Girl Gamers, Not Stewardesses

Leave it to the serendipity of the web to point me in the direction of this article on gender and video games. I was reviewing the blog posts thousands of individuals (1,980 individuals, to be exact) contributed on Ada Lovelace Day (March 24), when I came across a reference to "Crossing the (Gender) Divide." Who would have thought that Delta Sky, the magazine you find in the seat pocket of Delta Air Lines flights, would have an article on gender and video games? Here's an excerpt from that piece:

Many of today's video games are shedding their decidedly male "skins" and reaching out to female players with both avatars and themes designed specifically for "girl gamers." And that's just the beginning. Avid gamers of the "gentler persuasion" are heading back to the classroom to earn advanced degrees in computer programming so they can create the games they, and others like them, have dreamed about playing.

The end of the piece includes a "Chick Click" site, which includes links to "chick-friendly" video game-related sites. One of those links leads to a hard-core girl gamer site - Frag Dolls. Learn more about these tech-savvy females here.

What's in a name?

Women librarians have made great strides in recent years. According to Deyrup (2004), more than 50% of library leaders (top administrators; library directors) are women. This is significant in that in 1991, women made up 80% of the library workforce, yet 80% of the library administrators were men (Kauffman, 1993). Moreover, there are scholars (e.g., Zemon & Bahr, 2005) who claim that there are cases where the salaries of female directors exceeds that of the male directors. So, the issues surrounding the "disadvantaged majority" (i.e., women librarians) is over, right? Not so fast. While scholars such as Cassell and Weibel (2007) suggest that there are bigger issues today, there remains the image problem that has been plaguing libraries since the 1940s (O'Brien, 1983).

The image problem has recently reared its ugly head at Rutgers University. At that institution, the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies is trying to remove the term "library" from its name. Some graduates, like Mary Chilton, a professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College (CUNY), are not happy about this move and state that they will not support it. In fact, Chilton claims the following:

It sounds as if the Dean really wants to say that librarians are female and poor and mostly wedded to a diminishing public sector, and SCILS wants private money and therefore has to appeal to private money biases, or to academic administrators who share these biases, all the while reaping the headcount of the MLIS students.

Chilton continues to suggest that should the name change be approved, she would like a "divorce" from her program. It appears that the presence of a female majority continues to taint the term "library." Maybe all women librarians who graduated from programs that remove "library" from its name should take similar action. Just a thought.

Despite the advances women have made in libraries, we cannot allow them to lull us into a false sense of security and mask the gender-related problems that still exist.

Gender & Language Quote

What a fitting quote to send me off to teach my gender and computing class!

"It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs." - Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd

Bits of Honey

While the weather this week in the physical world made me want to hibernate, a counter feeling was felt in the online world. There was a blizzard of activity going on during the first full week of the new year. Here's what people were all atwitter about this week.

Gaming and Virtual Worlds

• 2008 education highlights from Second Life.
• Microsoft's Kodu: "We want to give them total mastery of the domain and yet unlimited expressive power." http://tinyurl.com/72nm5l
• "Electronic Gaming Monthly is going Web-only, and 30 of its staffers have been laid off." http://tinyurl.com/72hcdt
• Arlington County's Second Life office has a vending machine that sells virtual Cheez-Its and digital Pop-Tarts. http://tinyurl.com/7fufol
• "As Net-generation teachers reach out to gamers, classrooms across the country are becoming portals to elaborate virtual worlds." http://tinyurl.com/9c6cmj

Gender

• "Barbie reps. a confident and independent woman with an amazing ability to have fun while remaining glamorous." http://tinyurl.com/9b2mpb
• Women = ~ 1/2 of new physicians, but there is new concern about a "leaking pipeline." Will pt work/flextime help? http://tinyurl.com/856nsa

EdTech, Education, and Online Learning

• Online student dropouts: "40% failed to seek any help or resources before abandoning their programs." http://tinyurl.com/axzput
• “For the first time, [schools] are seeing students choose another college for its online program." http://tinyurl.com/76n9nc
• Laptops in the law school classroom = "higher levels of student engagement and other positive outcomes." http://tinyurl.com/9ngfvz
• iStanford: "College kids across the country will be demanding this." http://tinyurl.com/7jk3he
• Coastline CC is creating "an entire classroom that can live on a mobile phone." http://tinyurl.com/axcg73
• Online campuses-"They don't do a thorough market analysis...they just want to expand their enrollment/revenue." http://tinyurl.com/7vknzd
• Early data suggest "a combination of peer instruction and professor-led discussion produces the best performance." http://tinyurl.com/7f7zyx

