Gender Differences in Cyberspace

[Pat Madea <madea -at- MMSI -dot- COM>]

Techwriters...

Try this little experiment on a daily basis: Read magazine and
newspaper articles, even eMail messages and posts, without looking at
the byline.  When you're done, determine the gender of the writer
based on what you read.  Then read the by-line.  (Hopefully, the
writer has a gender specific name!)

Over time, a pattern does present itself, at least it did when I tried
it.  Quite honestly, I don't know what to attribute it to, what part
of the writing reflects the author's gender, but GENERALLY there's a
discernible difference between how men write and how women write.  I
know this is anecdotal, but I've found the author's gender in the
writing yet can't point to a specific item or style or subject that
tells me that a man wrote this or a woman wrote that.

In technical writing, that is, tech manuals and how-to books, it's
*much* more difficult to sense the gender of the writer, if at all.
A much different style is employed, I suspect.

Anyway, that's my take on gender differences in cyberspace or in any
writing endeavor:  in my experience, they're there.  I have no take on
what it means or could possibly mean...

madea  //  madea -at- mmsi -dot- com