General Sources

Titles appear in this section either because they cross the territories covered by other parts of the bibliography, don’t fit into one of the larger categories, or are, in fact, more general explorations of women’s use of information technology.

Adam, Alison E. “Gendered Knowledge: Epistemology and Artificial Intelligence.” AI & SOCIETY v.7 (1993): 311-322.

Adam, Alison. “Embodying Knowledge: A Feminist Critique of Artificial Intelligence.” EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF WOMEN’S STUDIES v.2, no.3 (August 1995): 355-377.

Alloo, Fatma. “Using Information Technology As a Mobilizing Force: The Case of the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA).” WOMEN ENCOUNTER TECHNOLOGY: CHANGING PATTERNS OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE THIRD WORLD, ed. Swasti Mitter and Sheila Rowbotham, pp.303-313. New York: Routledge in association with United Nations University Press, 1995.

Badagliacco, Joanne M. “Gender and Race Differences in Computing Attitudes and Experience.” SOCIAL SCIENCE COMPUTER REVIEW v.8, no.1 (1990): 42-63.

Balsamo, Anne. “Feminism for the Incurably Informed.” FLAME WARS: THE DISCOURSE OF CYBERCULTURE, ed. Mark Dery, pp.125-156. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994.

Balsamo, Anne. TECHNOLOGIES OF THE GENDERED BODY: READING CYBORG WOMEN. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. 219p. bibl. index.

Benavides, Marta. “Excerpt from ‘Reflections, Perspectives and Challenges for the South on Computer Technology and Human Services in the 1990’s: A Feminist Position.'” COMPUTERS IN HUMAN SERVICES v.9, nos.1-2 (1993): 9-15.

Benston, Margaret Lowe and Elaine Bernard. “Feminist Perspectives on the Design of Computer Communications Networks: An Alternative Design Strategy.” INFORMATION SYSTEM, WORK AND ORGANIZATION DESIGN, ed. Clement van den Besselaar and Jarvinen van den Besselaar, pp.283-294. Amsterdam: North Holland, 1991.

Benston, Margaret Lowe. “The Myth of Computer Literacy.” CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES v.5, no.4 (Summer 1984): 20-22.
Discusses issues of control in relation to computer technology.

Brecher, Deborah L. THE WOMEN’S COMPUTER LITERACY HANDBOOK. New York: New American Library/Plume, 1985. 254p.
One of the first de-mystifying books on computers, geared specifically to women.

Bruce, Margaret and Gill Kirkup. “An Analysis of Women’s Roles Under the Impact of New Technology in the Home and Office.” COMPUTERS AND DEMOCRACY: A SCANDINAVIAN CHALLENGE, ed. Gro Bjerkness et al., pp.343-362. Brookfield, VT: Gower Publishing, 1987.
The authors argue that “the applications of new technology to the domestic and office environment will not significantly change the sexual division of labour (p.345),” as the direction of technological change is based on social ideology, expressed as masculine control.

Butterworth, Dianne. “Wanking in Cyberspace.” TROUBLE & STRIFE no.27 [1993]: 33-37.
Butterworth suggests that the current readily available online pornography (via computer bulletin boards and major publishers such as PENTHOUSE) will likely evolve into further exploitation of women through virtual reality-type interactions and similar technological advances.

Caputi, Jane. “Seeing Elephants: The Myths of Phallotechnology.” FEMINIST STUDIES v.14, no.3 (Fall 1988): 487-524.
Caputi’s analysis of male-oriented high technology and its promotion of the conquering of women and Earth looks at the appropriation of life-centered symbols such as elephants, stars, apples, and the Earth itself for advertising,science.html fiction, and business.

Clark, B., et al. “Gender Gap in the Use of Library Technologies: Evidence, Implications and Intervention.” BUILDING ON THE FIRST CENTURY: PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES, ed. Janice Fennell, pp.116-118. Cincinnati, OH: 1989.

