Gender, Education & New Technologies

UNIVERSITY OF THE AEGEAN 2008 POST-GRADUATE PROGRAM

"GENDER AND NEW EDUCATIONAL AND EMPLOYMENT ENVIRONMENTS IN THE

INFORMATION AGE"Michael A Peters

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Two Workshops• Workshop 1• Gender, Education and New

Technologies: Assessing the evidence• Led by Michael Peters

• Workshop 2• Girls, Social Media & Social

Networking: Harnessing the talent• Led by Tina Besley

Outline of Workshop 11. Introducing the philosophical

issues2. Developing a baseline

understanding3. Investigating the research articles4. Discussion of feminism,

technology and science

1. Introducing the philosophical issues

• Orientation – Technē, Space and Subjectivity• Is there a gender theory of technology?• Plurality & complexity: The language of new media• Informationalism• Techno-political economy of openness• Open 21st century?• Immaterial labor• New Media, Knowledge Formations and Ubiquitous

Learning• Freedom and control of media

Kamiros Houses, streets, temples, and an agora

Classical Greek Town

Prehistorical site; inhabited until 4th century

Architecture, Space, Subjectivity

Tholos of Olympia – Philippeion 338 BC

KorinthTemple of Apollo, 550BC

Forms of subjectivity – Korinth

Roman Era

Technologies of the SelfBattles of Amazons & Warriors

Early Literacy – Roman script

Part of Frieze Relief

Head of Dionysos, 2nd Century AD

Technē• Heidegger suggests that technē is a mode

of knowing that consists in aletheia, a bringing forth of being out of concealedness.

• He establishes a series of meaningful relationships between technology, subjectivity, dwelling (architecture) and space

• Foucault coins the term ‘technologies of the self’ ‘gender technologies of the self’

Spatial Technologies• Classical Greek society and the

invention of technologies of space and new subjectivities: celestial spaces; private spaces; public spaces; space of theatre, of worship, of burial, of democracy, of commerce.

• new spatialization of knowledge and the self through pervasive networks, including the Internet

Technologies of the Self

Michael Foucault – ‘Of Other Spaces’ (1967)

The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space. We are in the epoch of simultaneity: we are in the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near and far, of the side-by-side, of the dispersed. We are at a moment. I believe, when our experience of the world is less that of a long life developing through time than that of a network that connects points and intersects with its own skein.

Edutopologies1. Textual spaces/ spaces of representation (Literary Studies)2. Embodied and gendered spaces – spaces of identity

(Philosophy; Feminism; Anthropology)3. Institutional and dwelling spaces (Architecture)4. The city, the region, the country (Geography; Urban

Planning)5. Globalization and transnational spaces (Economics;

Cultural Studies)6. Spaces of history – colonial spaces (History)7. Imaginary spaces (Utopian Studies)8. Topological spaces (Discrete Mathematics)9. The space of migrations, diasporas, flows (Migration

studies)10. The technologies of networked spaces (Information

studies).

Is there a gender theory of technology?

• Most philosophical theories of technology ignore gender – Marx, Heidegger, Marcuse, Feenberg

• Exception is Donna Haraway’s (1985) ‘Manifesto for Cyborgs’ written before the invention and public use of the Internet, and the recent emergence of social media

• Some new attempts that focus on questions of subjectivity in relation to the question of ‘affective & immaterial labor’ (after Negri & Hardt)

Plurality & ComplexityThe language of new media

1. through numerical representation, a new object can be described formally (mathematically) and subject to algorithmic manipulation: "in short, media becomes programmable" (27).

2. new media objects have modularity at the level of representation and at the level of code. Thus, new media objects such as a digital film or a web page are composed from an assemblage of elements--images, sounds, shapes, or behaviors--that sustain their separate identity and can be operated upon separately, without rendering the rest of the assemblage unusable.

3. numerical coding and modularity "allow for the automation of many operations involved in media creation, manipulation, and access" (32). Automation achieves speed that is the fulcrum of computer "power."

Lev Manvich (2000) 4. while old media depended upon an original construction of

an object that could then be exactly reproduced (for example, as a printed book or photograph), new media are characterized by variability. Thus, browsers and word processors allow users to define parameters; databases allow selective search-sensitive views; web pages can be customized to the user. The variability of new media allows for branching-type interactivity, periodic updates, and scalability as to size or detail (37-38).

