Final Blog Entry- On Women and Computers

For my final project, I wanted to re-cap off of what we had learned and discussed in this class. We learned that there have been many struggles with women on the web, including sexism, access to computers and the web, class status, location, and acquiring the skills and knowledge that are necessary for contributing work on the web. Websites and organizations, such as Feministing and NOW are great examples of feminist supported websites, dedicated to uniting with women from all areas and invites them to become activists in their communities and their world. 
Other issues, such as seeing gender differences on social networking websites like Facebook is important because it shows us who researches or does more on a certain topic. The digital divide is another important issue that greatly affects women all around the world, and their access or limited access to acquiring computer skills. I have learned that in other parts of the world, women really struggle to use the computer or web because of the digital divide. As Nadine Moawad said, for example, in Lebanon, some women cannot use public access computers because of the censorship, slow internet speed, and men's use of viewing pornography. This not only enforces the Digital Divide, but puts women in danger as well. 
This class taught me a lot about the importance of knowing computer and web skills to expand my feminism and share my feminist beliefs. Because social networking, blogging, and other feminist web organizations are so widely used as a tool of communication and connecting these days, it is important to know how to use certain tools like hyperlinks, screen shots, heading styles, voice threads, web searching skills, and blogging skills to professionally share your ideas for activism and social change. 
 Learning about women's contribution to the web is especially important, because, as we know from the second digital divide, the world views mostly men as the ones who have the better computer and web use skills. I learned how important it is to properly web search other women who have made great contributions the web, and how their work is part of how we social network and connect today. 
I created a video on Xtranormal, that shows my results of several interviews I conducted with 15 people, 10 male and 5 female. I chose to interview more men than women to see the male perspective of women on the web, because of the sexist stereotype that women cannot contribute technological work on the web. I did not mention any famous women contributors in my interviews. I simply wanted to know their general attitudes towards women, feminism, and their relation to the web. 8 of the 10 men had a positive attitude about women being able to make equal contributions the web and to social networking, and they believed that women can acquire web and computer skills just as easily as men. However, of those 8 men, 6 of the 10 men thought that more men than women have a bigger interest in learning about computer and web skills. Of the 5 women I interviewed, 100% of them had said that they believe women can make equal contributions the web and can learn and acquire basic web and computer skills. Critique: these interviews were only of 15 people, so if I had interviewed more, my results would probably vary. I want to continue to research about people's visualization of women on the web and if they believe women can make great contributions to tools and social websites that are popular today, and teach others about feminist contributions to break the stereotype that women are technological or cannot have these kinds of skills. 

Our WS 445 Class

This class overall has been helpful in my learning about feminism and the kind of contributions and work women have made to the web. I liked learning about the Digital Divide, along with other barriers women around the world face that make it harder for them to access the web. I think having a range of computer skills is important and necessary for feminist work on the web because social networking is so widely used today to communicate and connect with other people. Blogging is a tool I personally find fun and interesting to feminist work, because it helps feminists express their feelings and knowledge about current events, contributions, and other women's issues around the world, such as issues dealing with racism, disability, sexual orientation, age, class, etc. Knowing how to use hyperlinks and screen shots, along with other tools are a necessary knowledge to have as well, because it helps enhance and capture the reader's attention when reading a post or a website. I also found it important to know about other famous female contributors to the web. This, I believe, will help break the worldwide stereotype that women do not have computer and web skills, along with the idea that women cannot make useful contributions the web. My final project will be a re-cap off of what we have learned in this course, including my thoughts on women's work on the web, and the importance of recognizing them and their work.
By having basic computer and web skills, this will help women and other feminists create insightful and professional blogs, websites, reports, and organizations that will help us move forward in the fight for gender equality.

What I learned from Women's Contributions

After seeing my classmate's presentations on the Women's Contributions assignment, I felt like I was able to learn a lot more about other women's work on the web, and the kind of contributions they made to the web. I think that often, women's work on the web is not recgonized as much as men's work and contribution on the web, so I think this assignment helped me learn the kind of work other women have done to the web and social media.

