On Campus With Women

A recent issue of the professional journal, On Campus with Women focuses on Women on the Web. Some of you may find it useful in your research for your semester-long project. Articles include:

Kortney Ryan Ziegler's "Academic Blogging as Cultural Exchange"

I started my blog, blac(k)ademic, in October 2005 during the first year of my doctoral studies. Feeling constrained by the fundamentally hermetic quality of the academy--where important intellectual conversations have a tendency to remain within ivory walls--I wanted to take advantage of the net’s accessibility to cultivate my research as well as expand intellectual discourse outside of academe. Thus I dedicated a majority of my blogging to forming relationships with other women of color in the academy whose research interests mirrored mine. Most importantly, however, I wanted to create a safe space for dialogue that included the voices of queer black women and other bodies of color.

Deborah Siegel's "A PhD Gets Wired, Or How I Traded the Podium for the Mouse"

Technological innovation can transform a culture, but it can also transform a career. It did mine. When I started out as a PhD student in English and American Literature at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, I could hardly imagine that fourteen years later I’d be calling myself “Girl with Pen” in public, living in New York City, and writing for The Guardian. That pen, really, is a keyboard. But I like mixing it up.

Kathy Fischer, "Facebooking Feminism"

My colleagues and I were amazed at how integral Facebook had become to the lives of our students, and although we found certain uses of the site disturbing, we saw its popularity as presenting a unique opportunity. Using Facebook, we could meet students in their social world, and incorporate a feminist presence and critique into a space that can be prone to sexism, racism, and homophobia.

Meredith Anderson, "Digital Pathways Toward Scientific Careers for Women in Kerala, India"

Such findings evidence the beginnings of social change for women in Kerala. Women’s heightened awareness of international opportunities could easily lead to an increased rate of publication in foreign journals and then to more frequent international travel and research. While Internet technology may not be intrinsically or uniformly beneficial, it holds the possibility of improving professional standing for women scientists in Kerala. With appropriate attention to the basic needs and education of more impoverished populations, similar benefits could likely reach women in all social positions.