5. new media find themselves at the center of the "transcoding" between the layers of the computer and the layers of culture (46). In new-media lingo, to "transcode something is to translate it into another format" (47).

Informationalism • Informational capitalism: Manuel Castells on the ‘networked

society.’ informationalism as a new technological paradigm and mode of development characterized by “information generation, processing, and transmission” that have become “the fundamental sources of productivity and power”

• Other descriptions: - Harvey’s The Condition of Postmodernity- Diigital capitalism (Dan Schiller & Robert McChesney)- New culture of capitalism (Sennett; Thrift)- Fast capitalism (Agger)- Virtual capitalism (John Bellamy Foster)- High-tech capitalism (Haug 2003)

• What they share is the idea that Informationalism is a mode of development structured and based on knowledge, science, expertise and communication technologies

Techno-political economy of openness

• Politics of Openness- Bergson, Popper, Soros; open government

• Technologies of Openness- Open systems, cybernetics, Macy group, Shanon- PC, Internet (1992), shift to Net as platform, Web 2.0- Social media-social networking; New architectures of participation and collaboration

• Economics of Openness- Economics of file-sharing; Mass customization; Personalization of services; Co-production & co-design of goods & services- Knowledge as a global public good- ‘How Social Production Transforms Freedom and Markets’ – Yochai Benkler (2006)- Freedom, justice, and the organization of information production on nonproprietary principles

Open Cultures/Open Education- MIT adopts OpenCourseWare (2001)- Budapest OA statement-Harvard mandates open archiving (Feb 14, 2008)

Open 21st Century?• The present decade can be called the ‘open’ decade (open

source, open systems, open standards, open archives, open everything) just as the 1990s were called the ‘electronic’ decade (e-text, e-learning, e-commerce, e-governance). Materu, 2004.

• It is more than just a ‘decade’ that follows the electronic innovations of the 1990s; it is a change of philosophy and ethos, a set of interrelated and complex changes that transforms markets and the mode of production, ushering in a new collection of values based on openness, the ethic of participation and peer-to-peer collaboration.

• a shift from an underlying metaphysics of production—a ‘productionist’ metaphysics—to a metaphysics of prosumption creating new forms of creativity and freedom

• Dangers of openness: the end of unregulated neoliberalism?

Immaterial labor• Negri & Hardt (2000: 290) argue that

contemporary society is an Empire that is characterized by a singular global logic of capitalist domination that is based on immaterial labor “that creates immaterial products, such as knowledge, information, communication, a relationship, or an emotional response” or services, cultural products, knowledge

• MySpace - a place in which young adults ‘learn’ to immaterial labor – developing and maintaining networks an d fashioning a flexible ‘self-brand’ that functions as the digital interface of an individual’s subjectivity – pointing to affect as the binding force that makes immaterial production cohere.

New Media, Knowledge Formations and Ubiquitous

Learning • We now live in a socially networked universe in which the

material conditions for the formation, circulation, and utilization of knowledge and learning are rapidly changing from an industrial to information and media-based economy.

• Increasingly the emphasis has fallen on the ‘learning economy’ and on improving learning systems and networks, and the acquisition of new literacies as a central aspect of development considered in personal, community, regional, national and global contexts.

• These mega-trends signal both changes in the production and consumption of symbolic goods and also associated changes in their contexts of use.

• They accent the ‘learner’s’ co-production and active production of meaning in a variety of networked public and private spaces, where knowledge and learning emerge as new principles of social stratification, social mobility and identity formation.

Freedom & Control • Communications and information technologies not only diminish

the effect of distance they also thereby conflate the local and the global, the private and the public, ‘work’ and ‘home’.

• Digitalization of learning systems increases the speed, circulation and exchange of knowledge highlighting the importance of the digital archive, digital representations of all symbolic and cultural resources, and new literacies and models of text management.

• At the same time the radical concordance of image, text and sound, and development of new information/knowledge infrastructures have created new learning opportunities in formal and informal areas, while encouraging the emergence of a global media network linked with a communications network together with the emergence a universal Euro-American consumer culture and the rise of edutainment media & information conglomerates.

• The question, therefore, of who owns and designs learning systems is of paramount political and philosophical importance for “How a system is designed will affect the freedoms and control the system enables” (Lessig, 2002: 35).

