This book was written in 1996, when the Internet was just becoming popular. It was never put into book format due to publisher problems, but I have retained full electronic distribution rights to this material. If you are interested in updates/publication, please contact me by email at: woodka@sdsc.edu.
While some of the material is dated as the Internet grows and changes, the basics remain the same, and are even more important today than five years ago. The Internet and the Information Technology fields, along with math and science in general, are not an interesting place for most women and girls, either due to lack of educational opportunities, peer pressure to move to different fields of study, or the long hours that must be devoted to math, science, and IT careers. What can be done to change these fields to make them more interesting and acttractive? That is what these pages begin to explore. I hope you will find them valuable - they are truly a "work of love" for me. -- Donna Woodka, July 2001
Short answer for girls themselves: Because the Internet is "kewl" and girrrls have fun using it! Hey, girls - please skip on over to Chapter 6, "Girrrls Just Want to Have Fun!" to meet other "kewl"girrrls on the Internet!
Long answer for parents and teachers: OK, there's some rather serious content here too, although I hope you'll also have fun reading it. This book is for parents and teachers who want to use the Internet to encourage their daughters or students to develop their interests in science, math and technology. Parents and teachers need to be aware of why the interests and needs of girls may be different than those of boys in learning about technology and science, and how the Internet can be used to encourage girls to develop their interests.
Teachers can use the resources here in developing classroom learning strategies and lesson plans. Parents can use these resources in helping their daughters in their education and in supporting their daughter's plans for a future career, or just to enjoy the fun of exploring the Internet with their daughter. The book is also a resource guide for places on the Internet that are interesting for girls, and places with further information about programs created to stimulate girls' interest in math, science and technology.
This book is also for girls and women of any age who want to know where the "cool sites" for them are on the Internet. It tells you where to find places that are interesting, people who have been where you are and gone where you want to go, and who can tell you how to get there, and things that are interesting to learn about, interesting to do, and interesting to create for yourself. If you're a girl, please flip on over to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and the resource list and enjoy the "cool sites" of the Internet! Teachers will want to look to the "Girls and Computers in School" section and parents at "Girls and Computers at Home".
Boys seem to be drawn to computers - they see them as interesting toys. They need access and guidance to the Internet, but are far more likely to get interested in exploring just for the sake of exploring. Girls are more interested in what they can do with the computer, and what it will do for them - they see the computer as a tool for learning, interaction, and self-expression. They need the access and guidance as well, but with a slightly different emphasis - the emphasis on what the computer does for them as a tool to learn more about whatever they are interested in. Some of them will get interested in the bits and bytes, some won't, but they all need to know that this isn't magic, it isn't "hard", and it isn't at all difficult for them to learn about and enjoy for themselves.
This book is not a "dumbed down" book to make it "easier" for girls. The technology is the same and the way you can use it is the same whether you are male or female. Everyone is just as capable of learning about the Internet and using it, and gender does not make any difference in ability. It's also not just a list of fun things on the Internet for kids, There are lots of books like that out there, but this one has a slightly different purpose - not just to get girls using the Internet, but also getting them to understand some of what goes on "behind the scenes" - to want to learn more about the technology that makes it all happen, and to move into fields like math and science where they can help make the future happen, instead of just letting it happen to them.
What does make a difference is knowing where to find people who share your interests, who know what you're going through, and can encourage you to develop your interests. There are peer groups and mentors, summer camps and programs to help girls develop math and science interests. There are math and science sites, fun, yes, but also very informative. And a lot of information on how to structure both classroom and home settings so girls get involved in computing. This book is also a guide to understanding what some of the risks are on the Internet, and how to avoid being harassed by people who send unwanted mail or messages. Not all the negative hype you hear in media stories, but the realities and how to be in control of what happens on your computer.
In the 70's, when I was growing up, many of us developed the attitude that women could and should be able to do anything, so a lot of us did - we became scientists, and engineers, and mathematicians, and all the other things people had tried to tell us "girls weren't good at" or "girls shouldn't do". I developed a lot of "personal heroes" for myself, women who had contributed to computer science and were important in its history, like Admiral Grace Hopper, the inventor of the COBOL programming language that became the mainstay of business computing everywhere.
