ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the intersections between gender, technology and computer-mediated communications in consumption-related online communities and proposes a methodology that enables researchers to explore better the nuances of gender effects online. It discusses the relationship between gender and technology, including how the impacts on communications technologies. The chapter suggests that a research agenda for future gender research in relation to online consumption-related communities. In respect of structural aspects, there are strong divisions of labour around technology both in its production and consumption. Women were often portrayed as the passive victims of technology, which was seen as embodying patriarchal and capitalist interests. User instructions suggested that the microwave was complex and high technology and it was sold in brown goods outlets along with video recorders and stereo systems. The focus on technical talk and the relative absence of people talk, expressiveness and social engagement cannot be viewed as a focus solely constructed by the users of the digital camera technology.
