A Comparative Analysis of

Women’s Activism on the Web

Susan Ware

Research & Instruction LibrarianPenn State University, USA

July 2002saw4@psu.edu

WOMEN'S WORLDS 2002THE 8TH INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY CONGRESS ON

WOMEN

WomenAction

Criteria for Effective Web Activism

Visibility - Accessibility • Links from other Web sites

Information Dissemination• Provide mission statement & contact information• Educate and update readers on the issues

Action Opportunities• Invite readers to act• Use technology effectively to help readers act

Interactivity - Communication• Email, bulletin boards, chat rooms, conferencing• Virtual communities

Activist Web Sites Analyzed

National Organization for Womenhttp://www.now.org

Flame – African Sisters Onlinehttp://flamme.org

Asian Women’s Resource Exchangehttp://www.aworc.org

Association of Iranian Womenhttp://www.aiwusa.org

European & North American Women Actionhttp://www.enawa.org

National Organization

for Women

Link Analysis

•4961 outside links (sampled 100)

–95% USA–99% English–40% .edu, 35% .org, 25% .com

[ http://www.now.org ] GOOGLE –

JULY 2OO2

FlameAfrican Sisters Online

Link Analysis•64 outside links

–24 countries – 36% North America, 28% Europe, 25% Africa

–9 languages– 78% English, 16% Multilingual

–4 domains– 66% .org, 19% .com, 14% .edu, 1% .gov

[ http://flamme.org ] GOOGLE – JULY 2OO2

Asian Women’s Resource

ExchangeLink Analysis

•62 outside links–21 countries

– 42% North America, 27% Asia, 23% Europe

–11 languages– 69% English, 19% Multilingual, 5% Japanese

–3 domains– 64% .org, 18% .edu, 18% .com

[ http://www.aworc.org ] GOOGLE – JULY 2OO2

Association of Iranian Women

Link Analysis•33 outside links

–11 countries – 61% North America, 24% Europe, 12% Middle

East

–6 languages– 79% English, 12% Multilingual

–3 domains– 52% .org, 27% .com, 21% .edu

[ http://www.aiwusa.org ] GOOGLE – JULY

2OO2

European & North American Women

Action Link Analysis

•22 outside links–12 countries

– 59% Europe, 32% North America

–7 languages– 41% English, 41% Multilingual, 9% French

–3 domains– 68% .org, 18% .com, 14% .edu

[ http://www.enawa.org ] GOOGLE – JULY 2OO2

National Organization for Women

Flame – African Sisters Online

Asian Women’s Resource Exchange

Association of Iranian Women

European&North American Women Action

http://www.de2.psu.edu/faculty/saw4/webactivism/sources.html