Journalism

• Wired proposes 5 options to Google that might bailout newspaper. But should Google do anything? http://tinyurl.com/779bpl
• Newspapers are dying. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, wants to save them...he just doesn't want to buy them. The answer? http://tinyurl.com/7n7qf2

Predictions and Trends

• EDUCAUSE's top 5 educational challenges for 2009.
• "No one can guarantee that these [5] emerging technologies will become widely accepted but the trends are clear." http://tinyurl.com/7bsldw

Social Networking

• "By becoming entangled in ever more social networks online, people are building up their own piles of revealing data." http://tinyurl.com/8npflk. A copy of the full report, written by Google researchers, is available here.
• YAs may have time for Facebook but "35% of males & 42% of females reported lacking time to sit down & eat a meal." http://tinyurl.com/98ucsp
• "Facebook announced that 150 million people across the globe are actively using Facebook—half of them every day." http://tinyurl.com/7zc5as
• A negative review posted to a social networking site like Yelp could lead to a lawsuit. http://tinyurl.com/9vxvx9
• SNS LiveJournal has laid off (no severance) 12 of its 28 US employees. So far, no layoffs at Facebook & MySpace. http://tinyurl.com/8927d9
• Get to know your kids thru MySpace & Facebook, and learn about the risky behaviors they discuss. http://tinyurl.com/a2un2d. The full report is available in the January 2009 issue of The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. [NOTE: Check your local library for free online access.]
• Celebrities who twitter "are being forced to pick a spot on the Gulbis-O’Neal scale of openness." http://tinyurl.com/9jrjx6

Technology

• Google cut some of its famously free cafeterias & canceled a big company ski trip. Oh, and there were layoff too. http://tinyurl.com/9a2u4p
• Due to the tough economic times, the One Laptop Per Child project is restructuring and cutting staff. http://tinyurl.com/8njz2a
• The Pre - it's a "killer Palm product" not an iPhone killer. But will it get Palm back in the smart phone game? http://tinyurl.com/72nnst
• Are desktop computers headed for the junkyard? Some analysts speculate that laptops are today's alpha computer. http://tinyurl.com/7pl9ms
• Best Buy is now selling refurbished iPhones for $149 and $249 (deps. on memory). Original price $199 and $299. http://tinyurl.com/axwtfq
• Hulu: "It was hazed as just another slick effort to upstage the fun, do-it-yourself YouTube" but not anymore. http://tinyurl.com/7u3r67
• On Jan. 15, 2009, 15,000 Microsoft employees (~17% of its total work force) may be without a job. http://tinyurl.com/9wqq4v

Writing and Publishing

• Of the 312 stories in the New Yorker from 2003-2008, 119 or 38.1% were penned by women--up from 37.4% last year. http://tinyurl.com/7ay8k2
• Secondhand books - "Away with 'Best Novels of 2009', farewell to 'the new faces of the new year': http://tinyurl.com/8t5qsg
• "There are only ten writers that you can be compared to in blurbs or publicity materials." http://tinyurl.com/6tkf37
• Reflecting on fiction that appeared in the New Yorker in 2008: http://tinyurl.com/8s7kf2
• "It is not just publishing’s flashy customs that are getting a tough look. Other sacred cows..are being examined." http://tinyurl.com/a8btbb
• "It brings the literature...back into a form that the students of the 21st century will be able to find it.” http://tinyurl.com/7kg8l8
• After 73 years, Librairie de France in NY's Rockefeller Center will close its doors in Sept. 2009. http://tinyurl.com/89mdm6

Gaming and Gender

Williams, Consalvo, Caplan, and Yee have produced a piece (pre-pub version) that touches on the gaming and gender issue. As you may recall, Williams, Caplan, and Yee published in July 2008 an article that attempts to debunk the gamer gender stereotype. In other words, the image of a young boys playing video games alone in their parents' basement is no longer an accurate one. The latest article, which has been accepted to the Journal of Communication takes a more obvious gender approach due to its use of gender role theory as a lens with which to view the data. The data used in this analysis came from a large survey dataset and unobtrusive behavior data from one year of game play. The focus of this work was on the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) EverQuest 2 (EQ2), and the primary research question centered around the basic differences between male and female EQ2 players.

Starting with some of the demographics, 80% of the sample were male (N=2,006) and 20% were female (N=434). Williams et al. found that the females were older, less likely to be students, less likely to be employed, but played more hours than their male counterparts. Females played for social reasons, but the males played to beat the game. Also, the females typically played with a romantic partner, whereas the males played alone. In cases where the males and females played together, the males were often less happy than the females. Why? Maybe the males felt like their space was being invaded? Maybe they didn't like their female partners interacting with other male players? Maybe the females were as skilled (if not more so) than the males, and they didn't like being shown up by their partners? Questions, lot of questions.

There's more. Both genders underreport the amount of time they play video games. However, the female players underreported their gameplay activities at a substantially higher rate than the males. In terms of the players health, the males thought they were healthy and fit. Interestingly, even though the females played for longer periods of time, which means they were engaged in prolonged periods of sedentary activities, the females were actually healthier than the males. The health and fitness levels of the males were aligned with the assumptions but the female levels were not. Could this be the result of inaccurate self-reports by the females? The authors claim that more research is needed to further investigate this issue.

One demographic question the authors asked was related to sexual identification, which produced, according to Williams and his colleagues, unpredicted results. The analysis found that female players were more more likely to report being bisexual; in contrast, males were less likely to report being homosexual. These findings were surprising in that they did not match the general population estimates. Almost 4% of the males and approximately 7% of the females declined to respond to the question put forth by Williams et al., so the difference between the EQ2 players and the general population estimates could be even more pronounced.

Gender differences among individuals who venture into virtual worlds is a rather untapped area. Thus, research like the Williams et al. study is important to further our understanding of gameplay activity. This is a first step, and more research is definitely needed to investigate the plethora of questions that remain. Are EQ2 players unique or do they share characteristics with World of Warcraft (WoW) players or even Second Life (SL) residents? Longitudinal research is needed as well to determine whether these characteristics represent a snapshot in time or whether they persist over extended periods of gameplay in virtual environments that continue to evolve.

Adults, Video Games, and Contradictions

Pew just released a new report that focuses on adults and their video game playing activities. The data were collected October - December 2007 as part of a gadget survey. Information on video games is very popular, and it is surprising that it took Pew almost a year to process these results. This is a rapidly changing area, so I wonder whether the figures present an accurate assessment of the current population?

Regardless, the findings do represent at the minimum a snapshot in time of video games and the adults who play them. Here are some of the numbers:

• 53% of adults (age 18+) play video games. In fact, the 18-29 age bracket includes the largest percentage of game players.
• While the younger generations are more likely to play video games than older groups, the length of game play time increases with age.
• A slightly higher percentage of males play video games than females, 55% to 50% respectively.
• A higher percentage of students play game in comparison to non-students - 76% vs. 49%.
• Younger people prefer to play video games on consoles, whereas older individuals prefer games on a computer.
• Parents are more likely to play video games than non-parents.

Overall, the largest percentage of video game players are between the ages of 18-29, their estimated salary range is between $50,000 and $74,999, they have completed some college or are a college graduate, they are more likely to live in urban areas and be Internet users.

Questions: One question I have is related to the findings about virtual worlds. According to this Pew report, only 2% of gamers say they visit virtual worlds like Second Life (SL); 11% of teen game players responded that they have visited a virtual world. However, in an earlier Pew report on video games and teens, the percentage of teens visiting these worlds was 10%. A rounding error? The other numbers mentioned in the two reports match.

Next, Williams, Yee, and Caplan (2008) recently surveyed EverQuest (EQ) players. Their data from 7,000 participants suggests that the average of of game players is a little over 31 years of age. Stated another way, these researchers found that more players were over 30 than in their teens or in the college age range. So, are the game players younger or older? Like the current Pew study, however, Williams and his colleagues found that game play increases with age.

Another question deals with gender. The survey conducted by Williams et al. found that a large percentage of game players are male - 81% male in contrast to 19% female. The Pew findings were more balanced at 55% male and 50% female. Who's right? Or, is there a right answer? Is it possible to get an accurate assessment of video gamers given that it's difficult, if not impossible, to survey the entire population?

Will the Real Gamers Please Stand Up

When many people think about video gamers, the first image that comes to mind is the pasty teenage boy sitting in his parents' basement. But how accurate is that? Williams, Yee, and Caplan (2008) conducted a survey of 7,000 EverQuest 2 (EQ2) players. With the blessing of Sony Online Entertainment, the game operator, the authors were also able to collect in-game behavioral data. This is quite an accomplishment given that game operators are typically reluctant to provide gamer data to researchers. The goal was to combine the self-reports with the in-game data collected by the game operator to examine player motivation, as well as the mental and physical health of the players. Demographic data was collected via the survey instrument. The research approach taken by the group led by Williams differs from the common tactic. Typically, this type of research involves single-player computer lab sessions and self-report data.

