Re: Help Systems & Gender Differences

[Karen Kay <karenk -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Caryn Rizell said:

> Hi All!

> I think I should clarify some of the comments I made about
> how men and women respond to the idea of 'help'.

> 1)  In no way was my intent to stereotype.  It is true that
>     not all men act a certain way, and not all women act a
>     different way.  There will always be exceptions to
>     any rule.

>     I also like to avoid identifying behaviors as 'masculine'
>     and 'feminine'--especially since it is usually used in a
>     perjorative way ("acting like a sissy").

> 2)  But it is also true that men and women *do* respond differently
>     to the same situation in most cases.  Men and women do
>     have different ways of communicating and interacting.  Andreas
>     Ramos pointed out the studies that Carol Gilligan and Deborah
>     Tannen have done, which are extremely valid.

> 3)  Given that *most* men act one way and *most* women act another
>     way, what do we do with that in regards to what we write
>     and how we write it?  Has it made a difference in how we
>     approach our audience?  If we know our audience is mostly
>     male or mostly female, do we write differently?  (That is
>     not to say that we 'talk up' when writing for men, or 'talk
>     down' when writing for women assuming they are less technical.)

>     These are just some issues that have come to my mind, all because
>     one user had a problem finding something in our help system!  I
>     started thinking about gender, that we shouldn't rule it out
>     as a factor.


> Caryn Rizell
> Tech Writing Contractor
> caryn @hpptc.44.rose.hp.com


> >



Karen
  karenk -at- netcom -dot- com