ENCOURAGING GENDER BALANCE A SURVEY OF EUROPEAN SCIENCE MUSEUM WEBSITES.pdfVIP

EVA 2006 London Conference ~ 26-28 July R. Gunn, G. Moss, J. P. Bowen, I. Bernal, E. Lisney S. McDaid _____________________________________________________________________ ENCOURAGING GENDER BALANCE: A SURVEY OF EUROPEAN SCIENCE MUSEUM WEBSITES Rod Gunn 1, Gloria Moss 1, Jonathan P. Bowen 2 Isabel Bernal 3, Eleanor Lisney 4, and Sarah McDaid 5 1 Business School, University of Glamorgan, UK 2 Museophile Limited, UK 3 eIFL.net, Rome, Italy 4 Coventry University, UK 5 Institute for Computing Research, London South Bank University, UK rwgunn@glam.ac.ukT gmoss@glam.ac.uk museophile@ http://designpsych.weblog.glam.ac.uk Abstract – A previous survey [3] has investigated gender imbalance in European art museum websites. In this paper, we use the same criteria for thirty science museum websites in each of three major European countries, namely France, Spain and the United Kingdom. It seems that the science museums in all three countries are anchored in an aesthetic rooted more at the male than the female end of the web production aesthetic continuum. The implications for the gender balance of men and women in science professions is explored and it is suggested that a shift towards the female end of the web design production aesthetic might assist in achieving a greater gender balance in science professions. For the future, it would be interesting to extend this survey to further countries in Europe beyond and establish whether this pattern is reflected there as well. INTRODUCTION At the Museums and the Web 2005 conference, a professional forum for open discussion was held on museum websites and gender issues [1]. Subsequently the general field of gender issues and HCI (Human-Computer Interfaces) has been surveyed [2]. In addition, a survey of UK university websites has been undertaken with respect to their aesthetics from the point of view of male and female users [16]. A comparative survey of European art museum websit