Cockburn, Cynthia and Susan Ormrod. GENDER AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE MAKING. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1993. 185p. bibl. index.
Though it centers on microwave ovens, this work is “centrally about the ‘technology/gender relation.'” Moving through the design, manufacturing, retail, and domestic use stages, the authors examine the role of gender in shaping technological outcomes as well as technology’s impact on gender relations. The “new technology” of computers could easily be the topic of study.

Damarin, Suzanne K. “Technologies of the Individual: Women and Subjectivity in the Age of Information.” TECHNOLOGY AND FEMINISM, ed. Joan Rothschild and Frederick Ferre, pp.183-198. Greenwich, CT: Jai Press, 1993. (Research in philosophy & technology, v.13)
Damarin examines computers and artificial intelligence as technological developments with specific effects on women’s place within a patriarchal society and on women’s subjectivity.

Damarin, Suzanne K. “Where Is Women’s Knowledge in the Age of Information?” THE KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION: GENERATIONS OF FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP, ed. Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender, pp.362-370. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993.

Davidson, Marilyn and Cary L. Cooper. “Women and Information Technology: An Overview.” WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, ed. Marilyn J. Davidson and Cary L. Cooper, pp.1-9. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987.

Davidson, Marilyn and Cary L. Cooper. WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987. 283p. bibl. index. Contents: “Information Technology — Girls and Education: A Cross-Cultural Review (Geoff Chivers); “Women and Information Technology: A European Overview” (RoseMarie Greve); “Information Technology and Working Women in the USA” (Barbara Gutek and Laurie Larwood); “Microelectronics and Women’s Employment” (Felicity Henwood); “The Influence of Information Technology on Women in Service Industries: A European Perspective” (Colin G. Armistead); “Women’s Work in Insurance — Information Technology and the Reproduction of Gendered Segregation” (David Knights and Andrew Sturdy); “New Office Technology and the Changing Role of Secretaries” (Stephen M. Bevan); “Visual Display Units — Psychosocial Factors in Health” (Raija Kalimo and Anneli Leppanen); “Women Homeworkers and Information Technology — The F International Experience” (Pam Evans); “Women, Office Technology and Equal Opportunities — The Role of Trade Unions” (Fiona Wilson); and “Information Technology and New Training Initiatives for Women” (Ailsa Swarbrick).

Deakin, Rose. WOMEN AND COMPUTING: THE GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY. New York: St. Martin’s/Papermac, 1987?

Dement, Linda. “Screen Bodies.” WOMEN’S ART MAGAZINE no.63 (March/April 1995): 9-11.
“Linda Dement talks about the body and computer technology in contemporary Australian art” (from subtitle). On a subsequent page are responses to a “straw poll” of art-related women on “How do you think that new technology will push forward the boundaries in the visual arts in the next few years?”

Dholakia, Ruby Roy, et al. “Putting a Byte in the Gender Gap: Men Use Home Computers More Than Women Do, But Women May Have Greater Potential.” AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHICS v.16, no.12 (December 1994): 20+.

Duclayan, Gina. “Game Girls.” SEVENTEEN v.54 (January 1995): 38-39.
On video games and young women.

Eastman, Beva. “Women, Computers, and Social Change.” COMPUTERS IN HUMAN SERVICES 8, no.1 (1991): 41-53.

Ebben, Maureen and Cheris Kramarae. “Women and Information Technologies: Creating a Cyberspace of Our Own.” WOMEN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SCHOLARSHIP, ed. H. Jeanie Taylor et al., pp.15-27. Urbana, IL: Women, Information Technology, and Scholarship Colloquium, Center for Advanced Study, 1993.
The authors summarize four problematic areas regarding women and new information technologies: access, training, educational use, and publishing, then suggest actions (and constant vigilance) to mitigate the inequities.

