and Work

I was at the grocery store today, and my local store has implemented some new technology. The store now has four cash registers that are functional so that the paying customer swipes their own groceries, and completes the transaction themselves. It's like going to an ATM rather than a bank teller. Perhaps this isn't new, but in my area it is.

I suppose it's supposed to be quicker - that is if you don't get stuck waiting for someone who cannot work the technology. But something else struck me of course.

There are four new automated regsiters, with one cashier 'watching over' these registers in case something whacky happens when non-techno-savvy customers are using them. So, what do we have? We have three less paid cashiers on shift. Three less cashiers who are generally women. Once again, we have automated technology taking jobs away from working class women.

Did anyone else at the grocery store think about this? Or is it just me? How long until the whole store is automated? What does the union think of this? What do the employees think of this?

Grrrr.

:: Netwoman 3:12 AM [+] ::
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Future Homes: House N at MIT

Future Now is blogging right up my dissertation-alley.

"I have seen a number of very different future homes over the past five years, constructed by hardware, retail, communications and academic enterprises. Some attempted to be complete, some showed only a narrow peek into what our homes could look like. Each has had its own flavor of emphasis. Many have been wildly optimistic as to what an average consumer could reasonably afford in the next 5 years. The cost of such technologies needs to be carefully thought out. Each was also dated in its content, since you can hardly keep up with accelerating changes, or hope to predict what will survive more than a year.

These homes also point to how technologies need standards to interoperate. Their technologies also must operate with existing (legacy?) service devices in the home. A good example of this is in the kitchen, where we expect our refrigerator to last for 15 years, yet the technologies that link to it will likely evolve over 2-3 years. As a result its been tough for devices llike net-enabled refrigerators. How do you integrate these needs with vastly different cycles of evolution? "


"MIT Changing Places / House_n located here.

Change is accelerating, but the places we create are largely static and unresponsive. House_n is a Department of Architecture research consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that explores how new technologies, materials, and strategies for design can make possible dynamic, evolving places that respond to the complexities of life. Changing Places is a joint Architecture and Media Laboratory Consortium that includes House_n and emphasizes links between the home and places of healing, work, learning, and community...."

:: Netwoman 9:26 PM [+] ::
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Designing the Proactive Home

Useful for my dissertation.

Designing the Proactive Home from Future Now.

"I recently was doing a lot of reading on smart home research, and just came across what looks like a great piece:

Frans Mayra & Tere Vaden, "Ethics of Living Technology: Design Principles for Proactive Home Environments, Human IT 7:2 (7/2004). PDF.

"The entry of proactive technology into highly sensitive environments, such as the home, produces specific design challenges that are inextricably linked to ethical issues. Two design goals are presented and analysed: proactive solutions have to be both personalized and consistent. These requirements are partially contradictory, and need to be understood in the context of the sociocognitive setting of the home. The embedding of proactive technology into a home environment has to provide the user with an awareness of the possibilities of control and play. These design goals are further developed with regard to different user cultures: here we concentrate on early adopters and elderly people."

:: Netwoman 9:21 PM [+] ::
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Bridging the Gender Digital Divide

The publication is an output of the joined initiative of UNDP Bratislava Regional Center and UNIFEM Central and Eastern Europe in cooperation with APC Women's Networking Support Programme.

The name of the report is Bridging the Gender Digital Divide and you can download the PDF file here.

"We hope that this report will help initiate a discussion about women, gender, and equal opportunities of women and men in relation to ICTs. Such debate is currently in a not very advanced stage in our region of Central and Eastern Europe. We are working towards mainstreaming the ICT issues into the work of women's organisations in the CEE countries and into ongoing processes such as Beijing+10 and WSIS."

:: Netwoman 8:32 PM [+] ::
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The seven-year-old bloggers

"Weblogs are sometimes criticised for being the self-obsessed ramblings of people who have little to say and too much time on their hands in which to do it. But there are gems out there - including many sites created by children...Children as young as seven in one British school are using weblogs as part of their normal routine, and are doing better than non-webloggers as a result, their teacher says. " Located here, BBC News June 14, 2004.

