Open AccessDepartmental websites and female student recruitment
Author(s) -
Hanks Kristin
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
proceedings of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8390
pISSN - 0044-7870
DOI - 10.1002/meet.2008.1450450224
Subject(s) - blame , conversation , informatics , psychology , equity (law) , medical education , best practice , public relations , social psychology , political science , medicine , communication , law
Female recruitment and retention in technology related fields is still low, despite numerous attempts to reverse this trend. As a recruitment device, a school's webpage may be the only visual representation a student will see before deciding whether or not to apply. Thus, understanding the possible implications of this medium is important within the larger conversation on gender equity and opportunities. This research addresses several questions: At first glance, do websites give gender cues, whether intentional or not? Is there a relationship between certain web content and the number of women recruited into technology related schools and departments? Do applied fields (Informatics, Information Science, Instructional Technology, Information Systems) differ in their online recruitment practices from more traditional Computer Science and Engineering departments? It is important to note that this research is not an attempt to find the best web practices to recruit female students or an attempt to punish or blame specific institutions regarding their recruitment practices.