DIGITAL ROOMS OF THEIR OWN: WOMEN'S VOICES ONLINE ABOUT THE POLITICS OF WOMEN, FAMILY AND MATERNITY IN FOUR WESTERN DEMOCRACIES

This dissertation examined the experiences of 109 women with varying backgrounds who blog or write online about the politics of women, family and maternity in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland. This dissertation argues that a broader definition of what counts as political needs to be applied to the voices of women online to capture their political expressions in Western democracies. An analysis of in-depth interviews found that 84 percent of interviewees considered their blogging to be political. A statistically significant relationship was found to exist between women bloggers/writers online who identified as feminist and who considered their blogging to be political. Rather than categorizing the personal styles of women who blog/write online (in and outside my sample) as "just" "personal journaling," the fluidity of topics they address needs to be recognized as a feature of fluid public clusters online, which are tied to their lives offline. This dissertation argues that it is necessary to amend the theories of public spheres to capture the political expressions and experiences of women who use social media to write about their concerns publicly. This dissertation suggests a new theory of fluid public clusters. This new theory expands on the idea of a multitude of publics rather than the often-criticized singularity of the original Habermasian public sphere. It emphasizes that publics are messy, overlapping and changing over time. It also highlights that offline social hierarchies of power and identities migrate online. This dissertation concludes that national contexts shape the expressions of women bloggers/writers online and that these were particularly apparent in the fluid public clusters that were salient in each country. One key finding was that Switzerland differed significantly from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. In the latter three countries women - across a wide variety of backgrounds - have (or at least are not denied) ample opportunities to make their voices heard. In Switzerland, women's voices online have been constrained in number and range of perspectives to center around traditional understandings of motherhood while feminist/progressive views remain rare. While 73 percent of interviewees said they had negative experiences due to blogging/writing online, all 109 interviewees said they had at least one positive experience due to blogging/writing online. These included personal, professional and, in some cases, also commercial benefits. Interviewees cherished having a digital room of their own to write what they want in a space for which they set the rules. Interviewees dealt with negative experiences mostly on a personal level, as police, state and lawmakers have been slow in recognizing and prosecuting online discrimination and abuse leveled against women. Positive experiences are nearly guaranteed but negative interactions remain and are more likely to happen to women who identify as feminists and/or say that their writing is political. This dissertation offers insights into the discourse among women about the democratization of democracies via social media. Seventy-two percent of interviewees remained skeptical about the democratic potential of social media. Most interviewees had concerns about internet access, internet literacy, online harassment and which voices get heard or amplified. Yet, interviewees also shared examples of starting or contributing to (national) public debates over issues of their concern. The democratic potential of social remains haphazard. Finally, this dissertation argues that women, who have been under-represented and misrepresented in (news) media content and production, need to keep blogging, tweeting and writing online. By doing so, women will tap into the haphazard democratic potential of social media. This will make Western democracies more democratic. To encourage women to blog, this dissertation offers recommendations to women on managing blogs/sites (safely)

Teaching Girls Online Skills: Results of the Wikid Grrls Intervention

In 2013-2016 we designed and implemented Wikid Grrls, a 10-week after-school workshop series to teach online skills to middle school girls in U.S. schools. We interviewed and surveyed 80 participants before and after the workshops. Girls’ online skills and confidence in them increased measurably for the duration of the workshop series. Participants expressed great interest in learning more, but media literacy programs at their schools regarding online skills were lacking. Using feminist theories and the reader-to-leader framework, we argue that such media literacy interventions bring immediate learning rewards for participants. Yet, we conclude that to narrow gender gaps in digital knowledge creation and sharing, media literacy classes that include online skills should become regular features in U.S. school curricula instead of being offered merely in voluntary programs. Future research should assess long-term benefits of media literacy interventions to teach online skills longitudinally to see if and how such initiatives figure into later school and career decisions

Ost- und westdeutsche Journalistinnen in Leitungspositionen: Zur Wahrnehmung von Arbeitssituationen und beruflichen Praktiken