Edwards, Paul N. “The Army and the Microworld: Computers and the Politics of Gender Identity.” SIGNS v.16, no.1 (Autumn 1990): 102-127.
Works with Turkle’s concepts of “hard” and “soft” mastery in looking at the military connection with/use of high technology, noting that the speed, automation, and gamelike structure of modern warfare erases somewhat the historical military division between the genders.

Farrell, Sylvia S. and John E. LeCapitaine. “Computer Assisted and Non-Computer Assisted Career/Life Planning Workshops for Low Income Women.” EDUCATION v.112, no.2 (Winter 1991): 312-320.

Flynn, Bernadette. “Woman/Machine Relationships: Investigating the Body Within Cyber Culture.” MEDIA INFORMATION AUSTRALIA, no.72 (May 1994): 11-19.

Frissen, Valerie. “Trapped in Electronic Cages? Gender and New Information Technologies in the Public and Private Domain: An Overview of Research.” MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY v.14, no.1 (January 1992): 31-49.
Frissen’s overview finds that most research has centered on information technologies and women in the public domain, with little work on interactions with women in the domestic sphere. Much research concludes that women remain largely excluded from the power that derives from the design/production of new information and communication technologies (NICTs) and find limited use for new technologies as consumers as well.

Fryer, Bronwyn. “Sex & the Super-highway.” WORKING WOMAN v.19 (April 1994): 51-54, 58-60.
Part of a special section which also includes: “Feminizing Virtual Reality: Brenda Laurel (a profile by Francine Hermelin); “Hard-driving Engineer: Celeste Baranski” (profile by Paulina Borsook); “A Day Behind the Wheel: A Glimpse of Your Workday, Circa 2004” (Francine Hermelin), and “Getting Girls On-Line” (Katie Hafner).

Fulton, Margaret A. “A Research Model for Studying the Gender/Power Aspects of Human-Computer Communication.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MAN-MACHINE STUDIES v.23, no.4 (October 1985): 369-382.

Gailey, Christine Ward. “Mediated Messages: Gender, Class, and Cosmos in Home Video Games.” JOURNAL OF POPULAR CULTURE v.27 (Summer 1993): 81-97.

Gattiker, Urs E. “Acquiring Computer Literacy: Are Women More Efficient Than Men?” STUDIES IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES, VOL.2: END-USER TRAINING, ed. Urs E. Gattiker, pp.141-179. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1990.

Gerver, Ed. “Computers and Gender.” COMPUTERS IN THE HUMAN CONTEXT, ed. Tom Forester, pp.481-501. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989.

Greenbaum, Joan. “The Head and the Heart: Using Gender Analysis to Study the Social Construction of Computer Systems.” COMPUTERS & SOCIETY v.20, no.2 (June 1990): 9-17.

Greve, RoseMarie. “Women and Information Technology: A European Overview.” WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, ed. Marilyn J. Davidson and Cary L. Cooper, pp.33-69. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987.

Griffiths, Morwena. “Strong Feelings About Computers.” WOMEN’S STUDIES INTERNATIONAL FORUM v.11, no.2 (1988): 145-154.
“Computers have been appropriated by men” (p.145), states Griffiths, noting that feminists need to monitor this “gender inflection of computer technology “(p.152), and not only subvert the phenomenon, but work toward an alternative vision.

Gunter, Karen. “Women and the Information Revolution: Washed Ashore by the Third Wave.” WOMEN, WORK, AND COMPUTERIZATION: BREAKING OLD BOUNDARIES, BUILDING NEW FORMS, ed. Alison Adam et al., pp.439-452. Amsterdam; New York: Elsevier, 1994.
Comparing the effects of the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution on the lives of women, concludes that “social and political action is the only way to ensure that women have equality of opportunity” in the Information Society (abstract, p.439).

