Gender and Communication Styles on the World Wide Web

Certain human communication traits have historically been identified as gender-specific. The purpose of this paper is to collect and compare the most widely-indexed, gender-specific World Wide Web sites from five given interest areas, and to then determine which, if any, traditionally gender-based communication patterns were present within these sites. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study found that in many cases: * Female-oriented sites in this study emphasized communality * stressed sharing personal experience * resisted authoritative language * encouraged emotional interaction # Male-oriented sites in this study relied on authoritative language # emphasized privacy # stressed professionalism # minimized personal interaction . Although these sites represent only a miniscule "snap shot" of communication on the Web, they seemed to suggest that the core of traditionally identified gender-specific communication traits is being actively transplanted into Cyberspace

Determining Place Regulations on the Internet: Burning the Global Village to Roast the Pig

Persons wishing to express ideas, as well as governments desiring to regulate aspects of communication, are confronted with a myriad of legal concerns when such expression takes place via the Internet. The problem addressed in this study is: To what extent is it possible to define place in attempts to regulate Internet expression

Gender and Communication Styles on the World Wide Web

Certain human communication traits have historically been identified as gender-specific. The purpose of this paper is to collect and compare the most widely-indexed, gender-specific World Wide Web sites from five given interest areas, and to then determine which, if any, traditionally gender-based communication patterns were present within these sites. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study found that in many cases: * Female-oriented sites in this study emphasized communality * stressed sharing personal experience * resisted authoritative language * encouraged emotional interaction # Male-oriented sites in this study relied on authoritative language # emphasized privacy # stressed professionalism # minimized personal interaction . Although these sites represent only a miniscule "snap shot" of communication on the Web, they seemed to suggest that the core of traditionally identified gender-specific communication traits is being actively transplanted into Cyberspace

Exploring Naming Behavior in Personal Digital Image Collections: the Iconology and Language Games of Pinterest

As non-institutional digital image collections expand into social media, independent non-professional image curators are emerging, actively constructing alternative naming conventions to suit their needs in a social collecting environment. This project considers how independent user-curators are developing particular sense-making behaviors as they actively contribute names to large, unstructured social image collections. In order to capture and explore this evolving language adaptation, Pinterest names are analyzed using a matrix composed of Panofsky’s three strata of subject matter, Rosch’s levels of categorical abstraction, Shatford Layne’s image attributes and Wittgenstein’s language game constructions. Analyzing Pinterest image names illuminates previously unnoticed behaviors by independent user-curators as they create shared collections. Exploring the various language choices which user-curators select as they apply this new curating vocabulary helps identify underlying user needs not apparent in traditionally curated collections restricted to traditional naming conventions