Wir nutzen theoretische Ansätze der Standpunktepistemologie und Intersektionalität, um zu analysieren wie die Repräsentation von in der DDR und/oder ostdeutsch-sozialisierten Journalist*innen in Redaktionen in Deutschland, vor allem auf Leitungsebene, wahrgenommen wird. Inwiefern spielen diese Sozialisationserfahrungen, mehr als 30 Jahre nach Beginn des Wiedervereinigungsprozesses eine Rolle? Dieser Beitrag enthält Ergebnisse eines Teilprojekts und basiert auf 33 Interviews mit Journalist*innen von acht regionalen Nachrichtenmedien in Ostdeutschland, zwei überregionalen Nachrichtenmedien und zwei Zeitungen in Berlin. Die explorative Textanalyse der Interviewabschriften ergab drei Themen: Kinderbetreuung, die Anwendung von geschlechtergerechter Sprache und ein ausgeprägtes Bewusstsein zu Besitzverhältnissen und Besetzung von Leitungspositionen. Mit empirischen Daten zu Bedeutungsbestimmung und Reflektion von Journalist*innen über ihre Identitäten und die Signifikanz dieser für ihre Arbeit, stellen wir mit dieser Studie Frauen, insbesondere mit DDR/ostdeutscher Sozialisierung und/oder Migrationsgeschichte als doppelt unterrepräsentierte Minderheiten in den Mittelpunkt in einem Berufsfeld, das vor allem in Leitungspositionen von westdeutschen Männern ohne Migrationshintergrund dominiert wird.We use the theoretical approaches of standpoint epistemology and intersectionality to analyze how the representation of women and men in newsroom leadership who were socialized in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and/or East Germany matters, more than 30 years after the reunification process in Germany began in 1989/1990. As part of a larger project, we summarize findings of 33 in-depth interviews with journalists from eight regional news media in East Germany, two national news media, and two newspapers in Berlin. Themes that arose from a textual analysis of transcripts are childcare, approaches to gender-neutral language use, and awareness of ownership and history of leadership. Our study provides empirical evidence for journalists' sense making and reflection of their identities and how that matters in their work, centering women, in particular those with GDR/East German socialization and/or migration backgrounds as doubly underrepresented minorities in a profession whose leadership has been dominated by West German men without migration backgrounds

Women’s Civic and Political Participation in the Developing World: Obstacles and Opportunities

This article provides a multidisciplinary overview and synthesis of recent scholarship on strategies to increase women’s civic and political participation in the developing world. Using a systematic method for meta-analysis, we identify points of consensus in the literature as well as debates and gaps where future research on strengthening women’s participation is needed. Strategies to increase women\u27s civic and political participation that emerge in the literature include: establishing quotas to enhance women\u27s representation; using social media platforms to mobilize women and amplify their voices; implementing policies and programs that target women as participants or beneficiaries; and mobilizing women through their intersecting identities. We discuss the opportunities inherent in these strategies, as well as their limits. A secondary goal of this article is to provide a useful guide to recent English language literature on women’s civic and political participation for an international women\u27s studies audience. The article includes a link to our Rapid Knowledge Map (RKM, a searchable excel file) that summarizes information about the over 400 studies that we reviewed using an adapted version of the Cochrane method. We hope this resource will be of use to other scholars

Engaging Communities in Emergency Risk and Crisis Communication: Mixed-Method Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis

The World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned systematic reviews to assist with the development of new emergency risk communication guidelines that will impact responses and distribution of resources at all levels. This mixed-method evidence synthesis, guided by Cochrane principles and methods, examined the extant research in countries throughout the world, published from 2003 to 2016, related to the best practices to engage communities in preparing for and responding to emergency events with public health implications. Although few studies directly examined which strategies or tactics effectively engage public participation, many studies reinforced the importance of community participation. The findings support the perspective that emergency events are communicatively understood by all publics and that they benefit from emergency risk communication before, during, and after such events, especially when grounded in local contexts. Although the importance of local context limits the generalizability of risk communication, it is important to continue studying strategies and tactics to cultivate participation among all stakeholders

The Effects of Latrepirdine on Amyloid-ß Aggregation and Toxicity

© 2016 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. Latrepirdine (DimebonTM) has been demonstrated to be a neuroprotective and cognition improving agent in neurodegenerative diseases that feature protein aggregation and deposition, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). The accumulation of amyloid-ß (Aß) protein aggregates is a key event in the neurodegenerative process in AD. This study explores if latrepirdine modulation of protein aggregation contributes to its neuroprotective mechanism of action. Assessment of neuronal cell death showed that there was a significant reduction in lactate dehydrogenase release at an equimolar ratio of Aß:latrepirdine and with lower concentrations of latrepirdine. The ability of latrepirdine to alter the formation of Aß42 aggregates was assessed by thioflavin-T fluorescence, western immunoblotting and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Despite showing a reduction in thioflavin-T fluorescence with latrepirdine treatment, indicating a decrease in aggregation, immunoblotting and AFM showed a modest increase in both the formation and size of Aß aggregates. The discrepancies between thioflavin-T and the other assays are consistent with previous evidence that cyclic molecules can interfere with thioflavin-T binding of amyloid protein preparations. The ability of latrepirdine to modulate Aß aggregation appears to be independent of its neuroprotective effects, and is unlikely to be a mechanism by which latrepirdine offers protection. This study investigates the effect of latrepirdine on Aß aggregation, and presents evidence suggesting that caution should be applied in the use of thioflavin-T fluorescence based assays as a method for screening compounds for protein aggregation altering properties

Trust and Public Health Emergency Events:A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

The systematic review examined the phenomenon of trust during public health emergency events. The literature reviewed was field studies done with people directly affected or likely to be affected by such events and included quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, and case study primary studies in English (N = 38) as well as Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish (all non-English N = 30). Studies were mostly from high-and middle-income countries, and the event most covered was infectious disease. Findings from individual studies were first synthesized within methods and evaluated for certainty/confidence, and then synthesized across methods. The final set of 11 findings synthesized across methods identified a set of activities for enhancing trust and showed that it is a multi-faceted and dynamic concept