New Learning Technologies: Promises and Prospects for Women

It was agreed that, regardless of technology, the fundamental elements of a valuable learning experience remain constant and are recognized intuitively, experientially, rather than through measured or statistical outcomes.

The most important issues identified by this workshop are:

• the disparity in learning opportunities depending on location, language, learning style, age, ability, gender and class
  
• the need for a cohesive policy developed by women to direct the introduction and uses of new technologies and for this policy to be on the agendas of policy makers, educational institutions and the private sector
  
• a way for women to critically assess uses and feed reflections back into the process
• the importance of human interaction and connection in creating valuable, positive learning experiences, and the value in meeting personally and not only on-line
  
• the need to open up opportunities to young women and to address the implications of "accidental collisions" with pornography on the Internet when attempting to research "women" or "girls"
  
• the need for a clearing house of information and support for women using technology

Saturday, March 22, 1997

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning opened with an address by Leslie Regan Shade. Leslie is a consultant on social and policy issues related to the Internet, including the issue of women and gender. Based in Ottawa, Ontario, she is also a Ph.D. candidate in Communications at McGill University. The purpose of Leslie's paper was to present a feminist analysis of new learning technologies including issues related to universal access and gender.

A Gendered Perspective on Access Issues
Leslie's paper opened with an image of "Hacker Barbie," an imitation Barbie that appeared on the Web after Mattel's 1993 release of a talking Barbie who said "Math is hard." Hacker Barbie is dressed in worn- out jeans and a button up shirt, wearing thick glasses and seated in front of her own computer. This image demonstrates the subversive potential of the Internet but reminded that this subversion is in response to male domination of the Internet terrain and to the still prevailing myth that computers (math, science) areunnatural to women.