Halberstam, Judith. “Automating Gender: Postmodern Feminism in the Age of the Intelligent Machine.” FEMINIST STUDIES v.17, no.3 (Fall 1991): 439-459.
Halberstam examines the symbols of Apple computer’s logo and Donna Haraway’s cyborg in arguing that feminists and other cultural critics must take into account a “plurality of technologies,” seeing gender as an “automated construct” (p.457) or “an electronic text that shifts and changes in dialogue with users and programs” (p.458).

Hapnes, Tove and Knut H. Sorensen. “Competition and Collaboration in Male Shaping of Computing: A Study of a Norwegian Hacker Culture.” THE GENDER-TECHNOLOGY RELATION: CONTEMPORARY THEORY AND RESEARCH, ed. Keith Grint and Rosalind Gill, pp.174-191. Briston, PA: Taylor & Francis, 1995.

Haraway, Donna. “A Manifesto for Cyborgs.” FEMINISM/POSTMODERNISM, ed. Linda Nicholson, pp.190-233. New York: Routledge, 1990.
Haraway sums up her classic essay by noting that the imagery of the cyborg — “hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction” (p.191) — helps relate the argument that “totalizing theory” no longer works and that we must also refuse “antiscience metaphysics” that demonizes technology. (See also “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century” in Haraway’s book SIMIANS, CYBORGS, AND WOMEN: THE REINVENTION OF NATURE [Routledge, 1991].)

Hastings, Maryam. “Women, Computers and Mathematics: A Case of Inequality.” WOMEN’S VOICES, ed. Lorna Duphiney Edmundson et al., pp.62-66. Littleton, MA: Copley Publishing, 1987.

Hay, Alexandrea. “Do Computers Separate Men from Women? Thoughts Provoked by Turkle and Papert.” THE JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL BEHAVIOR v.12, no.2 (June 1993): 205-207.
See “Epistemological Pluralism: Styles and Voices Within the Computer Culture” by Sherry Turkle and Seymour Papert in separate entry.

Hayes, R. Dennis. “Digital Palsy: RSI and Restructuring Capital.” RESISTING THE VIRTUAL LIFE: THE CULTURE AND POLITICS OF INFORMATION, ed. James Brook and Iain A. Boal, pp.173-180. San Francisco: City Lights, 1995.
A scathing look at the dramatic increase in both computer use and repetitive stress injury (RSI) contrasted with the slight decrease in white (and pink?)-collar productivity over the same period.

Heinamaa, Sara. “Woman’s Place in Artificial Intelligence: Observations on Metaphors of Thought and Knowledge.” WOMEN, WORK AND COMPUTERIZATION: UNDERSTANDING AND OVERCOMING BIAS IN WORK AND EDUCATION, ed.Inger V. Eriksson et al., pp.41-52. New York: Elsevier, 1991.

Heller, Dorothy and June Bower. COMPUTER CONFIDENCE: A WOMAN’S GUIDE. Washington, DC: Acropolis Books, 1983. 256p. bibl. index. ill.

Hildenbrand, Suzanne. “Women’s Studies Online: Promoting Visibility.” RQ v.26, no.1 (Fall 1986): 63-74.
Discusses the possibilities and problems ofonline.html bibliographic retrieval for women’s studies researchers. Type of indexing, quality of the databases used, and lack of coverage of women-related topics are three key problems cited. Results of a user survey study indicate significant end-user satisfaction with most searches in the study, and guidelines are offered for more effective database searching.

Hoath, Maria A. PERSONAL COMPUTING FOR WOMEN: EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT PERSONAL COMPUTERS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK. Write Byte, 1995. 152p.

Jacobs, Karrie. “Robo Babes. (Why Girls Play Less Video Games Than Boys).” I.D. v.41, no.3 (May/June 1994): 38+.

Jansen, Sue Curry. “Gender and the Information Society: A Socially Structured Silence.” JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION v.39, no.3 (Summer 1989): 196-215.
Jansen ponders the “absence of a critical consciousness about gender in discussions of communications and technology” (p.196), sees old patterns being replicated, and urges “articulation of new languages, paradigms, and politics for creating and studying technologies” (p.198).

