• Aims
• Chair
• Contributors and Commentator
• Abstracts

AIMS
The aim of this sesssion is to strengthen the feminist discussion in the
fields of sociology of technology and technology assessment. To be able to
look out for the social interests of women in designing technology we need
a broad and deep analysis of the connection between technology and social
interests as well as promising ideas how to develop criteria for a
feminist technology assessment and design, and how to bring together
theory and practice. The session deals with these questions in
concentrating in the area of computers and computer networking. Ina Wagner
gives a conceptual framework, discussing practices of designing and
inhabiting electronic terrains from a gender perspective, and laying
stress on the relation between virtual places and time. She uses a
diversity of case study material (computers in nursing, art & design, and
telecommuting). Margit Pohl uses the case of communication via the
internet to show the problems software designers encounter when they try
to develop gender specific computer programs. Ellen Balka discusses such
issues that arise in feminist technology assessment. She draws on several
years of experience introducing women trade unionists and women's studies
undergraduates in Canada to technology assessment studies, as well as on
her experience conducting research about the design of technological
systems, and about women's use of computer networking technology for
feminist social change. Doris Janshen gives a reflexive comment to the
three speeches referring to feminist experiences, discussions and future
orientations, as well as to the idea of founding a "university for women"
in Germany.

Chair:
Dr. Margarete Maurer, M.A., RLI
E-mail: margarete.maurer@univie.ac.at

CONTRIBUTERS AND COMMENTATOR

"Boundary Confusions and Embeddings. Gender issues in the design of electronic work spaces"
Prof. Dr. Ina Wagner, University of Technology Vienna, Dept. of Technology Assessment and Design
E-mail: wagner@pop.tuwien.ac.at

"Designing Software Systems for Women" / Gestaltung von Softwaresystemen für Frauen
Dr. Margit Pohl, University of Technology Vienna, Dept. of Technology Assessment and Design
E-mail: margit@igw.tuwien.ac.at

"Approaches and Perspectives for the Design of Technology: Feminist Technology Assessment"
Ellen Balka, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Women's Studies, University of Newfoundland
E-mail: ebalka@KEAN.UCS.MUN.CA

Comment
Prof. Dr. Doris Janshen, University of Essen, Department of Sociology, Gh Universität Essen, Fachbereich 1, Tel. Secretary +49/201/183-3571, Fax +49/201/183-3571.

ABSTRACTS

Ina Wagner, Technische Universität Wien
"Boundary confusions and embeddings. Gender issues in the design of electronic work spaces"

In this paper I discuss practices of designing and inhabiting electronic
terrains from a gender perspective. I will draw upon a diversity of case
study material from studies on computers in nursing, art & design, as well
as telecommuting. A conceptual framework building upon several notions will
be used:

* The notion of space, both as a geographical and cultural category,
for understanding work as grounded in the properties of places. The paper
will look into the specific propreties of 'multimedia work spaces' and at
boundary crossings and connections between material and virtual places.
* The relations between those places and time. Transitions between
places often require actors to adapt to different temporal modes; e.g. from
compressed, accelerated, or "kaleidoscopic" time to sequential, continuous
time.
* A gender perspective which is informed by feminist theory and
grounded in women's experiences of inhabiting/making transitions between
places and temporal structures; and use this perspective as a source for
criticism of dominant practices and access to a greater variety of life
styles.
* A paradigm of 'advanced production' which partially builds upon the
affordanced of computer networks and electronic spaces and understands work
as increasingly flexible, shared, distributed, reflexive, and 'aesthetic'.

The aim of this paper is not only to describe technologically mediated work
practices but to discuss issues of technology design.

Prof. Dr. Ina Wagner
University of Technology Vienna, Dept. of Technology Assessment and Design,
Argentinierstrasse 8, A-1040 Vienna, Austria
Fax: +43 1 504 24 78, E-mail: wagner@pop.tuwien.ac.at

Margit Pohl
"Designing Software Systems for Women"

Women are supposed to have a rather holistic and "soft" style of
interacting with computers whereas men are more analytic and "tough". This
has led scientists to believe that it would be appropriate to develop
gender specific computer programs which make allowances for the different
cognitive styles of women and men. It must be noted, however, that this
approach rather reinforces the discrimination against women which it claims
to overcome. On the other hand, there are tendencies in software design
which are advantageous for women without explicitly trying to fulfill their
needs (eg. user-centred design, a form of design for which human needs are
central and feasibility in a technological sense only of secondary
importance).

Communication via the internet can be used as an example to show the
problems software designers encounter when they try to develop gender
specific computer programs. Human communcation generally is based on rather
"simple" (and automatic) rules. There is empirical evidence that these
rules tend to discriminate women in patriarchal societies. It is rather
difficult to implement these rules on the internet as they are subconscious
and highly interactive. In face-to-face communication, for example, only
one person normally "holds the floor". When designing a video-conferencing
software, a conscious design decision must be made on how to bring about a
similar behaviour. From a technological point of view it is possible to
implement "democratic" principles in such software systems but it is still
a controversial issue if such design decisions may result in "gender
specific" software.

