The Gendered Interactional Patterns of Computer-Mediated Chatrooms: A Critical Ethnographic Study

This study explores the gendered discourse of social-based computer-mediated contexts. Specifically, the critical ethnography explicates the patterns of discourse of both a sports-related (masculine-dominated) chatroom and a female-based (feminine-dominated) chatroom. Through the participant observations, the researcher discovered that traditionally masculine and feminine forms of discourse dominate the chatrooms. Furthermore, the groups constructed and maintained normative forms of behavior. Masculine participants were aggressive, argumentative, and power oriented. While feminine participants sought relationships and intimacy, they were often dominated and overpowered by the aggressive discourse of the masculine members. The findings have significant implications for the construction of gender in cyberspace, the normative behavior of computer-mediated communication, and power and gender in the use of technology.     

Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communities, A Comparative Analysis

In this article we combine the perspectives of sociology and computer science to compare face-to-face (f2f) and computer-mediated communications (CMC) from the viewpoint of their respective abilities to form and sustain communities. We also identify a third type of community-a hybrid-that is based on a combination of faceto-face (f2f) and CMC, or off- and online communications. The article thus in effect addresses an oft-asked question: Can virtual communities be "real", have the same basic qualities as f2f communities? The article is exploratory, because much of the necessary evidence has not yet been generated, and the relevant technologies are rapidly changing.     

Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communities,A Comparative Analysis

In this article we combine the perspectives of sociology and computer science to compare face-to-face (f2f) and computer-mediated communications (CMC) from the viewpoint of their respective abilities to form and sustain communities. We also identify a third type of community-a hybrid-that is based on a combination of faceto-face (f2f) and CMC, or off- and online communications. The article thus in effect addresses an oft-asked question: Can virtual communities be "real", have the same basic qualities as f2f communities? The article is exploratory, because much of the necessary evidence has not yet been generated, and the relevant technologies are rapidly changing.     

Defending the Boundaries: Identifying and Countering Threats in a Usenet Newsgroup

This article is an account of a Usenet newsgroup whose participants, in response to a perceived 'invasion' of 'barbarians,' explored and articulated the value of the group, the nature of the crisis facing it, and the strategies available to meet the crisis. The newsgroup facilitated political and personal support for some gay, lesbian, or bisexual men and women. The primary threat to the group was the increasing number of newcomers who were oblivious to established norms, who tended to view access to the group as a commodity, and who attempted to impose 'outside' paradigms on the operations of the group. Defensive strategies involved calling on rhetorical devices (such as flaming or ostracism) or structural resources (such as employers, network operators, or lawsuits). All strategies had the potential to backfire, but rhetorical strategies were less risky, more available, and more community affirming than strategies requiring access to structural resources. Through this account, the article addresses the mutual linkages and dependencies between the social and technical organization of computer-mediated communication (CMC) networks, the community-building activities taking place through those networks, and the social, legal, and economic structures in which those networks are embedded.     

Gender and the Information Work Force: New Zealand Evidence and Issues

ABSTRACT

This paper documents the growth and gender composition of New Zealand's information work force over the period 1976‐96. By 1996, about 55% of the female work force was employed in information occupations, compared to 40% of the male work force. The share of high-skilled information workers increased substantially over time, and faster for females than males. This suggests faster upskilling of the female information work force. The paper also briefly comments on some related, but much narrower, 'knowledge worker' concepts, and on some of the problems encountered if one wants to relate the work force measures to endogenous growth theory. The concluding comments provide a wish list of further research.     

Gender and IT in the Household: Evolving Patterns of Internet Use in the United States

Information technology (IT)—computers and related technologies—is the latest technology to enter the household. Like other technologies, gender is a major factor in its adoption and use as well as its perceived usefulness. Unlike prior household technologies, the computer's entry into the household has followed a different pattern. Early statistics revealed a vast gender divide, with men using computers and related technologies much more in the household. More recent statistics show a narrowing of the divide, perhaps even a reversal, particularly in the United States, with women outnumbering men in the access to and use of the Internet. In this article, the role of gender and its relationship with Internet use in the home are reviewed. In addition to overall adoption and access, the review focuses on specific Internet applications and examines the factors that contribute to gender differences in adoption and use of computers and Internet applications in the home.     

Our Own Devices: Heterotopic Communication, Discourse, and Culture in the Information Society 1

The main premise of this article is that in information societies generally, and in virtual social contexts particularly, a distinctive style of interaction to facilitate the communication of difference, heterotopic communication , has emerged. It rests on two cultural foundations: an ideological belief in the positive, socially integrating power of communication, and a prevailing ethic of instrumental rationality, subjective individualism, and strategically practiced self-interest. The former is demonstrated by the use of simulation and spectacle as sources of information; exhibitionism/voyeurism as a communicative style; and the awareness of surveillance. The latter is seen in the competitive use of knowledge as a commodity; a surface globalism masking deep parochialism; lateral as well as vertical information inequity; and the use of public versus private as strategies for engagement rather than as spaces. Those who engage in heterotopic communication resort to their 'own devices' both in the sense of personal agendas, strategies, interests, and interpretations, and in the form of the telecommunication tools that help realize them. These personal and technological devices allow individuals with the right educational and technical resources to avoid exposure to disagreement, difference, or other information that does not serve their direct purposes or reflect their particular views of the world; yet they also help convey the appearance of openness, availability, and cooperation. This style of interaction is used strategically in combination with information and communication technologies to gain social or economic advantages, but it may encourage social separatism and parochialism, inhibit the negotiation of disputes, and emphasize competing interests.     