Kantrowitz, Barbara. “Men, Women and Computers.” NEWSWEEK v.123 (May 16, 1994): 48-52+.
Compiling figures on the number of computers in U.S. homes, and noting a gender gap in the ways men and women use computers, this cover story stirred up some criticism that brought about defense of the article by one of its reporters. See also “Hackers 1, Media Elite 0” by Jon Katz in NEW YORK v.27 (May 30, 1994), pp.16-17.

Kaplan, Sidney and Shirley Kaplan. “Video Games, Sex and Sex Differences.” JOURNAL OF POPULAR CULTURE, v.17 (Fall 1983): 61-66.

Keeton, Kathy. WOMAN OF TOMORROW. New York: St. Martin’s, 1985. 313p.
On how new technologies affect women’s lives.

Kirkup, Gill. “The Social Construction of Computers: Hammers or Harpsichords?” INVENTING WOMEN: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND GENDER, ed. Gill Kirkup and Laurie Smith Keller, pp.267-281. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992.
Traces women’s involvement with computer technology and challenges what the author sees as Turkle’s optimistic view about the potential of computers, noting that most of the world’s women will interact with computers only in the form of machines controlled by microprocessors or in the manufacturing of component parts.

Kubey, Robert William and Reed Larson. “The Use and Experience of the New Video Media Among Children and Young Adolescents.” COMMUNICATION RESEARCH v.17 (February 1990): 107-130.

Lehman, Sheila. “I Dreamed I Had a Computer Just Like the Kids: Access to Computing for the Older Woman.” WOMEN, WORK, AND COMPUTERIZATION: BREAKING OLD BOUNDARIES, BUILDING NEW FORMS, ed. Alison Adam et al., pp.269-276. Amsterdam; New York: Elsevier, 1994.
Offers “preliminary results of an ongoing study of the experiences of older women (60 and above) with computer learning and use” (abstract, p.269).

Leone, Norma Leonardi. A MOTHER’S GUIDE TO COMPUTERS. Rochester, NY: Lion Publishers, 1986. (P.O. Box 92541, Rochester, NY 14692; 716-385-1269) 102p.
A guide to encourage women unfamiliar with computing by suggesting ways a computer can help manage information.

Lewyn, Mark. “PC Makers, Palms Sweating, Try Talking to Women.” BUSINESS WEEK no.3141 (January 15, 1990): 48.
An interesting though brief look at marketing of computer products to women.

Lockheed, Marlaine E., ed. SEX ROLES v.13, nos.3/4 (August 1985); special issue: “Women, Girls, and Computers.” Includes: “Women, Girls, and Computers: A First Look at the Evidence” (Marlaine E. Lockheed); “Differential Experiences of Men and Women in Computerized Offices” (Barbara A. Gutek and Tora K. Bikson); “Sex-Role Messages vis-a-vis Mic rocomputer Use: A Look at the Pictures’ (Mary Catherine Ware and Mary Frances St uck). See “Education” section for other sites from this special issue.

Markussen, Randi. “Constructing Easiness: Historical Perspectives on Work, Computerization, and Women.” THE CULTURES OF COMPUTING, ed. Susan Leigh Star. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1995.

Marshall, Jon C. and Susan Bannon. “Race and Sex Equity in Computer Advertising.” JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON COMPUTING IN EDUCATION v.21, no.1 (Fall 1988): 15-27.
A survey of three computer magazines finds women and minorities largely in stereotypical roles in advertising.

McClain, E. “Do Women Resist Computers?” POPULAR COMPUTING (January 1983): 66-78.

Metselaar, Carolien. “Gender Issues in the Design of Knowledge Based Systems.” WOMEN, WORK AND COMPUTERIZATION: UNDERSTANDING AND OVERCOMING BIAS IN WORK AND EDUCATION, ed. Inger V. Eriksson et al., pp.233-246. New York: Elsevier, 1991.