:: Netwoman 8:00 PM [+] ::
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Adopting Virtual Pets

In case you have time on your hands (which I do not), you can Adopt a Pet with Virtual Life here. You can choose the Pet you want, and you have to "virtually" take care of it with feeding, grooming and so forth. Sounds similar to the Tamagotchi that my son used to play with/take care of. Anyone have time for this? Not I. I can barely feed and groom myself, my son, my three German Shepherds and my cat...though it's a neat idea.
Perhaps someone can virtually adopt me and pay my tuition :)

:: Netwoman 1:23 AM [+] ::
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RSS Feedster Feed is Freaked

I have been having some trouble with my Feedster Feed. I have sent a few emails to the folks over there, but so far no luck. All the posting that I have been doing has not been showing up on my Bloglines. I am not sure if this is a problem at any other aggregators, as my hits on the site are still about the same.

In the meantime, I have utilized Blogger's Atom feed, and you can see the new link up top. I am suggesting that folks who stop by here change their feed to this one.

http://www.netwomen.ca/Blog/atom.xml

Thanks!

:: Netwoman 10:37 PM [+] ::
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Hiking with Howard Rheingold

A major highlight of my San Fran trip was meeting Howard Rheingold. At his house, I was able to see where it all happens, and all the excellent Art. We (being the NetLab crew) went a lovely two hour hike with Howard and had a well deserved Chinese dinner afterwards. California is absolutely beautiful. The hike was a metaphysical journey into the interior - if only I could write my dissertation there! Here is a pic - Kinda looks like an album cover...



Howard is the one with the hat and cane ;)

:: Netwoman 9:43 PM [+] ::
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Recovering from San Fran

I am back from San Fran and the ASA conference. The conference was decent, although there are not many people presenting about my particular research area per se. This is good I suppose - makes my research cutting edge yes? I spent most of time attending the Internet sessions that were available (in particular Digital Divide), but the good ones were all at the same time as my own, which was really too bad. Other sessions that I attended were sessions on Gender and Pop Culture and/or Media, and Race and Ethnicity sessions. There were other sessions that I was interested in - from my past academic life - deviance and crime, but alas, I did not digress.

Mark George gave an excellent paper entitled "Towards a Critical Antiracism, Rethinking the Term 'Antiracist'" and I will tell you more about after I ask permission to talk about here. I can say though his sentiments on Critical Antiracism have been/are reflected in this blog in regards to speaking of my own white priviledge. More on this later (with permission).

An interesting elevator moment came when I saw a man that I recognized. I had to think a minute, and then I realized that I had seen his picture on his Blog. I checked the name tag, and sure enough fellow blogger (and sociologist) Brayden King was standing next to me. I introduced myself as Tracy Kennedy (who?) - you know, "Netwoman". Ah yes. It is indeed a small blogger world.

There was much to see in San Fran, but I had already been to Fisherman's Wharf the previous year when I was at Berkeley. I strolled along Chinatown with my favourite pal "answergirl" (who is now at Burning Man) and enjoyed the kitsch. How fun. Union Square was great, the shopping fabulous. Answergirl showed me the Hello Kitty store, which was hilarious. I am stuck on Chococat.

:: Netwoman 9:11 PM [+] ::
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Freedom of (Blog) Speech?

Wired reports "You're Athletes, Not Journalists":

"Participants in the games may respond to written questions from reporters or participate in online chat sessions -- akin to a face-to-face or telephone interview -- but they may not post journals or blogs until the Games end Aug. 29."

From Louise. I don't understand the rationale for this...online chat but no blog?

From Joho - 'Express your Opinions, Get Fired', "Man who heckled Bush at Hedgesville rally fired from job" located here.

"Hiller said he was "shocked" to find out that his actions at the rally led the loss of his job. But if he had to do it over, Hiller said, he would have done the same thing.

"There is no venue for the regular guy to ask a question,' Hiller said. "We don't have access to people in power. And those events are completely scripted and controlled."

Good point, though I think he should try blogging. Though apparently we should be quite careful about what we say, and consider what we can and cannot blog...scary.

:: Netwoman 8:58 PM [+] ::
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Happy Anniversary to Me!

It's been a whole year of blogging already for Netwoman - and over 10,000 visitors in that time! I can still remember my first post and all the help that Kaye gave me setting up my blog, and giving me blog tips! Here's to many more!