Language, Network Centrality, and Response to Crisis in On-Line Life: A Case Study on the Italian cyber punk Computer Conference

The unobtrusive application of some techniques of research (namely, network analysis and content analysis) permits us to quantitatively identify some aspects of the social 'climate' and context which govern a particular group of people interacting with each other through computers: the Italian cyber punk computer conference has been analyzed over a period of 19 months, through a succession of crises and moments of renewal. Monthly variations in the network measurements observed (density, reciprocity of links, etc.) may be taken as a 'barometer' of the social liveliness of the conference. The analysis of the lexicon used in the messages reveals the presence of an underlying 'analogical' linguistic component and of strategies for the construction of one's own social presence despite the seemingly limited possibilities of expression offered by the net. Used together, both techniques describe the expectations related to the roles of newcomer or leader. Conclusions include: a) a proposed framework to explain the relationship between experiences and friendships acquired on-line and in real life b) considerations about the role of small virtual communities (such as the one analyzed here) in the general organization and development of global on-line society c) comments on the possible impact of off-line, real-world society upon the culture developed so far in cyberspace.     

性别失衡背景下的社会风险放大及其治理——基于群体性事件的案例分析

为了理清性别失衡对公共安全影响机制与作用模式,本文首先描述了转型社会中社会风险的主要形态,及性别失衡放大社会风险的途径;其次,通过改进风险的社会放大理论模型,构建了性别失衡背景下社会风险放大的理论解释框架,最后,通过典型案例剖析,揭示性别失衡背景下社会风险放大途径,提出以网络治理为工具的危机管理策略.     

Gender and sex bias in COVID-19 epidemiological data through the lens of causality

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a large amount of experimental and observational studies reporting clear correlation between the risk of developing severe COVID-19 (or dying from it) and whether the individual is male or female. This paper is an attempt to explain the supposed male vulnerability to COVID-19 using a causal approach. We proceed by identifying a set of confounding and mediating factors, based on the review of epidemiological literature and analysis of sex-dis-aggregated data. Those factors are then taken into consideration to produce explainable and fair prediction and decision models from observational data. The paper outlines how non-causal models can motivate discriminatory policies such as biased allocation of the limited resources in intensive care units (ICUs). The objective is to anticipate and avoid disparate impact and discrimination, by considering causal knowledge and causal-based techniques to compliment the collection and analysis of observational big-data. The hope is to contribute to more careful use of health related information access systems for developing fair and robust predictive models.     

Lean information for lean communication: Analysis of concepts,tools, references,and terms

Communication and information processes are vital in any company. The use of lean manufacturing concepts applied to the communication and information process aims to reduce waste and make the flows leaner and simpler. Lean information is a new strand of lean concepts and applications. The purpose of this study was to analyze quantitatively the publications concerning the subject, outlining an overview for the new research field of lean communication. Aiming for a deeper understanding, the concepts of lean information were applied in a real process. The quantitative analysis was carried out to find the main authors and works, as well as the main terms used in related works. We used the methods of citations works, co-citation references, and co-occurrence of words using the VOSviewer software. This software was primarily designed to analyze bibliometric networks in order to create, visualize, and assess maps based on network data generated from queries in journals. We found a lack of a methodology for the development and implementation of lean information concepts. We observed a gap which had not been addressed yet, that is, mapping communication flows and developing and implementing lean information. Moreover, there was no method for improvement, implementation, and control.     

Reference Ranges for Serum Total Cholesterol, HDL-Cholesterol, LDL-Cholesterol, and VLDL-Cholesterol and Triglycerides in Healthy Iranian Ahvaz Population

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are recognized as major mortality causes and imposes tremendously heavy socio-economic burden worldwide. A vast variety of risk factors have been introduced in the literature known to enhance the incidence of CVD, such as hyperlipidemia. Therefore in order to make an accurate clinical decision it is essential to have appropriate reference ranges for lipids and lipoprotein particles in a particular population. Healthy female (n = 601) and male (n = 617) cases were randomly selected according to certain exclusion criteria from individuals visiting the major University hospital clinics situated in different part of Ahvaz city, Iran, from June 2010 to December 2010. Fasting blood samples (10 ml) were collected and analyzed for total cholesterol, total triglyceride and HDL-C employing enzymatic assays of CHOD-PAP, GPO-PAP and homogenous methods respectively. The samples were obtained such to include the ethnic populations of Persian, Arab. Lore leaving in this city. The data were analyzed statistically by SPSS-18 software. The obtained results were analyzed then age ethnic-wise and reference ranges (mean ± 1SD) were calculated. Remarkable differences between the obtained results for our population with other nations were seen. Also ethnic difference for HDL-C among our cases was noted. The observed significant differences among different nations and ethnicities emphasizes the need for nation-specific, local reference ranges for lipids and lipoproteins particles, to be established.     

