Contextual Section: Geocities

the guidelines

neighbourhoods

self-expression

A women's place

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[Note 2002: this should now be read as a historical text in the light of Yahoo taking over the former Geocities. Sadly the guidelines no longer apply; for example many sites in the lesbian and gay areas are now blatent portals for paid porn sites]

Geocities provide a space on the WWW where individuals are able to avail themselves, without cost, of the opportunity to create their own webpages.

The guidelines are comprehensive, covering such issues as

• no commercial sites [which covers also advertising and links to commercial sites]
• no nudity / pornography [which covers also pages containing links to pornographic sites]
• "providing material that is grossly offensive to the Web community, including blatant expressions of bigotry, racism, hatred or profanity"

Regulation is partly through encouragement to report sites which contravene these restrictions, and Geocities has in the past removed sites which breach these guidelines. Sites are removed swiftly if they cause offence, but organising the free web areas into neighbourhoods minimises to some extent the danger of 'accidental' wandering into an area which might, to some, be offensive.

Neighbourhoods:

Organising the whole of the Geocities site into subdivisions, Neighbourhoods, encouraged a sense of community from the beginning. The imagery used on the Geocities site, with streetplans and the appointment of community leaders has given the appearence of thriving groups. However, because each individual neighbourhood is centred around a particular interest [eg West Hollywood contains gay and lesbian sites, Wellesley contains women's sites, Enchanted Forest contains sites by or for children]

Particular guidelines reinforce the content restrictions in the area set aside for use by and for children

A woman's place:

Wellesley is an area of Geocities devoted solely to women. This is not to say women are not present and welcomed elsewhere, but this neighbourhood contains examples of what is possible for women in a community where they feel the guidelines support and encourage them to share more personal aspects of their lives without fear of attack.

The content is varied: a few examples of sites in Geocities you may like to explore and / or analyse are -

A user guide for redesigning your life

An Online diary

Caroline - encourages more women into Cyberspace

Tahlia - supports other women, acting as a counsellor and eCommunity leader.

One of the most balanced views of the harrowing issue of domestic violence in the form of incest is given on one of the Wellesley sites. This site shows how women have used the web not only to share personal life events, but to use their own experience to support others. Many have said that to share what would in their everyday life have been hidden has been for them part of the healing process. Although there are many sites which reflect this, few have managed to include and acknowledge the existence of what might be seen as an 'opposing' view as this site does

Women's presence

Women are present throughout the whole of the Geocities community. The depth which the women's sites gives is in other neighbourhoods is also partly given by the community feel of an area which is, after all, a collection of separate websites. By allowing members to select their own neighbourhood, encouraging a 'visit your neighbour' link, although, for example , an academic might choose to homestead in Athens, one particular classicist's site reflects her wide ranging interests beyond her immediate research. There is no pressure to remain 'on subject', and tangental forays into cats, detective fiction, the private lives of squirrels, South Australia etc as well as maintaining a site crammed with Classics resources, as shown here are not unusual among the women of Geocities, though this site is one of the most varied. 2MB of space can expand to Tardis like proportions in the hands of a woman...