Research

["A. BESHARA" <abeshara -at- NMSU -dot- EDU>]

Hello all, I am a graduate student in technical writing, at New Mexico
State University and I have been viewing this list for about 4 months now.
I subscribed to the list so that I could get an idea of what goes on in
the undefinable world of technical writing.  Currently I am doing research
on the significance e-mail may have on gender discourse.  I am proposing
that email users use a gender neutral discourse which will promote a more
egalitarian work-place. I am sure all of you have knowledge of the typical
difficulties that men and women often face when communicating at work.
(Men misunderstand women's intentions when they hedge or use tag phrases.
Women misunderstand when men use overly critical or overly oppositional
speech.) Those are generalizations but are some of the things I am
investigating.  Since you all are frequent email users I was wondering if
any of you had any insight on how email may or may not make you feel more
comfortable when communicating with the other gender.  Is it something you
consciously consider?  Have you come across more or less misunderstandings
through email use?  Do you feel comfortable with the informality and the
anonymity that email affords? I do hope that this an appropriate
conversation for the list.  If any of you have thoughts on this topic I
would really appreciate the feed back! Thanks for your time.
Angella Beshara

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