I particularily liked Stef's presentation on Beth Kanter, and learning about the work and contribution she made. I learned that Beth was very big into activism, which is a very important part in femism and is required to changing the way the world's visualization is about women on the web. I liked her views on using social media as a way for positive activism in women's roles and women's issues, and i thought it was interesting to know she has been known as one of the most influential women in technology. I think this is a very positive idea because it can help contribute to the way we see women's work on the web and how their hard work should be recgonized because of the every day growing use of the web and social media. Actually, part of my final project will be focusing on the women's contributions to the web, and the visualizations from other people of women's work on the web, so it is very important that we recognize these amazing women and their work and contribution.

Life Sources!

For this assignment, we had to research at least 6 resources we would find useful for a possible future career or a current activity or volunteer work we are involved in. I researched 6 different sources for what my hopeful future career will be, which is to work with LGBT youth. I found a few website sources, some of which i found to be very useful resources if I am able to get a job working with LGBT youth.

Pflag

The first website is dedicated to people who are friends, parents, and families of LGBT people, (PFLAG). Their vision is to create equality for LGBT people who are often very misunderstood in our society. They are dedicated to educating others and advocating for gay rights and to fight the discrimination because of homophobia and heterosexism.

National Sexual Violence Resource Center

Another website I found is the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. They claim to serve as the nation’s principle information and resource center that focuses on all aspects of sexual violence.

Women’s health.gov

The third website  Women’s health.gov. They focus on issues that affect women’s health, such as sexual assault because sexual assault affects every woman and girl in some way or another. They offer a FAQ page that includes violence against women, like sexual assault. which may come in useful if I meet a youth who has been a victim of sexual violence. 

GLBT National Help Center

This next website is a GLBT National Help Center. They offer free confidential phone and internet peer-counseling, along with information and local resources for LGBT people. They offer two different hotline numbers available for either youth talkline, or a national LGBT hotline.

Twin Cities Pride

Another group website I found is called Twin Cities Pride. The staff working on this website believes in challenging the discrimination against LGBT people and to inspire equality and achievements of the LGBT community. 

Blogs:

Note: I did find that researching blogging tools and websites for my research to be the most difficult. Most of the sources I found were support groups and information providing other resources.

100 Best LGBT  Blogs

This website offers inspiring and powerful blogs from all over the world. This is a great way for LGBT people to express themselves and share their feelings and their experiences as a person who is LGBT. If I am going to work with LGBT youth, I think this would be another great source for them or myself to get some inspiration and information to offer them for further help.

Overall, I found that researching resources for a possible future career, current volunteer work, or life goal is very useful and important. Learning about queer liberation and advocating for LGBT rights is a really important issue for me, and that is why I would like to find a career that is actively involved in working with LGBT people. I found that while researching for useful resources it can be difficult, because you want to find a good source that provides useful information relevant to your topic. 

International Feminist Websites

In class, we had the chance to look over and learn about different international feminist websites. The two that I found really interesting were Women's Net and Visualising Women's Rights in the Arab World.



Women's Net was interesting to me because the website was created to help women find sources and tools they can use to contribute to social activism. Most people are aware that women's rights in some places in Africa are complicated. Many women suffer poverty, and are unable to go to college to pursue higher educations, and the responsibility of being the main caregivers for their families and children. They are also expected to contribute to labor work with the men to provide resources for their families and homes. Women's Net acknowledges these issues and want to provide women with access to information to reaching out to other women in identifying the barriers women in Africa face. They believe in promoting gender equality and creating wider communication technologies available to women. In an article posted on the website, it was discussed about the 2011/2012 Budget plan, R670, which leaves the creators of the website hopeful that the budget will be used correctly with the justice and police to upgrade information technology, since so many women and children are potential victims to online predators.
I think this website is a great way for feminists to learn about important issues in Africa, and what should be done to fighting against gender inequality. But I noticed that the website design could use more of an eye catching layout. Perhaps the creators of the website are not fully trained in how to design layouts on websites a certain way, or maybe posting live video feeds and video blogs would also be a good attention grabber to the viewers.  I also noticed on the Home Page of the website, the word "organization" is spelled incorrectly. That is not a huge issue, but it is just something I noticed right away when I visited the website.

