Men ‘disproportionately heard’ online
p2pnet news | P2P:- Men are more than twice as likely to share music they’ve created or re-mixed than women.
Men are also, “considerably more likely to post film or video they made when compared to women who engaged in film- or video-making,” says a new report.
With sharing information online a form of, “participating in public culture and contributing to public discourse,” men’s voices are, “disproportionately heard,” says the study, from America’s Northwestern University.
And that’s despite the fact women and men, “engage in creative activities at essentially equal rates,” it states.
Almost two-thirds of men reported posting their work online, compared to half of women, says the Participation Divide: Content Creation and Sharing in the Digital Age.
“This suggests that the Internet is not an equal playing field for men and women since those with more online abilities – whether perceived or actual – are more likely to contribute online content,” says Eszter Hargittai (left) assistant professor of communication studies, who, with Northwestern researcher Gina Walejko, co-athored the paper.
But when, “controlled for self-reported digital literacy and Web know-how, they found men and women posted about equally,” it says.
It appears, “lack of perceived skill is holding women back from putting their creative content out there,” says Hargittai, going on other factors that may be responsible for the difference, while not measured in the study, “may relate to lack of confidence in the quality of one’s work or privacy concerns”.
The two researchers say of the 61% of the full sample who reported at least one type of creative activity, “56 percent said they posted at least some of their creative work online”.
Not surprisingly, they add, since creative writing is the easiest to post, it’s the most popular type of content shared online.
Video was the second most popular creative work to be posted, at just under 50%.
The study was based on a survey of 1,060 freshmen from the University of Illinois, Chicago.
(Thanks, Jazz)
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Northwestern University – Study Finds Men More Than Women Share Creative Work Online, June 23, 2008
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June 25th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Anyone surprised? How many women actually know how to do much of anything on a computer, lol? I’m sure there’s a few, but it’s kind of sad that it’s only a ‘few’.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:02 am
If they know anything, they’d would never say it.
Since, it Interferes with thier emotional mini dramas they continually hone