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      • HARVEST
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      For the fun of it: adolescent girls' exploration of information technologies and cyberspace

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      Whiteman_Ellen_Rose_2002_sec.pdf (11.21Mb)
      Date
      2002
      Author
      Whiteman, Ellen Rose
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
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      Abstract
      Adolescent girls of today are the first generation to have wide spread although not universal access to information technologies such as the Internet. This study looks at how adolescent girls use and interact with information technologies. Several participants at the 2000 "Go For IT Girls" conference were both interviewed and asked to demonstrate their information technology usage. The study found that, while girls are confident with their information technology usage, they tend to limit their usage to communication areas. They construct themselves as computer users, but use the technologies in socially acceptable feminine ways. The societal messages of consumerism and the beauty myth work to keep adolescent girls in traditional spaces. They explore cyberspace, but only the socially sanctioned parts. The participants are constructing themselves as computer users, but this identity in not likely to translate into increased numbers in computer science classes, or in future careers in Information Technology fields.
      Degree
      Master of Arts (M.A.)
      Department
      Women's and Gender Studies
      Program
      Women's and Gender Studies
      Supervisor
      Forsyth, Louise
      Committee
      Taylor, Keith; Downe, Pamela; Wason-Ellam, Linda; Biggs, Lesley
      Copyright Date
      2002
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-08102012-082742
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      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
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