2. Developing a baseline understanding

• ‘How do we educate girls to become tech-savvy women?’

• Findings of the Commission• Recommendations of the

Commission• Design characteristics• ‘Girl friendly’ features

Gender, Education and New Technologies: Assessing the evidence

The question ‘How do we educate girls to become tech-savvy women?’ was the main concern of the AAUW Educational Foundation Commission on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education in its major report Tech-Savy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age (2000). These two workshops begin with a discussion of Tech-Savy based on allocated readings to participants (Chapters 1-5) as a base-line of understanding.

Tech-Savy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age (2000)

• Chapter 1: “WE CAN, BUT I DON’T WANT TO”: Girls’ Perspectives on the Computer Culture

• Chapter 2: IN THE SCHOOL: Teacher Perspectives and Classroom Dynamics

• Chapter 3: EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE AND GAMES: Rethinking the “Girls’ Game”

• Chapter 4: THE COMPUTER SCIENCE CLASSROOM: Call It “Oceanography” and They Will Come

• Chapter 5: THE SCHOOL IN CONTEXT: Home, Community, and Work

1. Girls have reservations about the computer culture—and with good

reason.• girls are concerned about the passivity of their

interactions with the computer as a “tool”• they reject the violence, redundancy, and tedium

of computer games; • they dislike narrowly and technically focused

programming classes. • Too often, these concerns are dismissed as

symptoms of anxiety or incompetence that will diminish once girls “catch up” with the technology.

• girls are pointing to important deficits in the technology and the culture in which it is embedded that need to be integrated into our general thinking about computers and education.

2. Teachers in grades K-12 have concerns—and with good reason.

• Teachers, three-fourths of whom are women, critique the quality of educational software;

• the “disconnect” between the worlds of the curriculum, classroom needs, and school district expectations;

• and the dearth of adequate professional development and timely technical assistance.

• criticisms of the ways that computer technology has come into the classroom, and of the ways that they are instructed and encouraged to use it.

• Often, teachers’ concerns are met with teacher bashing: “Teachers are not measuring up” to the new technology

• teachers need opportunities to design instruction that takes advantage of technology across all disciplines.

• Computing ought to be infused into the curriculum and subject areas that teachers care about in ways that promote critical thinking and lifelong learning.

3. Statistics on girls’ participation in the culture of

computing are of increasing concern, from the point

of view of education, economics, and culture.• Girls are not well-represented in computer laboratories and clubs, and have taken dramatically fewer programming and computer science courses at the high school and postsecondary level. Therefore, girls and women have been labeled as computer-phobic.

• We need a more inclusive computer culture that embraces multiple interests and backgrounds and that reflects the current ubiquity of technology in all aspects of life.

4. Girls’ current ways of participating in the computer culture are a cause for

concern.• Criticisms of computer courses as point of entry based on

review of tools;• mastery of these tools may be useful, it is not the same

thing as true technological literacy.• To be “technologically literate” requires a set of critical

skills, concepts, and problemsolving abilities that permit full citizenship in contemporary e-culture.

• The new standard of “fluency” assumes an ability to use abstract reasoning; to apply information technology in sophisticated, innovative ways to solve problems across disciplines and subject areas; to interpret vast amounts of information with analytic skill; to understand basic principles of programming and other computer science fundamentals; and to continually adapt and learn new technologies as they emerge in the future.

Commission's Key Recommendations

• Compute across the curriculum.• Redefine computer literacy.• Respect multiple points of entry.• Change the public face of computing.• Prepare tech-savvy teachers.• Begin a discussion on equity for educational

stakeholders.• Educate students about technology and the future

of work.• Rethink educational software and computer

games.• Support efforts that give girls and women a boost• into the pipeline.

The following 10 design characteristics are conducive to engaging a broader array of learners, boys and girls, with computer

environments:1. software that is personalizable and customizable. This type

of software allows students to create their own characters, scenarios, and endings, and allows them to work independently or collaboratively.

2. games with challenge3. games involving more strategy and skill4. games with many levels, intricacies, and complexities5. flexibility to support multiple narratives6. constructionist design—one that allows students to create

their own objects through the software7. designs that support collaborative or group work, and

encourage social interaction8. coherent, nonviolent narratives9. “puzzle connections,” such as rich mysteries with multiple

resolutions10. goal-focused rather than open-ended games

The following four content features have been found to be

“girl friendly”:1. “identity games” that enable girls to experiment

with characters and real-life scenarios. Some of these games enable girls to invent online personalities, identities, and worlds. Some of these games enable girls to experiment with choices about peer pressure, smoking, sexual relationships, etc., and “play out” the consequences of their action.

