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  Writing from Down-Under
  
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The Internet for Women:
Writing from Down-Under

by Rye Senjen

Watch out Carla Sinclair: meet a couple of feminists (not post-feminists!) from down-under and their new book on the Internet for women.

How it all began

After failing for years to interest my friends in the possibilities of email their attitudes began to change in early 1995.  The media had caught on and the Internet became a hot topic over night.  At about the same time I began to realize that the Internet was really a boys-own network.  My gender-unspecific first name had protected me from any harassment, but I was aware that women were being harassed via the Internet.  At that time there were still relatively few of us and only few mailing lists and Web sites specially dedicated to our needs.   Because I work in the industry women friends started to ask me about the Internet, how they could get to use it and what potential it could have for women.

The Internet had been so much a part of my working life that I was sometimes a little surprised about the questions.  As a regular visitor to the computer section of book shops I knew there were lots of books available on how to use Internet services.  However when I investigated some of these books I realized that most were tomes written in the style of car maintenance manuals.  Few women have the time to read 700 pages of detailed technical explanation on the ins and outs of Internet plumbing, especially when the examples used concentrate on boy scout's dreams of Hubbell telescopes and space exploration.  Few (none?) of these books contained resources relevant to women (and I am not thinking of beauty tips here) and none discussed the achievements and contributions women have made to computing in the past and present.  What's more most of my women friends wouldn't be bothered to comb the shelves of the computer section of the bookstore for a book that might or might not explain the secrets of the Internet.

So what can a woman do but write the missing book herself?  I knew nothing about how to get a book published.  The old girls network, in the form of a friend who worked as a editor, helped explain how to approach publishers and advised me to send a chapter to a few publishing houses.  I was pretty scared.  Would anyone be interested in my project, I was after all a nobody.  Eventually the yet to be written book found a happy home with Spinifex Press, a feminist publishing house in Melbourne.  At least I wouldn't have to compromise on my politics.  The book was to be more than just a how to guide, I wanted to include discussions on gender issues, privacy, security and to feature women past and present.  Soon I was writing every spare moment.

A job for two

It was exciting to see the book grow and change over time.  Initially it was just my project, but Jane became gradually involved, until it was our project.  It seemed a good idea to utilize Jane's artistic skills and she felt cartoons would be appropriate for such a serious subject. They would provide a balance for the technical content of the book.   Having engaged her on the project I slowly handed over more of the work such as the laborious task of tracking down women's resources on the Internet.  She became slowly converted to the possibilities of the Internet when she interviewed those pioneering women, like Jo and Scarlet, who have been pushing the limits of Internet communication and encouraging women to involve themselves in the new technology.  Jane was enthralled by the little messages that would appear in her mailbox.  She would wake each morning in anticipation of yet another morsel from one of her new email buddies (almost overcame her morning melancholia).  Her interest in the World Wide Web grew more slowly.  She finally became convinced of its usefulness when friends would ask her to track down information for them.  Sitting at home in front of a computer screen, tapping into resources all over the globe - on Alzheimer's disease, the trafficking of women, cafes in San Francisco - she was amazed at just how easily knowledge and vital information could be found and transported to friends and allies around the world.

I had been using the Internet for years, but in a rather cocooned and protected environment.  I never had to setup any software or Internet connection.  Any breakdown or problem was happily the technicians domain.  Writing the book forced me to deal with everything myself: setting up the various Internet services, setting up the computer, the modem, the Internet connection, deal with problems, incompatibilities and frustrations.  As I used each service, I wrote down every step I took, then Jane had to try out the instructions.  It was amazing how much I took for granted and simply left out.  Because I worked with computers I had never bothered to buy one for our home.  So we started the book with a borrowed computer: a 286 with 1 MB of Ram.  This computer did not even have Windows!  But it worked well enough, and it proved that you didn't need expensive equipment to use the Internet.  Eventually we got a late model Pentium PC so I could write about the latest Internet services.

What's it about?

By writing our book we hope to demystify the Internet and put it into a context that makes it relevant and accessible to as many women as possible.  It is for women who are just starting to explore the possibilities of the Internet, as well as seasoned Internet users.  We have tried to strike a balance between practical `how to' advice on using the most common Internet services, and explanations on how the technology works and what its implications are.  We have deliberately kept the technological explanations to a minimum as they are rarely necessary in order to use a particular Internet service successfully.  We have included a chapter that explains the equipment which you will need to get Internet access, what types of Internet access you can obtain and what questions to ask a prospective Internet service provider.

Our book also covers topics not covered in more general books on the Internet: gender issues, pornography, sexual harassment, anonymity, privacy and security.  To put the Internet into a more women-centered perspective we have included a chapter that introduces our computing foremothers and describes how some women have already begun to make the Internet an integral part of their lives.  And in the final section of the book you will find a collection of Internet resources of special interest to women.  Internet addresses are still relatively unstable and will change without warning.  For this reason we have placed all resources mentioned throughout the book on our Web page.

The Internet for Women is published by Spinifex Press, Melbourne, and was released in Australia in August 96 and in October 96 in Canada, Great Britain and the USA.

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Joan Korenman keeps a regularly updated listing of publicly-accessible electronic forums (or "lists") related to women or to gender issues. This is a great resource to keep in your bookmark file, as you are likely to want to return to it often. Unless you have unlimited time, you will probably join only a few lists at once. If you need to know what is available in your area of interest, or whether there are more suitable lists for you to join than the one/s you may be on currently, this is one excellent place to look.

To highlight recent changes to the list, Joan adds a section on additions, changes and deletions. If you know of changes, or are interested in publicizing a new list you are starting, contact korenman@umbc2.umbc.edu

Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources

I really enjoyed reading this collection of articles about women and electronic communications. Many show how they overcame the unfamiliarity of computers to move on to design Web sites, use email to discuss class content and progress, put rural women in contact with others - from a campus in New Zealand doing distance learning to a remote US college where everyone needs more resources - including more time.

There's a thoughtful article by Mary Kay Schleiter on using a class email discussion to break down race and gender barriers Tracy Luchetta looks at a theme which recurrs in women's studies discussions, the effects of email on the teacher as authority figure model of learning. Because Women'space is put together by editors across 3000 miles I was fascinated by Amanda Goldrick-Jones and Linda M LaDuc reflecting on using email to write collaboratively. There's more, just as good, and you can see the full table of contents, and some of the the articles at the University of Wisconsin's Women's Studies Librarian's site.

As with most Web sites, you can get to their home page and you can then browse in any direction on this great site, which includes topics such as health, film studies, women of color, aging, lesbian studies, and many bibliographies including my favourite "Women Mystery Writers".

One article quotes a student as saying "The Internet will provide the nearest approximation our society can offer to a mass meeting of feminists"

Available from: Women's Studies Librarian, University of Wisconsin System, 430 Memorial Library, 728 State Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA.

email wiswsl@doit.wisc.edu

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Part One Summer 1996, volume 2 no.1
Part Two Summer 1996, volume 2 no.1