Electronic Communities: A Forum for Supporting Women Professionals and Students in Technical and Scientific Fields

Abstract

In this article, we report on electronic discussion lists (e-lists) sponsored by MentorNet, the National Electronic Industrial Mentoring Network for Women in Engineering and Science. Using the Internet, the MentorNet program connects students in engineering and science with mentors working in industry. These e-lists are a feature of MentorNet's larger electronic mentoring program and were sponsored to foster the establishment of community among women engineering and science students and men and women professionals in those fields. This research supports the hypothesis that electronic communications can be used to develop community among engineering and science students and professionals and identifies factors influencing the emergence of electronic communities (e-communities). The e-lists that emerged into self-sustaining ecommunities were focused on topic-based themes, such as balancing personal and work life, issues pertaining to women in engineering and science, and job searching. These e-communities were perceived to be safe places, embraced a diversity of opinions and experiences, and sanctioned personal and meaningful postings on the part of the participants. The e-communities maintained three to four simultaneous threaded discussions and were sustained by professionals who served as facilitators by seeding the e-lists with discussion topics.The e-lists were sponsored to provide women students participating in MentorNet with access to groups of technical and scientific professionals. In addition to providing benefits to the students, the elists also provided the professionals with opportunities to engage in peer mentoring with other, mostly female, technical and scientific professionals. We discuss the implications of our findings for developing e-communities and for serving the needs of women in technical and scientific fields. INTRODUCTIONElectronic communications are providing unprecedented opportunities for supporting and connecting women in technical and scientific fields. Electronic communications, particularly personal electronic mail (email) and email-based group discussion lists, have Copyright © by Begell House, Inc. Permission granted to post on web site: http://www.uvm.edu/~pbsingle 116 Peg Boyle Single et al. characteristics that foster the development of personal relationships on-line (Rheingold, 1993;Walther, 1996). The flexible communication environment permits people sharing similar interests to interact independent of time and location constraints (Steinberg, 1992). Electronic communications allow the communicators to think about and carefully craft messages. Furthermore, self-disclosure among strangers appears to emerge more readily than in face to face communications; these benefits seem to be heightened for members of minority groups or those on the fringe of an organization (Single & Muller, 1999b;Sproull & Kiesler, 1992;Winter & Huff, 1996).Programs are capitalizing on these characteristics of electronic communications to support and increase the representation of women students i...

The potential for virtual communities to promote diversity in the sciences

“…WomenScientists1 offers one such opportunity, especially because the forum connects women to specifically female mentors, and research has found that women are more likely to receive help from mentors of the same gender, who are best equipped to address both lifestyle and professional concerns (Nolan et al 2008: 246). Single et al (2000) and Preston (2004) highlight the problem of finding women to mentor aspiring young women in the sciences. As a result, students (especially women and underrepresented minorities) without this mentoring situation tend to more often leave their scientific disciplines (Herzig 2004, Nolan et al 2008, Moss-Racusin et al 2012.…”

E‐Mentoring: A Longitudinal Approach to Mentoring Relationships for Women Pursuing Technical Careers

“…Mentoring programs are effective because the mentors provide the protégés with a common community and help them anticipate future decisions. [1][2][3] Mentoring programs are particularly important for women in engineering because their under-representation is apt to result in exclusion from naturally occurring mentoring relationships. 2,4,5 Participants in adult/adolescent role model relationships perceive mentoring as valuable when relationships are long-term, trust can develop, and differences are negotiated.…”

“…[1][2][3] Mentoring programs are particularly important for women in engineering because their under-representation is apt to result in exclusion from naturally occurring mentoring relationships. 2,4,5 Participants in adult/adolescent role model relationships perceive mentoring as valuable when relationships are long-term, trust can develop, and differences are negotiated. 6 A national study of 388 women who have been mentors found that 302 were themselves protégés of other mentors.…”

A Three Year Analysis Of The Benefits Accrued By Women Engineering And Science Students Who Participate In A Large Scale E Mentoring Program

“…The three least frequently selected topics were the same for mentors and students. We present here the responses to the open-ended questions on the year-end survey for 1998-99 and the email-monitoring messages from that year's evaluation using the qualitative methodology of constant comparative analysis 19 . This qualitative data from the MentorNet participants allowed us to review, analyze, and learn from the mentors and protégés in their own words.…”