Ananda Mitra

Theorizing Cyberspace: the Idea of Voice Applied to the Internet Discourse:

This article offers the idea of voice as a way to think of cyberspace and the internet. It is argued that web pages represent the presence of individuals and institutions representing what they have to say. Consequently, we would argue that a robust construct such as voice might offer an unique theoretical lens through which to examine the internet and cyberspace phenomenon. This article argues that cyberspace can be conceptualized as a discursive space, and calls for a textual/discursive/rhetorical analysis focusing on the eloquence of representation as a principal means by which people and institutions voice themselves in this space.

Gender and Computer Use in an Academic Institution: Report from a Longitudinal Study.

This article explores the nature of the relationships between gender, categories of computer use, and attitudes toward computers in a computer enriched environment where all students were provided with network access and laptop computers over a four-year period. The results indicate that women were less positive about computers than men, and the use level of computers by women were less frequent than for men. This change in the relationship is a throwback to the earlier days of computing when research had indicated that men were more positively disposed toward computers than women.

Changes in Student Attitudes and Student Computer Use in a Computer-Enriched Environment

Abstract The pedagogic usefulness of the computer is examined by focusing on student attitudes and use of computers in a “computer-enriched” environment. Our analysis uses data from three years of a five-year longitudinal study at Wake Forest University. The results indicate that a computer-enriched environment is positively correlated with student attitudes toward computers in general, their role in teaching and learning, and their ability to facilitate communication. In addition, there were few changes in attitudes for students who did not have seamless access to the network. This study concludes that a networked institution where students have easy access can foster positive attitudes toward the use of computers in teaching and learning.

Diasporic web sites: Ingroup and outgroup discourse

With the increasing presence of Indian Immigrants in the West, there is a tendency among the diasporic people to use the World Wide Web (WWW) to create a cyber community. One of these pages is used as a starting point to examine critically the ways in which the WWW text speaks simultaneously to an interpretive community of “ingroup” members who have the interpretive history and strategies to make sense of the pages as well as the “outgroup” members who happen to surf into the India‐related pages. Several textual strategies are identified that create this ingroup/outgroup tension, including modes of formatting, use of language, specific selections of images and multimedia elements, and the specific links provided by the pages. These combine to produce the multi‐accentuated stylistic of the page that assists in speaking simultaneously to the two groups.

Exploring Web Usage and Selection Criteria Among Male and Female Students1

This study addresses three questions related to the evaluative criteria used by men and women to make judgments about Web pages. What are the major criteria used by students to evaluate Web sites? What are the different kinds of Web sites used by students? Is there a difference in Web site preference and use based on gender? Using a survey design with college students, we show that students tend to use Web sites that are clearly understandable, do not contain too many “bells and whistles,” and are relevant to their special interests and needs. Furthermore, significant gender differences emerge with respect to evaluative criteria and use patterns, with men liking some of the “bells and whistles” and women using academic Web sites more.

Date Fighting Experiences among College Students: Are They Associated with Other Health-Risk Behaviors?.

Objective: The authors examined the clustering of health-risk behaviors among college students who reported date fight involvement. Participants and Methods: The authors administered a Web-based survey to a stratified random sample of 3,920 college students from 10 universities in North Carolina. Results: Among men, 5.6% reported date fight victimization, and 1% reported date fight perpetration. Victimization among men was associated with (1) first drink at age 15 years or younger, (2) a recent threat of violence by someone who had been drinking, (3) smoking, (4) amphetamine use, and (5) older age. Among women, 6.7% reported date fight victimization, which was associated with (1) older age, (2) assault from a student who had been drinking, (3) sex with 2 or more persons, (4) consumption of alcohol in high school, (5) illegal drug use, (6) nonsexual assault requiring medical treatment, and (7) living off campus. Of the women, 4.2% reported date fight perpetration, which was associated with (1) minority race/ethnicity, (2) older age, (3) frequency of sexual intercourse, and (4) alcohol and marijuana use. Conclusions: Date fight experiences were associated with multiple health-risk behaviors among this sample of college students.

Creating immigrant identities in cybernetic space: examples from a non-resident Indian website

Looking at the Internet from the perspective of ‘voice’ and ‘space’, an argument is presented that suggests that the Internet offers the unique opportunity for marginal voices to be uttered in the public sphere. Numerous such utterances can begin to create a discursive space that eventually can become a ‘safe’ place for such voices. Finding such a safe space is particularly urgent for non-European immigrants in the Western hemisphere who are finding their identities being challenged and questioned following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Using examples from a website for non-resident Indians, it is possible to demonstrate that an unique cybernetic space is evolving in the synthesis of the ‘real’ spatial location of the immigrants from where the ‘virtual’ space is accessed thus offering the immigrants an opportunity to comfortably share their multi-faceted identity narratives using their unique and non-editorialized voices.

Changes in Attitudes Toward Computers and Use of Computers by University Faculty

AbstractThis article examines two components related to faculty adoption of computers on university campuses: the change in use patterns and the change in attitudes and opinions. Faculty members’ attitudes and use patterns are evaluated using data compiled from the first year of a longitudinal study. The results of our study show that use and attitudes are multidimensional constructs. In addition, changes happen at different rates for different categories of use. Also, the changes in attitudes are more significant for specific components of use. These findings suggest that faculty members, with their increased computer use and altering attitudes, need adequate computer training and infrastructural support to sustain use.

From Cyber Space to Cybernetic Space: Rethinking the Relationship between Real and Virtual Spaces

The interaction between real and virtual spaces can be reconceptualized by mobilizing the notion of cybernetic space to signify the relationship between spaces, culture and identity in the synthetic space we tend to live in. The new metaphor can allow for a holistic examination of the Internet in popular culture.

Nations and the Internet The Case of a National Newsgroup, 'soc.cult.indian'

With the growth of electronic communication systems such as the Internet it is now possible to imagine communities built by and around the discourses produced and exchanged on such systems. The distinctiveness of these emergent systems lies in the interactivity and the user-empowerment that such systems provide. Simultaneously with the emergence of electronic systems such as the Internet, there has also appeared a bloc of people whose traditional national identities have been disrupted by the process of migration and immigration. These diasporic communities are increasingly embracing the Internet system to produce a new sense of community where they can textually create images of their own national and tribal communities. This paper examines the uniqueness of the Internet and its structuration, and then demonstrates the ways in which the technological tool is being used to produce specific community images. Illustrations from the national Indian discussion group are used to examine some key aspects of the community building process.