Open AccessApplication of Activity Theory in Understanding Online Communities of Practice: A Case of Feminism
Author(s) -
Shahla Ghobadi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the journal of community informatics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1712-4441
DOI - 10.15353/joci.v9i1.3181
Subject(s) - feminism , empowerment , extant taxon , facilitation , gender studies , sociology , proposition , online community , women's empowerment , psychology , political science , epistemology , philosophy , evolutionary biology , neuroscience , law , biology
The extant literature has frequently acknowledged the crucial potential of Information and Communication Technologies for women empowerment. This study targets feminism as an important indicator of women empowerment. It then investigates the challenges of feminism in eastern countries from a novel angle that questions: “why those eastern women who already have feminist attitudes fail to demonstrate feminist behaviours?” The paper draws upon activity theory and proposed the moderating impact of online women-related communities of practice in transforming feminist-related attitudes into feminist-related behaviours of eastern women. The analysis of quantitative data collected from an online community of practice confirms the postulated proposition. The results present regarding the use of online women-related in the examined population as well as how Information Technology can be applied for facilitation of women empowerment in eastern societies.