The second website, which was VWR, which is called "Visualising Women's Rights in the Arab World" was created by women's rights activists in Arab to help strengthen the use of visual techniques for women. There are 45 women's rights activists involved in the workshop. Blogging is a useful tool in the projects to share progress of work being done and documenting workshops being held. They focus on several issues such as how women are represented in the Arab world, the Arab world's visualisation of social and political issues, conflicts in the Arab World, and women's rights worldwide. Their blogs also share stories and articles on current events and issues affect women in the Arab world on the home page.
I think this website was interesting because many women struggle for certain rights, especially in the Arab world, so I think it is great this website was created by other women's rights activists to help bring awareness and attention to women in the Arab world, and how visual techniques can be useful and helpful to them. I like the design of the art work created on the main home page, because it has a really different and unique look to it, but i also think that this website could use or offer more visual techniques that can really catch the reader's attention. Another issue that i think is a concern for a lot of feminist websites is getting the website brought to people's attention. How can people find this website or learn about it? Issues like these are important to consider so more people can visit this website and learn what they can do to help bring awareness and advocacy to women's rights in the Arab world.

The Digital Divide

We all know that men and women find the internet useful these days. The internet has changed everybody's lives, and not just in the United States, but other countries as well. It has changed the way we see things, communicate, learn, express ourselves, and educate others, along with so much more. 

But do any of us really stop to think about the differences between men and women and their use on the internet? In a 2010 article on a website discussing the digital divide and women, we can see that women use the internet more often than men for social networking and communicating with others, whether it be on women's issues, current events, or personal relationships. Even when it comes to portable social networking, via cellphones or other networking devices, women are ahead of men.

So it is easy to infer that women prefer the internet more than men for social networking use. But when it comes to the technology "behind the scenes", such as running or creating websites and software, running servers, etc, these areas are still seen as a man's industry. But some women want to change the stereotypical idea that men are the only brains behind the creation of software and technology. For example, Shireen Mitchell, in the article from the Washington Post by Kim Hart, says she had an interest in video games and technology since she was a teenager. 
      
       "I was never encouraged to be interested in technology," said Mitchell, 39. "Even my mother thought I was going to the arcade room to hang around boys -- not because I actually loved the games . . . There just aren't a lot of women who feel comfortable in the field." 


This is a great example of how women are not seen as technological, including with video gaming, or software production. 

But with the so called Second Digital Divide, this may affect women more than men. The second digital divide includes digital literacy, which may make it more difficult for women to get the education they need to get into technological industries. In an article discussing the Second Digital Divide, the writer makes a statement that there are circumstances that will affect those working in the technology sector.
"Computers and Internet demand specific skills if you want to use them as a tool, which creates a relative advantage for the people and organisations that use them" - Cecilia Castaño.

 This video from Youtube identifies the problems associated with the digital divide and offers suggestions to how we can change the sexist stereotypes.

How often are women recognized when they do work on the internet?  We know that women tend to use the internet more for communicating and social networking, such as blogging and such, but are they really being appreciated for it? I personally would like to see the men's perspective on Feminist blogging, and what his appreciation is towards it.  Blogs to women's issues are still gaining popularity, but by who? Just women? Or men too? When is the female "Bill Gates" going to hit the scene? How can we fight the sexist ideas that women cannot be major software and technology creators and still enjoy being a feminine woman as well? 

Video: Interview with Nadine Moawad

I watched a video on an interview with a woman named Nadine Moawad, who discusses issues of the use in the internet in Lebanon from a feminist perspective. Nadine discussed issues of intersection of sexuality and gender differences on the internet. Nadine stated how so many networks on the internet seem to encourage violence against women, or how they encourage controlling women and censorship  on women. she also mentioned how many places that offer free internet use such as coffee shops are usually very male dominated, and most women cannot feel completely safe being there, because some of the men even look at pornography there, or play video games, so there is obviously a lot of sexism that influences these behaviors. She also said that the internet is very slow in Lebanon, and that because there is no censorship in Lebanon on the internet, people are able to say whatever they want. She said  the no censorship can be useful and negative, because of the slow internet and poor connection qualities, it makes it difficult. The nicer internet connections can be purchased but she said they are very expensive.
I thought this video was interesting because i thought it is important to see from other women's perspectives from other parts of the world on the internet and the impact it has on men and women. It is safe to say that sexism plays a very big role in the influence of the internet and how women's rights and roles are impacted because of it. It really shocked me that the men in the coffee shops openly look at pornography right in public, creating an unsafe environment for the women who come there. The men's needs and interests are obviously more important than the women's and i like how Nadine believes in researching these issues and bringing change to create equality/