The Participants' Rating of Their Expertise

R - How good do you think you are in general with computers, like on a scale of 1 - 5, one is great and five is good, how would you rate yourself?

Anne - 3
Lisa - 2 or 3
Charli - 3

Tim - 3
Tom - 2.5 or 3
Jake - 3 in computers, between 1 and 2 in both lighting and sound
Joe - 2
Chris - 2.5

This is what Chris said

R - So you first started off with games, and that's carried right through.

C - It's worked me towards different programmes, like Word and Excel, those type of things. At school I learnt about a graphic programme. That really got me going at school, because I was surprised at how well I could just move about with it, how quickly I could learn, and I learnt about that for three years and in the end, I started teaching the teachers how to use that same programme which was quite astonishing, and then we got upgraded versions, and learnt that very quickly too.

R - So, what do you think makes a person a technological expert?

C - I think they have to have motivation, but they to have to have the need to want to do it, otherwise in the end, they're going to get quite bored, and not enjoy it, so you have to really want to do it, you have to know you are going to enjoy it really before you take it up, but what makes a technological expert? They need to yeah, you have to pick up the right skills, you have to search for those skills, search for the right people who are going to give you those skills, and sometimes it can just come out of the air by pure luck. But if you try and just try and make yourself shown, different people can recognize you and you will be able to pick up a few of those skills - thanks to them. And also if you have a dad as nice as mine [pause], it helps [smiles].

R - Your mum said before, that you often, she thought that you were good at computers because you often looked out finding out why, rather than just accepting.

C - Yeah.

R - So could you talk about that?

C - Well, I really don't know how I came to be like that, it's just what happened, it's part of my nature where I want to look into things because I really want to learn. I want to, with computing I found that, if I really want to know a programme and if I really want to know how to use something, I have to understand how and why it ticks, because it helps and I can relate to different things with that knowledge. So I've found that it's assisted me in lots of different, not just, lots of different ways, not just computing, like my mum's recently bought a new stereo and I've been able to help her with that. Like, maybe it's supposed to do that mum? Yeah!

R - Mmmm. Ok, so what do you think is expertise?

C - Expertise in level of computing - again you have to have motivation, so motivation would be one of those expertise. Knowledge of how computers work would be another one of those expertise. And um, hmmm, also a wide range of different programmes and knowledge would be perhaps one of those expertise. I think all of them put together, you'd probably be going on the right track, yeah.

R - So are there different levels of expertise?

C - Ooh yes. In any subject, there are many levels of expertise cause I mean, I think I've got expertise, a lot of people above me have more, and more advanced knowledge of how to do things, so they've got better expertise. Even people below me, they've still got a little bit of knowledge, so they've still got expertise in them, mmm.

R - So do you think other people can become experts in the same way you did?

C - I'm sure there's someone out there - cause in the end, it is a really big world, not a small world. And there's heaps of things going on, I'm sure that someone out there will have learnt computing exactly the same way that I have. Not right the same skill and everything, the same environment, but just like learning from their dad, going up to school, learning - yeah, it doesn't have to be the same programme either - just learning from a teacher and they can be pushed by motivation and all. Just all of that, I'm sure it could happen to someone.

R - Ok, how important is it to you to be an expert computer user?

C - I would say no, but in the end, it is extremely important to me to be an expert in something in your life. Computing just turned out to be my strong point really, and again, that's helped me work with new things, not experts at them, just experts at using different technological items. I mean like the [tape] recorder right now, I might be able to pick the help in a few seconds. Might be able to, but yeah. I see it as very important to me because its gonna, it helps me get through life in the end.

Joe the science expert who uses the computer to gain expertise

J - A technological expert. I think it's a person who understands a particular field and is skilful at it.

R - Do you consider yourself to be an expert?

J - No, there's a long way to go. So no, I don't think.

R - What about for your age?

J - My age, um, maybe, but compared to other students, well there's a couple who are like really good, so I've got something to aim at, so I don't think I'm an expert yet, no.

R - Would you like to be?

J - Yeah, I would, yes. [we both laugh]

R - How do you think a person becomes an expert?

J - Just by fully understanding something, y'know, but um, and who is like really confident at doing particular things and things like that, yeah.

R - Ok. So we've talked about what an expert is, what about expertise itself? What do you think expertise is?

J - A great skill or knowledge in a particular field. Yeah.

R - You are very resourceful [Joe looked up both words in the dictionary]. So with your level of expertise at the moment, how do you think you got to that level?

J - By probably spending time, by spending time reading things and getting other people to help me, for example, my dad, just spending time on the computer. Y'know, just browsing along and trying new things, and yeah, exploring, yep.

R - Do you think other people gain expertise in that same way?

J - Yeah they can, because I can, so there's no possible thing why they can't, so.

