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September 15, 2002
The Back Page
By Amy Poftak & Kristen Kennedy
Gleanings
Latinos Bridge Digital Divide
Nielsen/NetRatings reports that the number of Hispanic Americans on the Net grew to 7.6 million-a 13 percent jump from last year, and a larger increase than any other ethnic group. While market analysts see study results as an opportunity to shape products and services for underserved groups, the increased presence of Hispanic users online also indicates the growing diversity of the Web's ethnic landscape.
Teen Tech Trends
A recent survey conducted by RoperNOP Technology and InformationWeek magazine (both entities of T&L's parent company, United Business Media) found that of 828 teens who use the Internet, 9 percent aspire to a career in high tech; 67 percent expect to work a job that requires some computer use; and 24 percent expect their future employment will not involve computers. Not surprisingly, the high-tech-career teens are the ones most likely to spend time online, use broadband connections, and be highly experienced at computer programming, using operating systems, and surfing the Net.
High-Achieving Girls Feeling Stressed
A University of Illinois study of fourth- through sixth-graders found that while girls outperformed boys in language arts, science, math, and social studies, they experienced significantly more anxiety and less confidence in their academic abilities. Researchers contend that girls generally focus more on pleasing parents, teachers, and peers, and worry about failing to make good grades. As a result, they become easily depressed when they don't meet others' expectations and may be more inclined to stay away from challenging subjects.
Blame the Game
Researchers at Tokyo's Nihon University have come out with new evidence that heavy gamers risk developing "video game brain." According to the study, which examined the brain waves of children and adults ages 6-29, playing video games between two and seven hours every day can hamper the part of the brain responsible for sleep and wakefulness-resulting in increased irritability and lack of concentration.
Hit List
Books
Are women innately incapable of hooking up a stereo or fixing a flat tire? Of course not, but if you took an inventory of representations of women and technology over the last 150 years or so, you might think otherwise. That's precisely what Julie Wosk does in Women and the Machine: Representations from the Spinning Wheel to the Electronic Age. Wosk culls from myriad representational forms, from paintings and photographs to cartoons and advertising, to reveal deep cultural tensions over the role of women in a technologically complex society. Of note is the chapter "Women in Wartime," which examines a pivotal point for women in the labor and military forces. Wosk's elegant visual history reads as a prelude to the computer age, as she leaves off at the end of the 20th century to speculate only briefly on how cyberculture will shape representations of women. Johns Hopkins University Press
Online
If you've ever seen the Circuits section of The New York Times, you've probably noticed David Pogue's popular State of the Art column, which covers everything from speech recognition to fighting spam. What you might not know, however, is that Pogue has set up his own simple, unflashy Web page, partly for hawking his Missing Manuals line of tech help books, that has some great free gems as well. For example, in addition to posting his most recent NYT article, Pogue offers an online-only column that expands on topics he didn't have space for in the print version. Accessible and bubbling with personality-just like his writing-Pogue's site even features photos of his kids, his "wonder dog" Bullwinkle, and song spoofs only a geek could love.
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