Abstract
To explain why there were so few female users of the first digital city (DDS) in the Netherlands, a close analysis of the design-process and the re-design of a new interface is made. Policy-makers, financiers, and designers made the design-choices. Each group created their own, often unconscious, representations of which the users of DDS would be. These user-representations influenced the choices policy-makers and designers made and the amount of influence users received in the process. Because the policy-makers and the designers of DDS were masculine groups, a new interface was developed with more masculine connotations. The study of the often complicated and contradictory processes in which user-representations are created and which become dominant during the design-process, may be a useful way of finding ways in which more female-friendly designs of ICT can be developed.
Chapter PDF
References
Akrich, M. (1995). User Representations: Practices, Methods and Sociology. In Rip, A., Misa, T.J. and Schot, J. (Eds.). Managing Technology in Society. The Approach of Constructive Technology Assessment. pp. 167–184. London and New York: Pinter Publishers.
Bijker, W.E. (1995). Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs. Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Brosnan, M. (1998). Technophobia, The Psychological Impact of Information Technology, London and New York: Routledge.
Herring, S.C. (1993). Gender and democracy in computer-mediated communication. Electronic Journal of Communication 3 (2).
Lieshout, M. van (1999). The Digital City of Amsterdam, between public domain and private enterprise. In Van Bastelaer, B. and Lobet-Maris, C. (Eds.). Social Learning regarding Multimedia Developments at a Local Level: The Case of Digital Cities.
Oost, E.van (1995). Over ‘vrouwelijke’ en ‘mannelijke’ dingen’. In Brouns, M., Grunell, M. (Eds.). Vrouwenstudies in de jaren negentig. Bussum: Coutinho, pp. 289–313.
Oudshoorn. N. (1996). Genderscripts in technologie. Noodlot of uitdaging. Inaugural speech University of Twente.
Rommes, E., van Oost, E. and N. Oudshoorn (1999). Gender in the Design of The Digital City of Amsterdam. Information, Communication & Society. 2 (4), 476–495
Rommes, E. (October 1999) Co-construction of use and design in DDS. Paper presented at conference 4S,San Diego.
Schalken, K., Tops, P. (August 1994). The Digital City, A study into the backgrounds and opinions of its residents. Paper presented at the Canadian Community Networks Conference, Ottawa.
Shade, L.R. ( 1997 Access to the Internet for Women’s Groups Across Canada. Women, Work and Computerization, Spinning a Web from Past to Future, Proceedings of the 6th International IFIP-conference, Springer, pp. 113–122.
Turkle, S. (1991). Computational Reticence: why women fear the intimate machine. In Kramarae, C. (Ed.). Technology and Women’s Voices, pp. 41–61. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Flint, J. (1998): interview held with the present director of DDS.
Meerten, R. van (September 27, 1993 ). Projectvoorstel De Digitale Stad, Archive Municipality of Amsterdam BBI/93/103/1.
Meerten, R. van (July 1, 1994 ). Projectvoorstel 2e fase De Digitale Stad. Archive Municipality of Amsterdam BBI/93/103/11.
Stikker, M. (1993). De Digitale Stad 15 januari - 1 aprii, De Balie i.s.m. Hacktic Netwerk, precise date unknown, Archive DDS.
Stikker, M. (1994). De Digitale Stad, Sociale Bouwstenen voor een. Elektronische Samenleving precise date unknown, Archive DDS.
Anonymous (1994) Belangrijke software veranderingen DDS 2.0. Archive DDS. Available on-line: http://www.dds.nldds/info/soft.html(2–2-98).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rommes, E. (2000). Gendered User-Representations. In: Balka, E., Smith, R. (eds) Women, Work and Computerization. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing, vol 44. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35509-2_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35509-2_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-6977-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-35509-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive