Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1997

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Information Sciences

Major Professor

Carol Tenopir

Committee Members

William C. Robinson, Gretchen Whitney

Abstract

In this study, I show that a network of feminist electronic independent publications (e-zines) exists on the World Wide Web. I have accomplished this by mapping the connections between these publications. Each publication is connected to another in the network by a hypertext link provided on a page devoted entirely to links or by a hypertext link provided elsewhere within the publication's website. Following links from publication to publication, I was able to locate 64 feminist e-zines that constitute a network of feminist e-zines on the World Wide Web. Within this group of 64, I identified seven core feminist e-zines, or "gateways." These gateway e-zines are defined as such based on the number of links received from other feminist e-zines in the network. Each of the seven gateways identified receive 10 or more links each from the other e-zines in the network, making them the most linked to publications among the network of feminist e- zines. This status marks these publications as centers, or hubs, of activity and information within the network. The gateways provide over 100 outgoing links to other publications in the network, as well as to sites outside of the network. The fact that only thirteen of the outgoing links overlap (that is, are links to the same publications) indicates that this core is important not only for its centrality within the network, but also for its usefulness in redirecting user traffic to other points both inside and outside of the network. Three of these gateway e-zines offer a "chatroom" feature to users that enables many-to- many communication among visitors (a feature that is not found anywhere else within the network). The existence of the network with its clearly defined gateways, coupled with the interactive capability provided by three of the gateways, has implications for future studies in virtual communities on the World Wide Web.

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