Full Description
In the last three decades, women's intervention in the social and natural sci ences, in medicine and technology has introduced new paradigms. We have to admit that it takes time and energy to influence these fields in a feministic way. Women do not only work for the growth of knowledge, but also for the trans formation of knowledge systems. This book is about using knowledge for action in an interdisciplinary effort focussing on information as a social resource. Women's approach to the information age is different, as becomes visible in this book: Women's scholarly explorations include not only developing technol ogy, but also improving communication and networking, as well as supporting democratic processes by taking advantage of the tremendous technological op tions. I am convinced that this approach is vital for living the information soci ety, and that it will also make fields relating to information technology more at tractive to women. This book is the outcome of the Project Area INFORMATION of the Interna tional Women's University (ifo) held at the University of Hamburg in the sum mer 2000. As the Deputy Minister for Science and Research of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg I was responsible for promoting this study program. The international gathering of 150 participants was a most exciting event. The experience of ifo has enriched me as a scientist, as a feminist and as a politician.
Contents
1: Building International Learning Communities.- The Challenges of Building ifu.- Students' Motivations for Joining ifu.- The Experience of Living ifu.- Revising Sisterhood: from Unity to Affinity. The Case of the International Women's University.- Linguistic Expressions Connecting Women Across Cultures.- 2: Gendering Information Technology.- Cross-Cultural Cooperation in Designing Information Resources.- Bringing Gender Issues to Technology Design.- Women in Computing.- Technological Change and Cultural Ceilings.- 3: Enhancing Communication.- Cyberfeminism Crossover: Talking about Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Experiences.- Spinning at Computers.- Imaginative Visualizations: Enriching Women's Workplace Skills.- Performing Borders: Gender and Technology in Diasporic Culture.- 4: Supporting Cooperative, Interactive Learning.- A Culture of Cooperation: Making the Journey the Destination.- Towards Knowledge Co-construction.- Teaching Computer Skills: A Gendered Approach.- At Home in Education: Making Online Education Work for Global Women.- 5: Networking for Community Development.- Building Virtual Communities: The Case of a Telehealth Project from the South Pacific.- Development from Within: Community Development, Gender and ICTs.- Rhetoric and Realities: Evaluation of IT Projects.- Times of the City: The Use of ICTs in Timesaving.- Strategies for Empowering Women on the Internet.- 6: Fostering Democracy.- Visions of Citizenship: Women, Democracy and Information.- Indigenous Women and Empowerment.- Information Rights and Media Democracy in Times of Globalization. A Women's and Civil Society's Perspective.- The Internet in the Service of Democracy.- Information Technology and Protection of Refugees.- Resolution.- Resolution (Poem).- List of Authors.