Electronic Commerce: Definition, Theory, and Context

Electronic commerce is a relatively new concept that crept into the business vocabulary during the 1970s. A picture of electronic commerce is emerging in which the Internet will become the essential dial-tone for conducting business by the year 2000. This contribution addresses definitional, theoretical and contextual issues including the nature, drivers, enablers, and the magnitude of electronic commerce. The author discusses the role of electronic markets, the effects of information technology on electronic commerce, interactivity, and the evolution of disintermediation to reintermediation. A definition and typology of electronic commerce are offered. Theoretical and conceptual approaches to electronic commerce are advanced in terms of (1) transaction cost theory, (2) marketing, (3) diffusion, (4) information retrieval, and (5) strategic networking. Lastly, the author poses the question of how electronic commerce adds value.     

Built to lie: Investigating technologies of deception,surveillance, and control

This article explores technological systems that dissimulate by design. Examples include untrustworthy hotel and workplace thermostats, digital applications to spy on workers and family members, and commercial and law-enforcement systems that surreptitiously collect mobile phone data. Rather than view such cases as exceptional, I argue that deceptive communication systems are hidden articulations of normal technological orders. If deception in itself is not the primary problem with such systems, then transparency alone cannot be the solution. As troubling as institutional opacity might be, an analysis of deceptive systems reveals more fundamental problems: imbalances in power and widespread acquiescence to corporate and state efforts to control individuals, groups, and their data. By moving beyond a quest for (or belief in) technological veracity, scholars could redirect attention to power inequalities and the pressing question of how to live together ethically.     

Chat mining: Predicting user and message attributes in computer-mediated communication

The focus of this paper is to investigate the possibility of predicting several user and message attributes in text-based, real-time, online messaging services. For this purpose, a large collection of chat messages is examined. The applicability of various supervised classification techniques for extracting information from the chat messages is evaluated. Two competing models are used for defining the chat mining problem. A term-based approach is used to investigate the user and message attributes in the context of vocabulary use while a style-based approach is used to examine the chat messages according to the variations in the authors’ writing styles. Among 100 authors, the identity of an author is correctly predicted with 99.7% accuracy. Moreover, the reverse problem is exploited, and the effect of author attributes on computer-mediated communications is discussed.     

Information privacy,gender differences,and intrinsic motivation in the workplace

We develop and test a model that examines the relationships between information privacy, gender differences, and intrinsic motivation. Information privacy can be defined as perceived control of information gathering (i.e., PCIG) and perceived control of information handling (i.e., PCIH). We surveyed 320 Chinese employees from various organizations and found that both PCIG and PCIH had positive effects upon intrinsic motivation. We found, however, that the impact of PCIG was completely mediated by PCIH and that the mediation process produced a stronger effect on intrinsic motivation for male employees than for female employees. In addition, the positive relationship between PCIG and PCIH was stronger for female employees than for male employees.     

Women in interdisciplinary science: Exploring preferences and consequences

For at least a decade, U.S. funding agencies and university campuses have promoted the expansion of interdisciplinary research. At the same time, federal and local programs have sought to increase the participation of women and minorities in science, mathematics, and engineering. Research has focused on each of these trends independently, but very few studies have considered their interaction by asking how intellectual preferences for and professional consequences of interdisciplinary science might be influenced by gender, race, and/or ethnicity. Focused specifically on gender, this paper considers the expectation that women will be more drawn to interdisciplinary research, and explores the learning styles, work preferences, and career behaviors that might anticipate and/or explicate gender differences in interdisciplinary science. Principal mechanisms by which researchers engage in interdisciplinarity - cross-fertilization, team-collaboration, field-creation, and problem-orientation - are tested for evidence of gendering using preliminary empirical data from three studies. The results of this exploratory analysis offer clues about possible tendencies and raise questions about the potential costs and benefits for those who adopt them.     

俄罗斯汉语言文化传播的现状、问题和展望——以符拉迪沃斯托克为例

汉语国际传播既是我国重要的外交战略,也是促进国际交流的组成部分。中国和俄罗斯是拥有四千三百多公里漫长边境线的友好邻邦,汉语在俄罗斯的传播具有大众性、典型性、启示性。该文以符拉迪沃斯托克为例,就俄罗斯汉语言文化传播现状和问题进行了分析和展望。     

Manager communication and workplace trust: Understanding manager and employee perceptions in the e-world

Today's business environment is populated with individuals who are digitally connected to clients, contractors, managers, and employees. Traditionally, the ways and behaviors of managers had developed and thrived within face-to-face work environments, but as computer-mediated technologies continue to change the boundaries of the business community, permit alternative worksites to increase, and the traditional workday to disappear, the role of the manager has changed. This article focuses on the communication behaviors between managers and their employees, and how these behaviors have changed as digital communication methods have become mainstream within organizations today. The variables of interest are manager communication and workplace trust. The intended outcome is to uncover the expectations that have yet to be agreed upon within the manager–employee e-relationship.