R - Mmm, so it's just time?

J - It's just time, yeah, and just dedication, sort of, yeah.

R - So how important is it to you to be an expert computer user?

J - [laughs] For me, it's one of the main things cause as I've said before, for astronomy, you need to be able to design your own computer programme and analyze data and everything like that. It's all in computers, even controlling like, for instance, telescopes and stuff, computerized telescopes, you need to be able to use computers. Yeah, so computers are one of the main things for me, so yeah.

R - So the person who recommended you . . .

J - Yep

R - They considered you to be an expert, so would there be quite a few people that you know that would consider you to be an expert?

J - Harry did [smiles]. Well I'm in the top class right now, so it's like, it's competitive, and um, I'm not right up there in computers, so in my class it wouldn't be like that, but then, in other classes I would be considered an expert maybe.

R - So would you say your expertise in technology is a significant part of your identity?

J - Yeah, it is. That's what I do [laughs], yeah, it is.

R - But mainly linked to the astronomy - based.

J - Astronomy, yeah. Sometimes I get in trouble because I'm on the computer too long. And yeah, I have to get off, but that's what I basically do, yeah.

Jake, the expert in computers, lighting, and sound

R - What do you think is a technological expert?

J - Somebody who knows everything about their trade and stuff, like for me, I don't reckon anybody could be a technological, like a real expert at it cause there's always new stuff to learn. I suppose there is like a few guys who knows everything out there, like Bill Gates - he probably doesn't know - he's probably got goons to do it for him, but like one of the high up people, like computer programmers and stuff that are writing new software, I probably think they're more technological.

R - Oh ok. So, do you consider yourself to be an expert?

J - Um, not really. Oh, sort of but not really. Like I know a bit, but not all, type thing. I'm always learning new stuff off people, learning new things, and about products that are out, etc.

R - What about if I worded it 'for your age, do you consider yourself to be an expert'?

J - Um, for my age, I would. Like people, a lot of people have said to me, 'oh, you're probably one', we had a tutor come to our school from Tua Whakaari, and he said, 'oh, you're probably one of the best technical people for your age in New Zealand at the moment.' Which was really, I didn't even know him, he just came up to me and said 'I've heard about you, and you're probably one of the best technical people in New Zealand for your age'. And he said to me, 'you've got a good future ahead of you'. Gave me the eyes. It's like, whee, it's kind of the 'easy tiger' word came out.

R - Ok. So, you think expertise is . . . ?

J - My expertise . . .

R - Well, what do you think is expertise?

J - Probably knowing everything.

R - But you said before something like 'there's always new stuff to learn'.

J - Yeah, oh, probably not knowing everything, but knowing like basically, like having a fair idea of most stuff.

R - Ok. Do you think there are different levels of expertise?

J - Oh yeah.

R - So with Johnny, if he's up here, you are . . .?

J - He's probably up close to the roof, sort of thing. Well I've learnt most of my stuff off Johnny as well as church [INAUDIBLE], but most of my lighting stuff has been off Johnny. So every time I work with Johnny, I learn probably 20 more things off him. Johnny doesn't reckon I'm that far behind him. But I feel like I'm quite a bit. But yeah, he said to me at the last show we did, 'oh you're starting to get as good as me'. Which is like, yeah, pretty like, he's been my main person that I look up to when I do my lighting, etc.

R - If you met someone that was interested in sound, or lighting, or computers, do you think that they could become as knowledgable as you in the same way that you have, like, would they learn it the same way you have?

J - Um, I'm not too sure. Some might. But yeah, if somebody's, like if I know somebody that's interested and stuff, is like hanging around and stuff, I'll try my best to pass on what I know. I knew a couple of people who've learnt by just mucking around and seeing what it sounds like, without any proper training or anything like that.

R - Ok, so your expertise in technology, is that a significant part of who you are?

J - Yeah, pretty much. If I lost, like if I got brain damaged or something and lost all my technical information, I'd basically would be no one, because I'm known for my technical stuff. Yeah.

Tom said this

R - So what do you think is a technological expert?

T - Someone who's competent in something, yeah. I don't know. That's about it.

R - What does competent mean to you?

T - They know what they're doing and yeah.

R - So would you consider yourself to be an expert in your areas of interest?

T - Um, I've gotta a lot to learn still, but yeah, for my age, I'd probably be pretty competent.

R - So, when you think of the word expertise, what do you think?

T - Pass [laughs].

R - Competence [we both laugh]. Ok, well I'll just word it a different way to see if that helps. Do you know of anybody who is older than you that you might look up to or something, and you think they're an expert, how would you describe their expertise?

T - Like how I'd describe like the level of it or? Um, I dunno.

R - Do you think there are different levels of expertise?

T - Definitely, yeah. