Mentors versus masters: Women’s and girls’ narratives of (re)negotiation in web-based writing spaces

Virtual Mentoring and HRD

“…There are several skills that have been identified as being enhanced in traditional face-to-face mentoring relationships that also seem to benefit from virtual mentoring. Enhanced writing skills is one area of skill development often identified in the literature (R. Brown & Dexter, 2002;Fodeman, 2002;Haas, Tully, & Blair, 2002). The written nature of the mentoring enables this skill to develop.…”

Girl Power in a Digital World: Considering the Complexity of Gender, Literacy, and Technology

“…As girls succeed in traditional school-sanctioned literacy practices they are gaining the skills required for admission to post-secondary education, but as they "gain" on the boys in formal educational success (identified through grades and awards) they lose ground in other ways, particularly development of skills in alternative and computer-based literacies. (p. 305) Girls may be mastering certain kinds of literacies, according to this argument, but not the ones that are connected to their daily lives or that are truly valued in the culture (Haas, Tulley, & Blair, 2002). By succeeding in outdated school-sanctioned print literacies, girls limit their expectations and perceptions of what they believe literacy can be (Marsh, 2003).…”

“…The number of studies indicating that many girls engage in a variety of online literacy practices with enthusiasm and confidence grows each year. Research has shown how girls are creating webpages (Haas et al, 2002;Selfe & Hawisher, 2004), writing blogs (Guzzetti & Gamboa, 2005), reading websites (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003), and chatting online (Jacobs, 2004), among other activities. All indications are that these are not isolated cases, but that adolescent girls are actively involved in on-line literacy practices in large numbers and with little anxiety or uncertainty about writing and reading with computer technology.…”

The Technical Communicator as Advocate

“…Technical communication scholars have used feminist approaches to examine feminism in the field of technical communication (e.g., Thompson, 1999, 2004), feminism and technology (see Durack, 1997; Koerber, 2000), feminism and pedagogy (for instance, Brasseur, 1993; Crabtree & Sapp, 2004), and feminism and mentoring (e.g., Haas, Tully, & Blair, 2002). As Lay (1991) notes, inclusion of women’s experiences is important for feminist and feminist researchers.…”