Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology

October 13, 2004

As information technology (IT) has spread throughout all aspects of personal and work life, so too, has grown an interest in understanding more about those who use and develop IT, as well as those who are affected by it. This, in turn, has lead to an increasing interest in the demographics of IT developers and consumers. One demographic category of considerable research interest is gender. Consequently, a diffuse body of research related to the role of gender in human interactions with information technology has emerged in recent years. This body of research spans a number of disciplines including information science, information systems, computer science, education, women’s studies, gender studies, labor studies, human resource management, and technology and society. The purpose of this research is to inform teachers, parents, educators, managers, policy makers and other researchers about such issues as the differences between women’s and men’s use of information technology and the under representation of women as IT professionals.

In an effort to bring together this diffuse body of research so that it can better inform subsequent research and practice, an Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology is being produced. The objective is to develop an international compilation of research about the role of gender in human interaction with IT and the IT profession. It will be most helpful as it provides comprehensive coverage and definitions of the most important issues, concepts, trends and research devoted to the topic of gender and IT. This important new publication will be distributed worldwide among academic and professional institutions and will be instrumental in providing researchers, scholars, students and professionals access to the latest knowledge related to research on women and men with respect to information technology. Contributions to this important publication will be made by scholars throughout the world with notable research portfolios and expertise.

Coverage: The Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology will provide an international compilation of research on the topic of gender and information technology from a broad range of perspectives. Contributions by leading experts as well as emerging investigators are welcome. This volume will feature short articles (3,000-3,500 words) that provide an overview of research being carried out around the world related to gender and IT. Chapter submissions will be peer reviewed. We welcome both empirical and conceptual chapters.

Invited Submissions: Individuals interested in submitting short articles (3,000-3,500 words) on a topic related to gender and information technology should submit an email proposal to GenderITEncyclopedia@ist.psu.edu. Upon acceptance of your proposal, you will have two months to prepare your article and 7-10 related terms and their appropriate definitions. Guidelines for preparing your short piece and terms and definitions as well as a sample article and terms and definitions can be found on the main menu of this project.

Please forward your email proposal including your name, affiliation and a short description of your topic to Eileen Trauth, editor at GenderITEncyclopedia AT ist DOT psu DOT edu. Upon notification of the acceptance of your proposal you will be asked to write a 3000-3500 word article in two months. This book is scheduled for publishing by Information Science Publishing (an imprint of Idea Group Inc.) in 2006.

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