COMPUTER CONFERENCING - A NEW MEDIUM FOR INVESTIGATING ISSUES IN GENDER AND LEARNING

Claims have been made that computer mediated communication (CMC) is a potentially highly participatory and democratic medium because it reduces the requirement to interrupt or wait your turn to speak. Such aspects of discussion have been shown to be relevant to differences in male and female participation in group discussions. In general, men have been found to take more turns and to speak longer than women in mixed sex groups. Men are also said to characteristically speak about ''things'', take centre stage and give opinions. Women on the other hand are more likely to emphasis people rather than things, and to build and maintain relations in the way they talk. These two styles have been described as ''report talk'' of men and ''rapport talk'' of women. In this paper we describe some preliminary findings on the impact of using CMC and its effect on traditional gender participation differences. We look first at turn taking by men and women in computer conferences, and then how women in particular experience differences in the kind of contributions made to the conferences by men and women. Finally, we look at the actual contributions made by men and women and the extent they differ from each other.