2. software that has realistic as well as fantastical content; games that function as simulations of authentic contexts and situations

3. software structured around a conflict with potential resolution

4. games that have themes of mystery and adventure

3. Investigating the Research Articles

• Reexamining the evidence in terms of 5 recent research articles (1997-2007)

• Methods and approaches• Some checklists

The Research Articles• Abbiss, J (2008) Rethinking the ‘problem’ of gender and IT

schooling: discourses in literature, Gender and Education, 20, ( 2): 153–165.

• Marwick, K (2006) Under The Feminist Post-Structuralist Lens: Women in Computing Education, Journal of Educational Computing Research, 34 (3): 257-279.

• Papastergiou, M & Solomonidou, C (2005) Gender issues in Internet access and favourite Internet activities among Greek high school pupils inside and outside school, Computers & Education 44: 377–393.

• Volman, M, van Eck E, Heemskerk, I, & Kuiper, E (2005) New technologies, new differences. Gender and ethnic differences in pupils’ use of ICT in primary and secondary education, Computers & Education 45: 35–55.

• Durndell, A & Thomson, K. (1997) Gender and Computing: A Decade of Change? Computer Education, 28, (1) 1-9.

Gender and Computing: A Decade of Change? (1997)Targetted 16-18 year olds in 1995 were compared to similar groups in 1992, 1989 and 1986. Reported use of computers, knowledge about IT and reasons for not studying computing were assessed. Reported use of computers in school had risen to a non gender differentiated high level. However, reported domestic use of computers remained highly gendered, with males retaining a higher level of reported use both of their own computer and of a friend's computer. Knowledge about IT concepts had increased over time, with the male advantage over females being retained but declining very gradually in absolute size. Analysis, both open ended and statistical, of responses to questions about choosing not to study computing indicated a considerable stability over time of a rather negative stereotype of the computer specialist. It is concluded that gender related changes over time in the U.K. are occurring, but at a slow rate.

New technologies, new differences (2005)

This paper investigates the accessibility and attractiveness of different types of ICT applications in education for girls and boys and for pupils from families with an ethnic minority background and from the majority population in the Netherlands. A study was conducted in seven schools (primary and secondary). Data were collected on participation, ICT skills and learning results, ICT attitudes and the learning approach of pupils. A total of 213 pupils completed a questionnaire and interviews were held with 48 pupils and 12 teachers. Gender differences, especially in primary education, appeared to be small. In secondary education, the computer attitude of girls seems to be less positive than that of boys, girls and boys take on different tasks when working together on the computer and they tackle ICT tasks differently. Pupils from an ethnic-minority background in both primary and secondary education appear to consider themselves to be less skilled ICT users than pupils from the majority population. We found ethnic differences in participation in ICT activities at school in both educational sectors. Pupils from an ethnic-minority background use the computer at school less for gathering information and preparing talks and papers and more for drill and practice. Differences between pupils from an ethnic-minority background and from the majority population in access to certain forms of ICT use out of school are confirmed at school instead of being compensated for. The paper concludes with some recommendations on a diversity-oriented ICT policy at school level.

Computers at School• Learning words, sums or

topography (primary)/practising skills (secondary)

• Drawing (primary)/ working with pictures or photos (secondary)

• Gathering information for a talk or paper

• Preparing a talk (primary)• Giving a talk or

presentation (secondary)• Writing a letter or story

(primary)/report (secondary)

• Writing a paper • Doing an experiment, e.g.,

in physics (secondary)• Writing and reading e-mail

messages• Surfing on the Internet • Chatting • Building a website • Programming • Playing computer games• Other activities

Command of computer skills

• Starting the computer • Starting a computer game • Playing a computer game • Writing a text on the computer • Saving a text • Bold print • Moving sentences around in a

story • Entering letters with accents (e.g.,

€e, e, e) and punctuation marks• Using the spell check• Inserting an existing picture in a

story • Drawing a square and a circle on

the computer• Changing the colour of the letters

• Turning an illustration upside down

• Sending an e-mail • Answering an e-mail • Forwarding an e-mail • Sending a file (attachment) with

an e-mail • Surfing the Internet • Printing an Internet page • Bookmarks/favourites • Using search engines on the

