%0 Journal Article %A Kleinman, Sharon Sue %D 2003 %I Begell House %N 1 %P 16 %R 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v9.i1.50 %T WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BUILDING COMMUNITY ONLINE %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,588fd13a4ac98f5d,52366e53308b1a98.html %V 9 %X This article explores the constructs of online community and online social support and discusses a naturalistic case study of a public, unmoderated, online discussion group dedicated to issues of interest to women in science and engineering. The benefits of affiliation with OURNET (a pseudonym) were explored through participant observation over a 4-year period, telephone interviews with 21 subscribers, and content analysis of e-mail messages posted to the discussion group during a 125-day period. The case study findings indicated that through affiliation with the online discussion group, women in traditionally male-dominated fields expanded their professional networks, increased their knowledge, constituted and validated positive social identities, bolstered their self-confidence, obtained social support and information from people with a wide range of experiences and areas of expertise, and, most significantly, found community. %8 2003-05-19