Prior research suggests that there are physical and mental health risks associated with video game play. For example, a study by Anderson et al. released last week found a connection between aggressive physical behavior and video game playing among children. Williams and his colleagues wanted to determine the accuracy of some of the earlier findings about video game play and assess the characteristics of the players themselves.

For the most part, the Williams et al. findings contradict earlier research.

• Play time: ~26 hours/week (among all players)
• Average age: 31 years old [older players played more than younger; there were more older players in general]
• Gender: 81% male; 19% female [however, adult females logged in more hours]
• Race: Whites and Native Americans played more video games
• Income and education: Players were wealthier and more educated
• Religion: Players were less likely to be religious
• Media Use: Players spend less time watching television and reading newspapers
• Physical health: EQ2 players were slightly overweight but less so than the national average
  
• Mental health: Higher levels of depression, especially among the female players; higher levels of substance abuse; lower levels of anxiety
• Role playing: A fringe activity

Because many of the findings put forth by Williams and his colleagues do not match the rhetoric found in the literature, they conclude with a list of questions (i.e., areas for future research):

• Why are there inaccurate stereotypes?
• Why are older females playing at higher rates than younger males?
• Why are EQ2 players healthier than the general population?
• Why do minorities play video games at lower rates than other groups?
• Why are players less religious than non-players?
• Why are mental health problems more prevalent in players than in non-players.

The introductory paragraphs indicate that in-game behavioral data were collected by the authors. Based on this article, it isn't clear what information was collected and how it supported or refuted the survey findings. In the "Sampling and Procedure" section, Williams et al. note that there was a link between the survey participants and the in-game data. However, it appears that the main measure collected in-game was playing time. While this could be used to support the self-reports associated with playing time, it doesn't do much to inform the other variables. One point the authors emphasize is that much of the past research is not generalizable because it is difficult to get access to the players. These authors were able to get access to the players, but the findings still appeared to rely heavily on the self-reports of players, which can be inaccurate.

The Sacrifices IT Women Make

I'm in the process of revising my gender and computerization syllabus for the spring and came across this report. The study, conducted by the Anita Borg Institute and the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University, examined IT women at the mid-level of their careers. What the researchers found was that women in these positions were making personal sacrifices such as delaying marriage and motherhood to promote their careers. In other words, these women felt that they had to make a choice between career and family to be successful in the male-dominated world of IT. Unfortunately, these sacrifices did not led to great rewards. Gender stereotypes (women aren't as technical as men) are still prevalent, which result in women being passed over for promotions. Instead women are placed in low-level positions that have minimal visibility. While some women interviewed for this study claimed that promotions in their early careers were based on merit, they found that gender became an obstacle at the middle management levels. Thus, it is not surprising that 56% of mid-career IT women choose to leave their organizations and pursue other opportunities. One thing both the men and women interviewed for this study noted is that women have to be assertive in order to survive in IT.

The gender bias and stereotypes in IT fields is not new. Women (and their male colleagues) have been aware of this situation for quite some time now. Yet year after year, reports like this one surface. The problem is that these studies report similar results. The IT industry claims that it needs more workers and would like to recruit more women. However, the IT workplace of today continues to be a good ol' boys club. Because of the current financial situation, the number of IT jobs filled by people in places like India are no longer as cost efficient as they once were. Therefore, they are looking to fill those positions with people in the U.S. But, the number of students enrolled in computer science has been on the decline since the mid-1990s. This is true for men and women. So, who is going to fill these positions? If middle management continues to foster a climate that promotes gender bias, it won't be women who will be there to save them. It's time for a change.

Female Online Students

According to a summary of a report presented in The Chronicle of Higher Education, female students rate conformity as one of their key motivators. However, what conformity means is unclear in the CHE piece, and a link to the full report was not provided. So, what was discussed in this piece?

Here's what we know: Brett Jorge Millan, interim director for distance education at South Texas College, collected data from 157 online students and 486 face-to-face students at that institution. He used the Schwartz Value Scale to measure 10 motivational types (self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, security, conformity, tradition, benevolence, and universalism). And, in addition to the conformity finding, Millan's data suggest two things: 1) the values of online students and those in face-to-face courses tend to be similar; and 2) online students are typically older than their f2f counterparts.

