Dear François
To answer your question I would like to direct you towards work done by Spilker and Sørensen (2000) who do not come from design discipline in a traditional sort of way but have been very interested in questioning the relationship between gender, design and technology.
The case studies presented by Spilker and Sørensen (2000), give examples of the development and implementation of design strategies that would be in position to manage gender in a digital technological context. As Spilker and Sørensen observe, JenteROM (a CD-Rom targeting female users) demonstrated ‘… a clearcut example of a mutual reconfiguration of technology and gender’ (p. 280). The CD-Rom makes and attempt to transform this type of technology into a ‘feminine artefact’ paralleled with what Spilker and Sørensen refer to as the ‘… effort to change some aspects of the definition of femininity’ (p. 280). On the other hand the HjemmeNett web service, they observe, uses design strategies to create spaces for both male and female participation, relying on gender as an important consideration in developing such outcomes. They argue that each artefact uses different design strategies embodied by what both researchers term ‘action concepts’, to achieve its goal. As Spilker and Sørensen (2000) indicate, JenteROM inscribes its technology with the dichotomous opposition of female vs. male in order to acknowledge gender, where as HjemmeNett sees male and female genders as end points within a continuous scale.
Unfortunately there the not too many such cases of research and they often stem from other disciplines than design.
Noemi
bib refrence: • Spilker, H. and K. H. Sørensen (2000). "A ROM of One's Own or a Home for Sharing? Designing the Inclusion of Women in Multimedia." New Media and Society 2(3): 268-285.
----- Original Message ----
From: FrFrancois-Xavier Nsenga <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, 20 November, 2006 12:45:55 AM
Subject: Re: Gender 101 and design
"Even thinking about objects as things that can be more and less successful in inviting humans into different kinds of (non)/gendered relationships with each other is just grand."
Dear Christena and others,
Linguistic features and "Human - equal -Rights" considerations aside, have any of you already worked, or have bibliographic references, on gendered artifacts, both immaterial and material, as purposely designed - or not - to induce gendered relationships among humans?
Regards!
François
Montréal
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