:: Netwoman 11:41 AM [+] ::
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American Sociology Association

I am at the ASA conference in San Francisco right now so there will be light blogging. I have the Internet access, but it seems little time to blog...

But there are some very interesting sessions, and lots to think about as always.

:: Netwoman 4:25 PM [+] ::
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Technology causes more stress

Working women in the UK think new technology makes their lives even more hectic, according to a new report.

The advent of mobile phones and email have left women feeling under greater pressure to juggle work and home commitments, leaving less time for themselves.

As a result, a growing number of career women are suffering from what has been dubbed "frantic life syndrome".

Research conducted for Good Housekeeping magazine found 30 per cent of working females had regularly been driven to exhaustion by work and home commitments.

The problem is even more acute for those living in London, where the figure rises to 47 per cent.

Some of the biggest gripes are on the subject of technology designed to make life easier.

Twenty-nine per cent of working women said they could not live without their mobile phone for more than a day, although the figure soared to 56 per cent among 16 to 24-year-olds.

However 12 per cent complain the phones meant "my life is no longer my own", while 10 per cent said having a mobile meant their employer regularly called them with out-of-hours work queries.

The arrival of email is largely welcomed by workers but some believe it has increased their stress levels.

One in 10 of those surveyed felt their boss put more demand on them by email than they would face-to-face, rising to 23 per cent of working women in East Anglia.

The daily commute is one of the biggest complaints for career women in the poll, with almost a third angry about the government's handling of transport issues.

The figure rises to 40 per cent of working women in London but the situation appears to be even worse in Scotland, where 47 per cent complain about their commute.

The problem was so bad for 7 per cent of those questioned that they had given up their job, while a further 10 per cent were considering doing the same.

Pressure to succeed at work means many women are working through their lunch hour, but the survey found 17 per cent had felt dizzy and sick as a result.

June Walton, deputy editor of Good Housekeeping, said: "Women are doing more than ever before and society demands standards of human output synonymous with huge advances in technology.

"It's time for us to take stock and reclaim our lives."

The survey, carried out in May, questioned 1,104 women aged 16 to 56 of whom 617 worked either full or part-time.

:: Netwoman 11:34 PM [+] ::
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Fear and Online Dating

Fear of unknown dominates online dating services, new survey indicates
Nelson Wyatt - Canadian Press

Eighty per cent of Canadians believe chat rooms and online dating are dangerous because they don't know who they are dealing with, a poll suggests.

As well, 69 per cent of respondents indicated they reject using the Internet as a way to meet people and 47 per cent would completely rule out using the Internet to meet new friends.

Women (56 per cent) are the least likely to use the Internet to meet new people, compared with men (38 per cent).

The Leger Marketing survey, which was provided to The Canadian Press, indicated 83 per cent of women respondents did not trust chat rooms compared with 77 per cent of men.

Canadians between 55 and 64 years old (90 per cent), employees in sales, services or office workers (86 per cent) and homemakers (90 per cent) are among the most likely to distrust these websites.

Regional breakdowns for those who distrust chat rooms and online dating was Atlantic provinces 86 per cent; Quebec 83; Ontario, the Prairies and Alberta, all with 80 per cent; and British Columbia, 74.

Respondents were replying to the question: "Chat rooms and online dating are dangerous, you don't know with whom you are dealing?"

Close to two out of three - 65 per cent - of Canadians said they think the Internet makes it easier to meet people, although 26 per cent disagreed and nine per cent did not express an opinion.

Seventy-five per cent of respondents between 25 and 34 years old and manual workers (73 per cent) said they believe the Internet makes it easier to meet people.

Regionally, the Atlantic provinces had the highest percentage of people who said the Internet helps people to meet (70 per cent); followed by the Prairies, 68; Alberta, 67; Quebec, 66; Ontario, 64; and British Columbia 63.

The survey indicated that almost three-quarters of respondents (71 per cent) used the Internet for personal or professional reasons in June, with Ontarians logging on the most (75 per cent).

They were followed by British Columbians at 73 per cent; Albertans (72 per cent); the Atlantic provinces (70 per cent) and the Prairies (66). Quebec had the lowest number of surfers at 63 per cent.

The telephone survey of 1,500 Canadians, conducted between July 6 and July 11, is considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

:: Netwoman 6:04 PM [+] ::
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Women Go Blogging and Find Freedom of Speech

08/02/04 By Karen Trimbath

Many more women than men start and maintain personal online journal postings known as Web logs, or blogs for short. Female bloggers of all ages say they provide a great means of self-expression and forum for social-policy discourse.

Elaine Frankonis

(WOMENSENEWS)--Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, is a "major American crone." That's according to Elaine Frankonis in her blog.

Frankonis is a 64-year-old grandmother from Albany, N.Y., who describes herself as the "self-proclaimed crone of blogging." Her brief praise--and plea for readers to vote for John Kerry--was posted the day after Heinz Kerry addressed the Democratic National Convention in Boston on July 27.

Frankonis is one of millions of women who sit in front of computers, posting their opinions, photos and links onto online journals called blogs, or Web logs. While most blogs are created by the under-30 crowd, particularly teens, women of all ages are enthusiastically blogging, says fellow blogger Jeneane Sessum of Atlanta.

"Blogs make it really easy to express yourself," says Sessum, a public relations writer. "It's an amazing tool to help you figure out who you are, what you care about and to connect with other human beings. Plus, it's a place for me to exercise my voice. I've been so busy writing for clients that I've never kept up with my personal writing. Blogging has really helped me refine my voice."

Sessum is the founder of Blog Sisters, a group blog with more than 100 female members from around the world who discuss everything from gender and international politics to family life and career quandaries, without fear of being censored. For instance, Shelley Powers, a computer writer from St. Louis who posts photographs on her site, enjoys discussing her images with professional photographers.
More Women Start Blogs

More women than men start blogs and they're also more likely to keep them, according to a study conducted by Perseus Development Corp., a Web-based market research firm based in Braintree, Mass. The study notes that the number of hosted blogs is expected to exceed 10 million by the end of 2004. It also found that women created 56 percent of surveyed blogs.

Opinion pages in most newspapers are dominated by male voices. With so few women editorial or opinion writers, blogs have become many women's method of choice to get their opinions heard.

"My fascination with blogging lies in my voice informs someone else's voice," notes Sessum. "I can push out thoughts, opinions and ideas."

All a blogger needs to get started is a computer and an Internet connection. Then she chooses a blog service provider. Blogger, headquartered in San Francisco, offers free templates and services. TypePad of San Mateo, Calif., offers a 30-day free trial of its services with monthly fees ranging between $4.95 to $14.95 per month. LiveJournal of Portland, Ore., enables people to join for free. Users can upgrade their accounts for extra features that cost between $5 to $25 per month. Motime of New York City has not yet determined the fees for upgraded accounts.

Part of the set-up process includes deciding on the level of privacy. Bloggers can choose whether to use a screen name to conceal their identities and whether readers can post comments. While many women use pseudonyms, others like Sessum and Frankonis openly use their real names.

Bloggers can update their sites as often as they want, although the Perseus survey did find that active blogs are updated on average only every 14 days. Most of the writing is informal in style and typically rife with misspellings, slang and grammatical errors.
Self-Proclaimed Crone of Blogging

Helping Sessum maintain the Blog Sisters site is Frankonis, a life-long activist. She began blogging after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in order to share her views about world events. Her son helped her set up her own site, called "Kalilly Time."

She says that her posts are a way for her to share her perspectives on feminism, spirituality and politics with readers from all over the globe.

"Women are very articulate in their blogs," she adds. "They're in their best face, using their best words. In many cases, women don't get the chance to express themselves this way" in face-to-face relationships.

Standing on a soapbox carries risks, as Frankonis has found, for readers can sometimes leave negative comments. She believes that women and men respond to blogs differently. "When commenting, women tend to be more considerate of each other, while men tend to be more ruthless," she says.

Even she admits, though, that this generalization isn't always true. She and Sessum, for instance, have "had a few tussles. There's a risk, because we're not face to face, that you could get hurt or make enemies. But we get over it."
Connections Are Crucial

With blogging, as in real life, connections are the name of the game.

Most blogs contain links to other blogs, news sources and other sites. Technorati is an online company in San Francisco that ranks the world's top 100 blogs according to how many other blogs link to them. It lists only a few sites supposedly run by women, and these tend to feature images of large-breasted models, according to Powers, who's tired of seeing such blogs. She says these soft-porn sites conform to men's expectations.