Michaelson, Greg. “Women & Men in Computer Cartoons from PUNCH: 1946-1982.” WOMEN, WORK, AND COMPUTERIZATION: BREAKING OLD BOUNDARIES, BUILDING NEW FORMS, ed. Alison Adam et al., pp.171-184. Amsterdam; New York: Elsevier, 1994.

Miles, Ian. HOME INFORMATICS: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF EVERYDAY LIFE. New York: Pinter, 1988. 151p. bibl. index.
Although there’s no specifically gender-related focus, the discussions of the transformation of the home via information technologies offers food for thought.

Milne, W., et al. “Computer Games: A Positive Introduction to IT or a Terminal Turn-off?” WOMEN, WORK, AND COMPUTERIZATION: BREAKING OLD BOUNDARIES, BUILDING NEW FORMS, ed. Alison Adam et al., pp.203-207. Amsterdam; New York: Elsevier, 1994.
Report of a conference plenary on computer games.

Okerson, Ann L. “Networked Serials, Scholarly Publishing, and Electronic Resource Sharing in Academic Libraries: A Dilemma of Ownership.” WOMEN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SCHOLARSHIP, ed. H. Jeanie Taylor et al., pp.44-51. Urbana, IL: Women, Information Technology, and Scholarship Colloquium, Center for Advanced Study, 1993.
Though not focused on feminist publishing, this discussion of the pitfalls of electronic resources, including issues of copyright and access, is clearly relevant to materials/information in women’s studies.

Ong, Aihwa. “Disassembling Gender in the Electronics Age.” FEMINIST STUDIES v.13 (Fall 1987): 609-626.

Perenson, Mellissa J., et al. “What Do Women Want?: Software for Women and Girls.” PC MAGAZINE v.13, no.19 (November 8, 1994): 437+.
Evaluation of four software programs for women and girls.

Perez-Vitoria, Silvia, ed. IMPACT OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ON WOMEN. Paris, France: Unesco, 1994. (Reports and papers on mass communication, no.108) 48p. bibl.
Centers more on “older” technologies such as telephone, television, but regional studies are of interest.

Potter, Rosanne G. “Empirical Literary Research on Women and Readers.” COMPUTERS AND THE HUMANITIES v.28, no.6 (1994/1995): 375-381.

Pritchard, Sarah M. “Women and Computers in Public Libraries.” NWSA PERSPECTIVES v.5, no.3 (Spring-Summer 1987): 32-34.
Pritchard briefly surveysonline.html catalogs, other databases, networks and bulletin boards, software for borrowing, cable delivery of information, and other ways women can use the computerized resources in libraries.

Provenzo, Eugene F., Jr. “The Portrayal of Women.” VIDEO KIDS: MAKING SENSE OF NINTENDO, pp.99-117. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Some sobering analysis of the gender content of video games. Other chapters comment on gender differences in game playing, violence and aggression in games, etc.

Pryor, Sally. “Thinking of Oneself as a Computer.” LEONARDO v.24, no.5 (1991): 585-590.
Pryor, a “computer artist/animator/programmer,” explores her interest in “the somewhat disembodied landscape surrounding the human and the computer,…” an interest resulting from her experience with RPI (repetitive stress injury).

Rogerat, Chantal. “The Case of Elletel.” MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY v.14, no.1 (January 1992): 73-88.
Set up in 1984 as an information and communication service under the Agence Femmes Information (a French news and information agency since unfunded), Elletel at one point comprised thirteen bulletin boards on such topics as health, leisure, legal issues, babysitting, current events, computing, and “lonely hearts.”

Rothschild, Joan. TEACHING TECHNOLOGY FROM A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE. New York: Pergamon Press, 1988.
Though not centered on information technology, Rothschild’s book covers a number of relevant issues. Note particularly Chapter 6, “Passing the Litmus Test: What is a Feminist Resource on Technology?” which focuses on the language differences in two computer-centered books.