While these results are potentially worthwhile, there are a number of missing pieces. Hopefully, the report will be made available in the near future.

Update: Schwartz defines conformity in the following manner: “Conformity values restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms” (Schwartz & Boehnke, 2004, p. 235). It also values politeness, obedience, and subordination to parents, teachers, bosses, etc.

Sounds like very female-like behavioral characteristics - ones that are not uncommon in online spaces.

Gender Gap in College

In a new book by Linda J. Sax, a professor of education at UCLA, she examines the differences between the male and female college experience. Sax stresses that even though the majority of college students are female (more than 60% female at many institutions), the numbers don't tell the whole story and hide some key concerns.

For this study, Sax collected data from 17,000 male and female students from 200 institutions. One difference her analysis revealed was that females enter college with a lack of confidence. In contrast, their male counterparts have much more confidence at this stage. In other words, even if the females are doing better academically than the males, they do not believe they are doing so. Perhaps even more troubling is that the confidence levels of female college students decline during the college years. However, female students who have positive interactions with the faculty gain self-confidence over time.

Another interesting finding is related to the gender makeup of the students and the faculty as well as the peer groups for students. Students (males and females) do better academically at institutions with a high proportion of female students and faculty. Further, males perform better academically at institutions that have peer support groups that support "traditional gender roles."

There are many other findings outlined in Sax's book. In fact, she found 584 “college effects” that differ between male and female students. While the number of females may equal or exceed the number of males on college campuses around the nation, their experiences may be quite different.

Women and Online Degree Programs

Several studies have examined retention rates of online programs but few delve into why students complete their studies or abandon the program. This is especially true when it comes to investigating the differences between the retention rates of male and female online students. Terry Müller (2008) attempts to close this gap by investigating women in online undergraduate and graduate programs at a college in the northeast. These programs are designed for individuals working in public schools in the U.S. Like other online programs (e.g., LEEP), the programs Müller concentrated on begins with a summer residency component. Out of the 308 students in these programs, Müller randomly selected 20 for a more in-depth analysis.

In analyzing the reports of these 20 women, Müller found that the top barriers for women participating in and completing online programs are multiple responsibilities, disappointment in faculty, and face-to-face preference. The factors the author found that provided support to these women include engagement in learning community, schedule convenience, personal growth, and peer support.

Following a series of recommendations that follow the barriers and supports these women face in their online learning experience, Müller concludes that gender roles should be considered when designing online course programs.

Young people and IT

Last week, Pew released a report about the pervasiveness of video games in the lives of today's young people - Teens, Video Games, and Civics. An earlier Pew report, one that concentrated on the gaming activities of college students, suggeted that the percentages were high: 70% of college students played digital games at least once; 65% were regular players. The latest numbers suggest that playing video games is a part of everyday life for almost all young people in America.

Here are some of the current numbers:

• 99% of boys and 94% of girls play video games
• Younger boys are the most enthusiastic players; older girls are the least enthusiastic about these activities
• Gaming is a social activity - 65% of gaming teens play with other people who are physically in the same room
• Teens play video games with people they know
• Parents are more likely to monitor the game playing activities of boys and younger children
• 49% of teen players have seen "people being hateful, sexist, or racist" during their game play activities

This morning I read a piece by Linda Jackson and her group (2008) on the new digital divide and the role race and gender play in IT use. The researchers surveyed 515 children (172 African Americans; 343 Caucasian Americans) whose average age was 12 about their IT use. These researchers found the following:

• African American males were the least intense users
• African American females were the most intense users (often surpassing the male Caucasian Americans)
• African American females were more likely than Caucasian Americans to text message friends via cell phone
• Children whose parents had higher income and education levels had been using IT longer
• Children who had been using IT longer had higher grades in school; children who played video games more had lower grades in school

While African American males were less enthusiastic about IT in general, they were avid video game players. In fact, their game play levels were as high as the Caucasian American males. Thus, one of the recommendations the authors make is to utilize the African American males' game playing activities to increase their interest in IT.

This reminds me of an chapter by Kurt Squire (2008) that explored the possibility of using Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA: SA) for educational purposes. In that study, Squire interviewed Caucasian and African American teens who were avid GTA: SA players. Based on his experiences with teens, Squire argues that "games could be an excellent bridging mechanism for disengaged students, particularly adolescent boys, many of whom are labeled ADHD and cause many problems at school" (p. 184).