Gendered Space: The Digital Divide between Male and Female Users in Internet Public Access Sites |
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Authors: | Laura J. Dixon Teresa Correa Joseph Straubhaar Laura Covarrubias Dean Graber Jeremiah Spence Viviana Rojas |
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Affiliation: | 1. University of Texas at Austin, Department of Radio‐Television‐Film, , Austin, TX 78712, USA;2. Universidad Diego Portales, , Santiago, Chile;3. University of Texas at Austin, , Austin, TX 78712, USA;4. University of Texas at San Antonio, , San Antonio, TX 78249, USA |
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Abstract: | Community technology centers and libraries have been crucial components of public policy initiatives to reduce the digital divide. Using theories of structuration and the social construction of technology, this paper examines the gender dynamics of the digital divide at public access points in Austin, TX over 10 years. Using extensive participant observations, we found male users outnumber female users in public access Internet usage, even accounting for age and ethnicity. In‐depth interviews revealed that both sexes saw public access as the least desirable place to use the Internet, but discourses around libraries differed. Female interviewees associated libraries with nostalgia for books and family, while male interviewees associated libraries with technology. Older female users also described feelings of technophobia. |
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Keywords: | Public libraries public access digital divide gender Internet structuration theory |
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