
Men, women use web like prehistoric hunter-gatherers - nickb
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081009/internet_behaviour_081009/20081012?hub=TopStories
======
nostrademons
I wonder if a similar effect is behind male/female differences in
mathematical, scientific, and computing fields.

Mathematics usually requires that you go deep into a field, through a long
chain of prerequisites. In order to understand general relativity, you need to
understand differential geometry, which requires tensors and calculus, which
requires vectors and linear algebra, which requires algebra, which requires
arithmetic. In order to understand Haskell, you need to understand monads,
which requires parametric data types and type classes, which requires
algebraic data types, and so on.

Meanwhile, female-dominated skills like communications, law, or management
usually require a broad base of knowledge and a relatively shallow chain of
prerequisites. Lawyers have to know a ton of information to do their jobs, but
much of it consists of court precedents that build upon the basic principles
taught in first-year law school.

For that, matter, among the sciences, the ones with the largest female
populations are those that require a broad base of knowledge rather than a
deep chain of prerequisites. Compare biology and geology to physics and
advanced mathematics.

~~~
eru
If you compare the university student populations: Math has around 50% females
while physics has perhaps 20%.

I wonder what causes this.

------
sfk
I like - in the words of nostrademons - deep chains of reasoning. When I'm in
a foreign city, I rather wander around for two hours than ask for directions.
Very male so far.

When it comes to web pages though, I hate _unneccessary_ complexity. I also
prefer man pages to info.

------
adrianwaj
This has implications in site design: male and female versions of the
presentation layer?

~~~
josefresco
In an ideal world yes, you would have differing presentations. I would imagine
someone like Amazon has experience in this area. Also, see the difference
between mens/womens categories at online retailers.

~~~
netcan
You imagine correctly:

[http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/12/18/thats-my-amazon-
kindle-...](http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/12/18/thats-my-amazon-kindle-but-
those-arent-my-hands/)

------
blinkblink
Reminds me of that classic New Yorker cartoon that goes: "On the internet no
one knows you're a dog".