Rothschild, Joan. TURING’S MAN, TURING’S WOMAN, OR TURING’S PERSON? GENDER, LANGUAGE, AND COMPUTERS. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, 1986. (Working paper no.166)

Schwartz, John. “The Game Computers Play.” NEWSWEEK v.108 (September 8, 1986): 42-43.
Notes software manufacturers’ recognition of female buying power and development of computer games to tap that market.

Schwartz, Vanessa R., comp. “Gender and Technology: Women, International Development, and High-Technology Production: A Selected and Annotated Bibliography of Recent Research, 1977-1985.” Princeton, NJ: Program in Women’s Studies, Princeton University, 1985. (Women’s Studies, 218 Palmer Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544) approx. 31p.

SIGNS v.16, no.1 (Autumn 1990); special section: “From Hard Drive to Software: Gender, Computers, and Difference,” guest ed. Ruth Perry.
Includes: “Women and Computers: An Introduction” (Ruth Perry and Lisa Greber); “The Army and the Microworld: Computers and the Politics of Gender Equity” (Paul N. Edwards); “Epistemological Pluralism: Styles and Voices within the Computer Culture” (Sherry Turkle and Seymour Papert); and “Mismeasuring Women: A Critique of Research on Computer Ability and Avoidance” (Pamela E. Kramer and Sheila Lehman).

Smith, Caroline. “Chit-Chat in the New World.” WOMEN’S ART MAGAZINE no.63 (March/April 1995): 14-15.
“Caroline Smith interviews women at the forefront of art and technology” (from subtitle). Women interviewed are Eva Pascoe, Nicky West, and Muriel Magenta.

Spender, Dale. NATTERING ON THE NET: WOMEN, POWER AND MULTIMEDIA. North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Spinifex, 1995.
Basing her argument on the view that in many ways “women were worse off after the print revolution than before” (p.161), Spender goes on to detail the history of women in print, concluding that unless women become involved in creating the new culture of cyberspace, they stand to lose not only much of their recent intellectual and educational gains but also much of women’s accumulated scholarly progress over the past 400 years.

Springer, Claudia. “Sex, Memories, and Angry Women.” THE SOUTH ATLANTIC QUARTERLY v.92 (Fall 1993): 713-733.
Discussion of cyberculture and visions of sexuality in fictional texts about computers. Also appears in FLAME WARS: THE DISCOURSE OF CYBERCULTURE, ed. Mark Dery (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994), pp.157-177.

Star, Susan Leigh. “Invisible Work and Silenced Dialogues in Knowledge Representation.” WOMEN, WORK AND COMPUTERIZATION: UNDERSTANDING AND OVERCOMING BIAS IN WORK AND EDUCATION, ed. Inger V. Eriksson et al., pp.81-92. New York: Elsevier, 1991.

Tarrant, Louise. “Women and Information Poverty.” REFRACTORY GIRL (October 1987): 41-42.
Looks at information technology in Australia.

Taylor, H. Jeanie, Cheris Kramarae, and Maureen Ebben. WOMEN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SCHOLARSHIP. Urbana, IL: Women, Information Technology, and Scholarship Colloquium, Center for Advanced Study, 1993. (912 West Illinois St., Urbana, IL 61801) 128p. bibl.
Tackling such overarching topics as different learning and communication styles in dealing with computers, changes being brought about by electronic scholarship, concepts of privacy and ownership of ideas, and community connections via computer to help overcome gender/race/class hierarchies, the essays and discussion summaries from an ongoing colloquium offer insight into “issues that we believe are central to decision-making at all universities in the U.S.” (p.3). Contributors in addition to the editors include Dale Spender, Ann L. Okerson, Phyllis Hall, Judy Smith, and others. An annotated bibliography by Maureen Ebben and Maria Mastronardi occupies about a third of the book.

