IIG

GERDA - the gendered digital brain atlas is planned to be a non-licensed web-based information system on the topic "Gender and the Brain". It addresses students, researchers and the interested public to view recent results and current discourses in brain research with respect to gender aspects. The aim of our work is to promote comprehensive information on gender aspects for scientific and public discussion in order to deconstruct unreflective naturalisation of gender differences.

Implications on gender differences in brain structure or function are mostly drawn against a bio-neuro-endocrinological background, emphazising the nature-theory of sex differences. Alternatively, recent concepts of the plasticity of brain development and neural network differentiation depending on external input and individual experiences reveal a contrasting view on gender constructions formed within a specific psycho-social and cultural context (embodyment theory). Rather than dichotomizing sex-gender explanations for brain differences, our aim is to show the mutual influences between biology (brain structure and function), culture and individual experiences, all of them modulating and constructing each other continuously. We use the term "gender" as an expression of the whole of bio-psycho-social aspects.

GERDA combines an object-relational database for gender research concerning brain structure, function and behaviour with a hypertext system that promotes access to detailed information on structural-functional relationships in the brain. It also promotes access to critical reviews on different aspects of gender and the brain. Interactive images and animations of a single female brain data set will serve as navigational aids for browsing the information system

The GERDA-Database categorizes, stores and manages data from empirical studies concerning brain-behavioural relations. By using combined queries the user will be able to search and view detailed information on these papers with respect to bibliography, participant demographics, brain regions and behavioural tasks under investigation, methods, results, statistical values and conclusions. With the help of new tools GERDA will provide the user to compare conflicting results and to assess the strength of results against different hypotheses (nature versus nurture theories) in gender research on the brain.

The GERDA-Hypertext contains a set of basic knowledge modules on brain structure and its functional organization, on brain physiology, on hormonal and environmental aspects in brain development, on plasticity in neural network differentiation and on learning processes. Summaries and critical reviews on gender aspects under current discussion provide information on the complexity, ambiguity and public presentation of the field of gender and the brain, e.g.:

• Gender and Cortical Asymmetry
• Gender and Language
• Gender and Space
• Gender and Motoric Processing
• Gender, Hormones and the Brain

Based on a thesaurus the system architecture will integrate the database, including textual and image data, the hypertext system, and the user interfaces for both consultation (readers) and acquisition (authors). Experience with an earlier project (Hybrikon) showed that database query languages are difficult to handle by non-expert users. Therefore, we decided to provide users with two possibilities when searching for information:

1. following hyperlinks as in traditional hypertext systems, or

2. using database search facilities.

GERDA-Database and GERDA-Hypertext are integrated to facilitate access between both. The query interface of the database can be entered from the hypertext in order to view empirical findings concerning a particular aspect of gender and the brain. In reverse, navigational aids lead the user to basic knowledge modules and critical reviews for a particular set of studies chosen from the database.

The development of evaluation tools for comparing empirical neurosientific data is emphazised today as one of the most important demands in the scientific community in order to manage the exploding amount of research data. With the GEDRA-database tools we aim to contribute to this task with new solutions.

A set of computational tools and visualization-techniques of the users current position in her/his web-journey support navigation through the hypertext system. With this we refer to aspects of gender-sensitive navigation in internet browsing strategies.

We aim to reflect our own work and to document decision-making processes during system development against the myth of a "one-best-way"-engineering hypothesis.

The project requires intensive interdisciplinary collaboration in collecting the data, defining the thesaurus, developing and implementing the database, presenting knowledge modules, brain images and critical reviews in hypertext form. All these tasks will also contribute to the I&G department's general research field of Computer Science and Technology Assessment.