Wikipedians From Mars: Female Students’ Perceptions Toward Wikipedia

摘要

This paper presents the results of a preliminary study onnon-contributing behaviors among college-aged Wikipediausers. By focusing on female freshmen, I investigated howcollege-aged female students start establishing certainattitudes toward Wikipedia, how previous experienceinfluences these perceptions, and how a new socialenvironment has an impact on their perceptions. Based onin-depth interviews with 9 female college freshmen and 4non-freshmen students, the results suggest that experience,subjective norms, and their social position as a collegestudent influenced female freshmen to establish negativeperceptions and constrain them from contributing toWikipedia. The present study is significant in that itprovides multifaceted aspects of perceptions that discouragecontributions from young female students to Wikipedia, anddesign implications for promoting their participation.