Information and communication behaviour of women space technologists

The study is based on a survey inquiring into the information and communication behaviour of men and women space technologists in India. Members of a population of about 800, of whom about 70 were women, were questioned about their information seeking and transmission activities. The survey showed that on almost all aspects, including time spent on collecting information, number of contacts outside the organization, consultations with library staff, dependence on informal sources of information, and so on, there were no significant difference between the sexes. The only important differences were that women used formal sources such as library documentation and consulted internal sources of information more than men, and were much less likely to be gatekeepers. But women space technologists appeared to have low information potential in the sociometric analysis of informal contacts of the respondents, as they were less likely to be chosen for discussion, advice and information by respondents than were men space technologists