We are proposing an unconventional session (roundtable) on "Researching gender in the history of the Internet and the Web.” An edited version of the roundtable may become part of a special issue (in progress) of the journal Internet Histories on Gender and Internet/Web History. The roundtable aims to discuss research experiences, methods, sources, corpora, and challenges such as:
* Discussing the meaning of the Internet for women and the historical transformations of the relationship between women and the Internet, including structural/cultural obstacles and varying national patterns
* Approaching the construction of gender, including its intersectionality with race, on the Internet, including feminism on the web, gender activism and social movements; masculine cultures and the Internet/Web, etc.
* Filling gaps in the knowledge of women’s expertise as Internet builders, managers, hackers, influencers, bloggers, content moderators, coders, etc.
* Finding relevant sources to better grasp gender and imaginaries of the Internet, such as taking full advantage of oral histories
* Mapping and discussing innovative methods to retrace gendered controversies and anti-woman movements online (e.g., trolling, gamergate, #metoo, etc.)
* Understanding how the Internet has exploited relational/affective labor
* Working on silences and invisibility
* Communicating on these findings and disseminating them beyond audiences that are already interested and convinced.
26, 2023.