Internet • Downloading a file from the

Internet • Chatting • Building a website

Ways of Working• I prefer to work on the computer with others at school• I prefer computer games in which I can beat someone else• I prefer computer games in which you can make or build something, or in

which you have to achieve something yourself• When I am working with others I prefer to sit in the ‘mouse position’• When I can do something well on the computer, I enjoy explaining it to

others• I prefer playing computer games in which people experience things that

really could happen• I prefer to try things out for myself on the computer rather than be given an

explanation first• I prefer computer games in which I can imagine that I am one of the main

characters• I prefer explanations on the computer to be in pictures rather than words• I really prefer computer programs or games to tell you whether you are

doing it well• I prefer to play computer games with someone else• I prefer someone to explain to me what I have to do on the computer rather

than working it out for myself• I prefer computer games and programs in which you can make something

pretty or amusing

Gender issues in Internet access and favourite Internet activities among Greek high school pupils inside and

outside schoolThis study investigates gender differences in Internet use by Greek high school pupils within school and out of school environments. A sample of 340 pupils (170 boys and 170 girls), aged 12–16 years, completed a written questionnaire on their attainability, location, frequency and purposes of Internet access. The data analysis showed that more pupils use the Internet outside school (at home, in Internet cafes) than within school and that boys have more opportunities to access the Internet. Both inside and outside school, pupils’ favourite Internet activities relate to information gathering for personal purposes and to entertainment. Boys use the Internet for entertainment and Web page creation more than girls do, whereas no other significant gender differences were noted regarding pupils’ other Internet activities, such as communication via e-mail, chat or videoconferencing, Web surfing and information search for personal or school purposes.

Internet in Greek schoolsAccording to official data released by the Greek Ministry of Education in November 2002, 100% of Greek secondary schools and 46% of Greek primary schools had access to the Internet through the Greek Schools Network (GSN, Web site), which began to function in 1999–2000. In recent years, an effort has been made to gradually integrate ICT as a learning tool into the various curricular subjects in both primary and secondary school. But still the majority of Greek pupils first have contact with computers and the Internet at high school level within the school environment, during the computer literacy course. This course is taught one hour per week at the school computer laboratory, in each high school grade, and one of its objectives is the acquisition of basic knowledge and skills concerning the Internet, and the productive use of it for various activities and projects.

Aims of ResearchThe aim of the present survey was to identify

gender differences in the following issues:(a) The extent of Internet use among boys and girls

inside school and outside school.(b) The type of Internet use among boys and girls

inside school (structured use for course activities or free use).

(c) The location (e.g., home, Internet cafes) and frequency of out of school Internet use for boys and girls.

(d) Purposes for which boys and girls use the Internet inside and outside school (e.g., navigationand information search on the Web, communication via e-mail, etc.).

Method• 2.2.1. ParticipantsThe survey was conducted in 1 randomly selected

public high schools pertaining to Trikala, a typical Greek prefecture (six schools in urban areas and five schools in semi-rural and rural areas).

• 2.2.2. Instrumenta self-report questionnaire, which comprised 41

multiple choice and Likert-type items and two open items.

• 2.2.3. ProcedureThe survey was conducted during October-

November 2001.• 2.2.4. Data analysis

ResultsAlthough the proportions of boys and girls who use the Internet inside school do not differ significantly, Greek high school boys are more likely to use the Internet outside school than girls are. Furthermore, both inside and outside school, Greek boys use the Internet for recreational activities and for Web page creation more than girls do, although no other significant gender differences were detected regarding Internet use for communication (via e-mail, chat or videoconferencing), Web surfing and information search activities.Greek high school girls thus still have lesser opportunities to access the Internet in the extrascholastic environment than boys do. But the gender gap detected in this study is likely to close, as Internet penetration further advances in Greek society, and as social and cultural transformations change the traditional sex role stereotypes regarding the use of ICT, which seem to actually affect pupils, and most importantly, their parents.