Turkle, Sherry and Seymour Papert. “Epistemological Pluralism: Styles and Voices Within the Computer Culture.” SIGNS v.16, no.1 (Fall 1994): 128-157.
Acknowledging “the validity of multiple ways of knowing and thinking, an epistemological pluralism” (p.129) in how people approach programming and computer tasks, the authors suggest that feminist scholarship can promote recognition of this diversity of styles as well as “our profound human connection with our tools” (p.157). See also Alexandrea Hay’s reaction, “Do Computers Separate Men from Women?” in separate entry.

Turkle, Sherry. “Child Programmers: The First Generation.” THE CULTURE OF SCIENCE: ESSAYS AND ISSUES FOR WRITERS, ed. John Hatton and Paul B. Plouffe, pp.584-599. New York: Macmillan, 1993.
From Turkle’s 1984 book THE SECOND SELF: COMPUTERS AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT, (Simon and Schuster) this essay explores her understandings of “hard” and “soft” mastery of the computer, as related primarily to gender.

Turkle, Sherry. “Computational Reticence: Why Women Fear the Intimate Machine.” TECHNOLOGY AND WOMEN’S VOICES: KEEPING IN TOUCH, ed. Cheris Kramarae, pp.41-61. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988.
Turkle discusses young women’s reticence about computers (too regimented, too removed from relationships), examines “the social construction of the computer as a male domain” and suggests it can be viewed instead as an expressive medium.

Turkle, Sherry. THE SECOND SELF: COMPUTERS AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984. 362p. bibl. index.
A classic that questions the impact of the computer on contemporary culture.

van der Ploeg, Irma and Ineke van Wingerden. “Celebrating the Cyborg? On the Fate of a Beautiful Metaphor in Later Users’ Hands.” EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF WOMEN’S STUDIES v.2, no.3 (August 1995): 397-400.

Van Gelder, Lindsy. “Help for Technophobes.” MS. v.13 (January 1985): 89-91.

van Zoonen, Liesbet. “Feminist Theory and Information Technology.” MEDIA, CULTURE & SOCIETY v.14, no.1 (January 1992): 9-29.
Explores several theoretical perspectives in relation to technology, including ecofeminism, finding “universalist and essentialist notions of gender” (p.19) to be problematic. Urges more specificity regarding thinking on information technology and gender.

Ware, Mary Catherine and Mary Frances Stuck. “Sex-Role Messages vis-a-vis Microcomputer Use: A Look at the Pictures.” SEX ROLES v.13, no.1 (1985): 205-214.
Examines the representation of both genders, of different ages, in three mass-market computer magazines over a period of three months.

Workshop: Women and Information Technology (1991: University of Warwick). WORKSHOP: WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK, COVENT RY, UNITED KINGDOM, JULY 17-20, 1991. [Zoetermeer, Netherlands?]: European Network for Women’s Studies, 1991. 11p.

Zimmerman, Jan, ed. THE TECHNOLOGICAL WOMAN: INTERFACING WITH TOMORROW. New York: Praeger, 1983.
A number of chapters center on women and information technology. See separate listings for: “Gender and Industry on Mexico’s New Frontier” (Maria Patricia Fernandez Kelly); “For Women, The Chips are Down” (Margaret Lowe Benston); “Word Processing: `This Is Not a Final Draft'” (Sally Otos and Ellen Levy); “Women’s Work in the Office of the Future” (Barbara A. Gutek); “Cold Solder On a Hot Stove” (Rebecca Morales); “EQUALS in Computer Technology” (Nancy Kreinberg and Elizabeth K. Stage); and “The Next Move: Organizing Women in the Office” (Judith Gregory).

Zimmerman, Jan. ONCE UPON THE FUTURE: A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO TOMORROW’S TECHNOLOGY. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul/Pandora, 1986. 230p. bibl. index.
Not restricted to information technology, this probing work nonetheless questions basic assumptions about new technologies that “encode old values of inferiority and subordination.”