Sessum and Frankonis like rocking the boat through voicing their opinions. So does Powers, who isn't shy about voicing her opinions about the prevalence of sexism in technology in her blog titled "Burningbird."

For instance, Powers took on blog templates created for Blogger that she believed reflected gender stereotypes. One titled "Mr. Moto" features a taupe background and a photo of a skyscraper in a sample post, while the other, "Ms. Moto," featured a pink background and a photo of a Barbie doll in a sample post.

"What is the message from these templates?" writes Powers. "That men have professional-looking sites while women prefer pink and dolls?"

Powers adds that participants--both men and women--are influenced by society's gender expectations. For instance, she observes that bloggers of both sexes tend to give more credibility to men's opinions than women's.

"There tends to be sexism in technology," she says. "It's frustrating. When you're a writer and have something to say, you want to be treated with respect."

The solution to resolving the tension between the genders, says Frankonis, may lie in continuing to blog and to read other blogs, to keep the conversation going. "Blogging is a really good way to diminish isolation," she notes. "It makes you realize there is one planet. We Americans forget that so easily."

Karen Trimbath is a writer in Pittsburgh, Pa. She received her MFA in creative writing from Penn State.

For more information:

Kalily Time
Blog Sisters
Burningbird

:: Netwoman 11:41 PM [+] ::
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Disability organisations failing in their own web site's accessibility

Surprise findings from a UK research survey 'Disability 50' by Ethical Media show that the majority of Disability organisations do not address accessibility needs sufficiently in their web and digital communications.

The research says that:
* Nearly 60% of leading disability websites fail basic accessibility checks
* Results indicate web accessibility is not yet embedded within the sector
* A handful of exemplary websites leading the sector

The research carried out by Ethical Media reveals the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of disability groups' communications activities and points to an urgent need to address web accessibility, usability and effective digital communications in the disability sector. Located here.

:: Netwoman 11:50 AM [+] ::
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WSIS GENDER CAUCUS

Research Program: Engendering ICT Policy

The WSIS Gender Caucus is launching a program of small grants to support innovative research on gender and information communications technologies, during 2004-05. It is anticipated that there will be two rounds of calls for proposals and that the supported research will be completed in time to be presented on Gender Caucus panels at the second World Summit on the Information Society, slated for Tunis, Tunisia in November 2005.

The overall objective of the research program is to enlarge the knowledge base for gender-sensitive policy on information communications technologies. Projects, which can be related to activities anywhere in the world, are expected to fall into one of the following three general areas:

1. Documentation, analysis and evaluation of efforts to mainstream gender into ICT policy. This could include a critique of existing initiatives or the documentation of best practices, including the implementation of gender-sensitive ICT policy.

2. Applications and content. This could include case studies of cultural, social and technical perspectives on ICT policy or political economy-based studies of applications in education, health, e-governance, e-commerce, etc.

3. Theories and methodologies. This could include the development of conceptual frameworks and methodologies for better understanding and analyzing the relationship between ICTs and gender.

In each of the two rounds, 20 research grants will be made, each to a maximum of US$1000. This total is expected to cover all associated research costs and recipients would be expected to plan their projects accordingly. One half of the grants will be used to support young scholars (female or male) who are currently registered in a higher degree program (master’s or doctoral level). The remaining grants are intended to support university and research center based scholars. Projects that involve collaboration beyond national borders will be considered for slightly higher grants (to a maximum of US$2500).

Successful applicants will receive one half of their grant at the beginning of the project and the remainder when the final report has been received. There will be no exceptions.

Proposals must be submitted by e-mail and must meet the following requirements:

clear statement of the problem
objectives of the research
methodology
method of data analysis
time line
preliminary bibliography

Proposals should be a maximum of five pages. Proposals longer than five pages will automatically be rejected.

An international panel of experts will select the winning proposals and their decisions will be final. In addition to the criteria listed above, the panel will give consideration to regional balance.

To be considered for the first round of research grants, interested parties should submit their proposal here by August 15, 2004. It is anticipated that the first grants will be made by the end of September 2004.

:: Netwoman 11:46 AM [+] ::
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