Under The Feminist Post-structuralist Lens: Women In Computing Education (2006)

Despite various reform efforts, a persistent concern remains within education regarding the under-representation of women in non-traditional subject areas, such as science and engineering. As society is becoming increasingly technocratic, this article examines this issue in relation to Information Technology (IT), as a relatively new educational area. In doing so, I review some of the literature surrounding the gendering of this site and draw upon empirical findings from a study exploring the experiences of women in university computing courses. The aim of this article is to consider and critique the dominant paradigms that have been adopted, drawing upon constructions and understandings of subjectivity of educational theorists who offer alternative ways of approaching this issue. In this article I argue that to move forward we must disrupt and dismantle the gender binary that is so insidiously embedded in the discursive repertoire of the dominant paradigm of educational research and reform. A feminist post-structuralist approach, as employed by several educational theorists, offers opportunities for transcending such duality, while engaging more effectively with the lived experiences of individual women.

IntroductionInformation Technology (IT) has become a global discourse of power. Women’s under-representation is therefore a political issue. This article is not simply about the quantitative concerns associated with women in IT, but is fundamentally interested in the emancipatory implications of such under-representation. These are associated with women’s restricted involvement in the production of such knowledge and male dominated control over technological developments from the personal to the global and the implications of this in the current political climate. However, I argue that women are both active in their resistance of, and complicity in, the social and political practices that lead to their exclusion. Gender reforms within education must therefore take into account girls’ and women’s investments in the discourses surrounding gender and technology.

Gender reform practices

• changing girls’ choices; • changing girls themselves; • changing the curriculum; or• changing the learning environment.

Different approaches• Bryson and de Castell describe four paradigms of

research and reform, which they categorize as• technicist, constructivist, critical, and

postmodern. Technicist and constructivist approaches understand the problem in quantitative and qualitative terms respectively.

• The critical approach challenges the existing educational structures and practices, however tends to construct women as victims and neglect female agency— complicity and resistance. However, the postmodern paradigm begins to deconstruct hegemonic discourses of both technology and gender

Rethinking the 'problem' of gender and IT schooling: discourses in literature

(2007)A review of the international research literature pertaining to gender and information technology (IT) schooling reveals changing ideas about what constitutes a gender problem. Much of the literature is concerned with gender differences in computer uses and interests and perceived disadvantages accruing to females as a result of these differences. This reflects and contributes to a dominant liberal equity discourse. Growing awareness of the limitations of earlier research, the changing nature of IT schooling, contradictions in students’ computer interests and dissatisfaction with simplistic explanations has led, however, to post-structural rethinking and the emergence of a critical discourse. Assumptions of essential differences and deficit ways of thinking are challenged. Persistent gender differences in IT use are explored in their social complexity and the very notion that there is a gender problem is problematised. This presents a different and ultimately more satisfying way of thinking about the problem of gender and IT schooling.

4. Feminism, technology and science

Interview Feminism, Politics, Theories and

ScienceWhich New Link?

Edited by Marina CalloniUNIVERSITY OF MILANO-BICOCCAThe European Journal of Women’s Studies,2003

AbstractAre women’s movement and feminist theories still connected to radical politics and the interest in changing social inequalities, when feminism has been ‘institutionalized’, for instance in the academia, and has become a mainstreaming issue in social policies? This main question was put to eminent feminist scholars, with the aim of investigating the renewed critical role of international feminism and women’s/gender studies in society, science, information, education and research. A reconstruction of the main changes which have occurred to women’s movements and feminist theories in the last decades were the core of the interview, stressing differences and disagreement, also in relation to the new sociopolitical claims, supported by younger generations. The conclusion was that feminism has not lost its historical political mission, even though the world scenario and ideologies have dramatically changed. Indeed, feminism has become transcultural and ‘glocal’, facing new socioeconomic inequities induced by globalization both in western societies and countries in development, confronting with the transformation of collective/gender identities and questioning the increasing importance of (bio)technologies.

Participants• Rosi Braidotti, director of the Research School of

Women’s Studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands;

• Donna Haraway, professor at the University of Santa Cruz;

• Juliet Mitchell, professor at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK;

• Joan Scott, professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University; and

• Annamaria Tagliavini, director of the Biblioteca e Centro di Documentazione delle Donne in Bologna.

New Info-Feminisms• What new subjectivities are constituted

through social media for girls and women?• What new possibilities do they afford girls

for educational success and progress?• What distinctive forms of female immaterial

labor and affect do social media create?• What are the transformational potential of

social media that link feminism to its historical mission?