The Computer Expert in Mixed-Gendered Collaborative Writing Groups

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Beteiligte: Wolfe, Joanna, Alexander, Kara Poe
In: Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 19, 2005, 2, S. 135-170
veröffentlicht:
SAGE Publications
Medientyp: Artikel, E-Artikel

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Umfang: 135-170
ISSN: 1050-6519
1552-4574
DOI: 10.1177/1050651904272978
veröffentlicht in: Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Sprache: Englisch
Schlagwörter:
Kollektion: SAGE Publications (CrossRef)
Inhaltsangabe

<jats:p> When mixed-gendered student teams collaborate on technical writing tasks, a single male often emerges as the group computer expert. The effects of this trend on perceptions of workload are unknown. This article reports the results of a study in which 12 mixed-gendered teams answered questionnaires on the division and perceptions of labor in their teams. Detailed case studies of four teams supplement the questionnaires. Findings suggest that computer work was highly visible, highly valued, and dominated by men. By contrast, writing was less visible and selectively recognized. Some men were credited with strong writing skills even though they did not produce writing for the project. Moreover, some students explicitly leveraged their computer expertise to avoid writing; furthermore, these computer experts rarely shared technical expertise with others in the context of the team project. </jats:p>