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"there are clear business reasons for technology companies to focus their efforts on women. But few do." Well, for example I am creating a writers' tool (basic

by nadam 14y ago

"there are clear business reasons for technology companies to focus their efforts on women. But few do." Well, for example I am creating a writers' tool (basically a markdown editor). I wonder if there is anything in the product design with which I can target man/woman. I was thinking in terms of ease of use, intuitivnes, efficiency, etc... I am thinkging in terms of power users / casual users, geeks / non-geeks, etc... but should I think in terms of women / men? The article says Asus has sexist tweets... Wouldn't it be sexist if I had prejudices about women's use of a 'word processor'? I am not cynical, I genuinely ask this.

jmathes 14y ago
'Sexist' has as many definitions as there are English-speakers. It's not a useful word unless you're a politician or a journalist. If you thought women never used words longer than three letters, then you could design some very useful features for them, like smarter autocomplete, spell check, and inserting the space automatically after three characters. Then you'd do what everyone building a product should do - try to sell it, and if it won't sell, try to find out why. You'd quickly learn that women can use big words just fine, and you'd redesign your product accordingly. I used an example misconception in which you underestimated women, because in the other direction it'd be politically incorrect. But, you need to be objective about what you see. You can't be afraid of the political ramifications of knowing the truth about your market. If the data were to tell you something drastically politically incorrect, like that Brits and Canadians never buy your word processor because they're too busy eating babies, you still need to redesign your product to fit your customers, and your spell checker should not accept "colour", "lorry", or "hockey".
macey 14y ago
The market perpetuates their own idea of what kind of online behavior is female, and what is male. This blatant, arbitrary differentiation is why women so frequently report that they are completely misunderstood by advertisers.

by nadam 14y ago

jmathes 14y ago

'Sexist' has as many definitions as there are English-speakers. It's not a useful word unless you're a politician or a journalist. If you thought women never used words longer than three letters, then you could design some very useful features for them, like smarter autocomplete, spell check, and inserting the space automatically after three characters. Then you'd do what everyone building a product should do - try to sell it, and if it won't sell, try to find out why. You'd quickly learn that women can use big words just fine, and you'd redesign your product accordingly. I used an example misconception in which you underestimated women, because in the other direction it'd be politically incorrect. But, you need to be objective about what you see. You can't be afraid of the political ramifications of knowing the truth about your market. If the data were to tell you something drastically politically incorrect, like that Brits and Canadians never buy your word processor because they're too busy eating babies, you still need to redesign your product to fit your customers, and your spell checker should not accept "colour", "lorry", or "hockey".

macey 14y ago

The market perpetuates their own idea of what kind of online behavior is female, and what is male. This blatant, arbitrary differentiation is why women so frequently report that they are completely misunderstood by advertisers.