I thought for a while that our society had pretty much moved beyond that, and that it was pretty accepted now that women were just as good as men at all those things. Then I had kids of my own (I have two boys) and I started hearing a lot of those kind of things again from friends who were raising girls - daycare providers trying to tell them "girls should wear dresses, not pants", or "play with dolls, not trucks", and I started reading stories about junior high school girls with low self-esteem who didn't want to be seen as being smart or "the guys won't like me". There are a lot of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) cues to girls that they are supposed to avoid looking or acting smart or pursuing highly technical careers. Girls need to be encouraged to follow their interests and develop their talents, and not to pretend those talents don't exist.
On the broadest scale, the only way our society will continue to do well is if we can make the fullest use possible of all our resources. That means educating everyone to the highest levels they can achieve, so they can contribute as much as possible to our society and the economy. On a more personal level, girls need to know that they can achieve as much as they want to. The higher their own level of education, the more they personally will be able to earn and better support themselves and their families. In these times when family life may not always be stable, the ability to earn a good living for yourself becomes all the more important. Some research has even shown that the best indicator of a child's success in school is the educational level that has been reached by the child's mother. Here's an example of why developing math skills is important:
"The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that students who do well in math out-earn their non-mathematical counterparts even if they don't go on to college. Within six years of graduating high school in 1980, young men with strong basic math skills were earning 53 cents more per hour than those with average math skills, and women were earning 74 cents more. The study measured math competence in areas such as fractions, decimals and graphs but did not include any advanced algebra or geometry. (St. Petersburg Times 30 Oct 1995 p3)"
There are many books out there now to introduce people to the Internet, guides for parents and teachers and kids, but I didn't see one that really encouraged girls to take an interest in what was behind the Internet - to truly become creators of new technology, rather than simply its users. Or to encourage them to stand up for their own rights to learn and to know and to understand technology.
Up to a point, boys and girls have the same kinds of interests and can benefit from the same kinds of instruction - but what do you do when the boys crowd around jostling for time on the computer and the girls back off? Why does that happen? How do you encourage the girls to be more agressive, to pursue their interests? How can you tell them not be afraid of it or think that guys won't like them if they are smart and know how to use the computer? How do you capture that interest and once they do have it, develop it into an interest in science, mathematics or technology? How can we encourage girls to be interested in these subjects, instead of allowing them to become "turned off" by them? Or even to be like Ada Lovelace, and step boldly into a world where they may be told over and over again that they "don't belong"? SIDEBAR LOVELACE
I've been using the Internet, in one form or another, since the early 1980's. No, the Internet didn't just happen overnight, it has just become more popular and more commonly used lately. The Internet started around 25 years ago, and was a tool used by scientists, engineers and researchers for many years. Now, it is coming into common use for commercial purposes, and for educational use at the elementary and high school levels, where before it was mainly used in universities. The main reason is the ease-of-use of newly developed resources like the World Wide Web, and interfaces like Mosaic and now Netscape that are easier to use than ever. The creation of powerful search engines such as Lycos and Yahoo and the availability of Commercial Information Exchange network providers are other factors in the Internet's growing popularity.
I'm on the Internet off and on throughout most of the day. I "talk" to friends through e-mail, I read newsgroups, I search through web sites and collect and share information. I market Internet services to new users and to small businesses, and try to make the Internet available to as many people as possible. This book is my way of sharing a lot of what I've learned, and hopefully it will lead other girls and women to join those already on the Internet, and those already in the fields of science, engineering, mathematics and other high technology fields.
Women are under-represented in all these areas, and while there are many reasons for that, perhaps this book will help dispell some of the mythology and really let girls know what women can accomplish, and are accomplishing, out there every day in the universities, research labs, and commercial businesses worldwide on the Internet. And have a lot of fun while we're at it, too!
Thanks to everyone who helped in creating this book. I got so many wonderful responses from women on the Internet, and really enjoyed my discussions with them.
One last note - Internet resources, especially World Wide Web sites, are often volatile and change frequently. The URLs listed for any Web sites referenced will be as current as possible as the book is published, but may change by the time you read this. Most sites can be found through a Lycos search. Wherever possible, I will try to reference several sites with similar materials, to increase the odds of finding a current site. Most Web sites also have links to other similar sites, and a Web search on any particular topic will usually find several (and sometimes hundreds) of links to sites of interest.
Donna Woodka
woodka@sdsc.edu