References:
Dix, A., Finlay, J., Abowd, G., Beale, R.: Human-Computer
Interaction. New York: Prentice Hall 1993.
Schmid, F., Evans, St., Ainger, A.W.S., Grieve, R.J.: Computer
Integrated Production Systems and Organizations.
The Human-Centred Approach. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer
1994.
Spender, D.: Nattering on the Net. Women, Power and Cyberspace.
Melbourne: Spinifex 1995.

Deutsche Version:
Gestaltung von Softwaresystemen für Frauen
Margit Pohl, Technische Universität Wien

Frauen wird häufig (auch von den WissenschaftlerInnen, die sich mit diesem
Thema befassen) nachgesagt, daß ihr Umgang mit Computern holistischer und
"weicher" wäre, während sich Männer in diesem Zusammenhang eher analytisch
und "härter" verhalten würden. Es wäre daher nur konsequent,
frauenspezifische Computerprogramme zu entwerfen, die diesem weiblichen
Stil entgegenkommen. Diese Herangehensweise zementiert allerdings genau die
Diskriminierung von Frauen, die sie zu überwinden vorgibt. Es gibt jedoch
Tendenzen in der Gestaltung von Software, die Frauen spezifische Vorteile
bringen, auch wenn sie ganz generell auf alle Software-AnwenderInnen
abzielen (z.B. user-centred design, also Designformen, die den Menschen und
nicht die Technik in den Mittelpunkt stellen).

Die Problematik "frauenspezifischer" Software läßt sich ganz aktuell am
Beispiel des Internet darstellen. Menschliche Kommunikation unterliegt ganz
generell bestimmten Regeln, die in patriarchalischen Gesellschaften wie der
unseren nachgewiesenermaßen Frauen diskriminieren. Vergleichbare Regeln
können am Internet durch bewußte Gestaltungsprozesse unterstützt oder
behindert werden. In "natürlicher" Kommunikation garantieren etwa bestimmte
Mechanismen, daß normalerweise nur eine Person am Wort ist. Derartige
Mechanismen können nicht umstandslos auf den Computer übertragen werden,
sondern es ist eine Designentscheidung, wer wann zu Wort kommt. Selbst bei
einer demokratischen Gestaltung dieses Vorgangs ist das entstehende Produkt
vermutlich kein "frauenspezifisches" Softwaresystem, da auch andere
benachteiligte Gruppen hier profitieren können.

Literatur:
Dix, A., Finlay, J., Abowd, G., Beale, R.: Human-Computer
Interaction. New York: Prentice Hall 1993.
Schmid, F., Evans, St., Ainger, A.W.S., Grieve, R.J.: Computer
Integrated Production Systems and Organizations. The Human-Centred
Approach. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer 1994.
Spender, D.: Nattering on the Net. Women, Power and Cyberspace.
Melbourne: Spinifex 1995.

Dr. Margit Pohl
Institut für Gestaltungs- und Wirkungsforschung, Technische Universität
Wien, Möllwaldplatz 5, A - 1040
Wien, Austria
Fax: +43/1/504 11 88,E-mail: margit@igw.tuwien.ac.at

Ellen Balka, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Women's Studies
"Approaches and Perspectives for the Design of Technology: Feminist Technology Assessment"

Although the introduction of computer technologies in the early 1980s
prompted a great deal of research and scholarship about women and workplace
technology, and concerns about the ethics and efficacy of new reproductive
technologies garnered a great deal of attention in the late 1980s and early
1990s, little attention has been paid to conducting technology assessment
studies from a feminist perspective (exceptions are Bush, 1983 and Morgall,
1993). In the proposed presentation, I will
a) provide an overview of my approach to conducting feminist technology
assessment studies;
b) discuss techniques I have used to introduce technology assessment
techniques to women's studies students and women trade unionists, and
issues that have arisen in teaching feminist technology assessment in these
settings, and
c) discuss issues that arise in conducting feminist technology assessment
studies.

In discussing technology assessment I draw on several years of experience
introducing women trade unionists in Canada to technology assessment
studies, as well as several years of experience introducing women's studies
undergraduate to technology assessment from a feminist perspective. Topics
will include introducing women with no background in science and technology
to technology assessment, addressing women students' discomfort with
technology, encouraging imaginary and visionary thinking among students
accustomed to thinking that technological change is fixed and inevitable,
and teaching students to cross disciplinary boundaries. In discussing
issues that arise in feminist technology assessment studies I will draw on
my experiences conducting research about women's use of computer networking
technology for feminist social change, as well as more recent experience
conducting feminist research about the design of technological systems.

References:
Bush, C.G. (1983). Women and the assessment of technology: To think,
to be; to unthink, to free. In: J. Rothschild, (Ed.). Machina ex dea:
Feminist perspectives on technology. Pergamon: New York.
Morgall, J.M. (1993). Technology assessment: A feminist perspective.
Temple University: Philadelphia P.A.
Ellen Balka, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Women's Studies University
of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF, Canada
Fax: (709) 7374000, Email: ebalka@KEAN.UCS.MUN.CA