E.W.M. Rommes

Configuring the user as everybody: gender and design cultures in information and communication technologies

Based on two case studies of the design of electronic communication networks developed in the public and private sector, this article explores the barriers within current design cultures to account for the needs and diversity of users. Whereas the constraints on user-centered design are usually described in macrosociological terms, in which the user–technology relation is merely understood as a process of the inclusion or exclusion of users in design, the authors suggest that it is important to adopt a semiotic approach. Moreover, they argue that we need to take into account the gender identity of designers to understand how design practices in ICT prioritize male users. The article shows how configuring the user as “everybody” and the use of the “I-methodology” are important constraints in the development of technologies that aim to reach users in all their diversity.

Self-Control and Early Adolescent Antisocial Behavior: A Longitudinal Analysis

The article discusses a three-wave longitudinal study that investigates the relationship between self-control and aggressive and delinquent behavior of early adolescent boys and girls. The sample consists of 1,012 Dutch adolescents (mean age = 12.3) in their first year of secondary education. Structural equation modeling analyses reveal that high levels of self-control consistently decrease aggressive and delinquent behavior in the subsequent 6 months follow-up intervals. Results for the total sample do not support the hypothesis that self-control is influenced by previous levels of aggression or delinquency. For boys, the partial evidence found indicates reciprocal effects of self-control and delinquency.

Changing Lives: the case for women-only vocational technology training revisited

Abstract Women-only vocational courses in technology, which became popular across Western Europe during the 1980s, had fallen from fashion by 2000. Yet the need for such courses remains, at least in certain circumstances. Drawing on case studies of two women-only courses in information and communications technology (ICT), from the Netherlands and Scotland, it is shown that building the confidence of women whose self-esteem is low is key to any successful inclusion outcomes of such courses. It is also shown that, in order to be effective, the organisation and delivery of such training must involve a ‘heterogeneous’ package of measures. It is argued that women-only vocational training in technology, along the model presented in this article, is needed and works for particular groups of women. Women-only technology training is justified on two further grounds – that the gender dynamics on single-sex courses are generally better for such women than those on mixed-sex courses, and that traditional associations between technology and masculinity are less likely to operate in a women-only setting. Being women-only seems to be especially important in relation to three elements of the training package: positive role model effects, mutual encouragement and support amongst trainees, and the safety to speak openly.

From the wizard to the doubter: Prototypes of scientists and engineers in fiction and non-fiction media aimed at Dutch children and teenagers

The aim of this paper is to gain insight into the prototypical scientists as they appear in fiction and non-fiction media consumed by children and teenagers in the Netherlands. A qualitative-interpretive content analysis is used to identify seven prototypes and the associated characteristics in a systematic way. The results show that the element of risk is given more attention in fiction than in non-fiction. Also, eccentric scientists appear more often in fiction. In non-fiction, the dimension useful/useless is more important. Furthermore, fictional scientists are loners, although in practice scientists more often work in a team. In both fiction and non-fiction, the final product of the scientific process gets more attention than the process itself. The prototype of the doubter is introduced as an alternative to the dominant representations because it represents scientists and engineers in a more nuanced way.

Gendered User-Representations

To explain why there were so few female users of the first digital city (DDS) in the Netherlands, a close analysis of the design-process and the re-design of a new interface is made. Policy-makers, financiers, and designers made the design-choices. Each group created their own, often unconscious, representations of which the users of DDS would be. These user-representations influenced the choices policy-makers and designers made and the amount of influence users received in the process. Because the policy-makers and the designers of DDS were masculine groups, a new interface was developed with more masculine connotations. The study of the often complicated and contradictory processes in which user-representations are created and which become dominant during the design-process, may be a useful way of finding ways in which more female-friendly designs of ICT can be developed.

Empowerment through sex education? Rethinking paradoxical policies

Abstract Youth empowerment is the main goal of sex education according to Dutch Government and NGO policies. Academics from different disciplines have argued, however, that the ideal of empowerment through education is problematic, because of the unequal power relations implicated in educational practices. Building on one-and-a-half years of online and offline ethnographic fieldwork among Dutch youth, this article argues that Dutch sex educational policies inhibit rather than encourage young people’s empowerment by allowing only a limited number of sexual knowledge building practices to thrive while making others nearly impossible. In order to facilitate young people’s empowerment, policies should aim to create space for young people to develop their own themes and priorities, to offer a multitude of perspectives, to set the pace and to use different strategies for sexual knowledge building, including learning by doing and online learning. This requires a cultural shift that involves both an openness to young people’s experimentation, and a change in existing power hierarchies based on age.

Scientists in Belgian comics: typology, chronology and origins

This article presents an overview of the scientist as a special character in Belgian comics. In the years after World War II and during the first stages of the Cold War, scientists were introduced in many long-term Belgian comic series. The first aim of this article is to find structural commonalities in the scientist as a comic character. The characters are classified following a typology: geniuses, wizards, puzzlers, adventurers, nerds, mad scientists and the misunderstood genius. The second aim is to explain the appearance of the stereotypical character of the scientist in Belgian comics. To trace its origin, the histories of some real scientists and of scientists in novels and films are discussed. It is argued that the way scientists are portrayed in Belgian comics is mainly the result of pragmatic choices the authors have to make, inspired by the work of colleagues and examples from other art forms.

Gender research and IT construction : Concepts for a challenging partnership

This Declaration of Principles for Information Society was made during the UN World Summit of the Information Society in Geneva 20031.

Uncovering the Invisible: Gender-Sensitive Analysis of Call Center Work and Software

New telecommunication and information technology has enabled a new, booming field of work: customer care in call centers. What are the working conditions of call center employees and does call center technology improve these conditions? To answer these questions, we will combine insights from Applied Computer Science49, more specifically from the field of participatory design, with insights from social sciences, specifically Gender Studies.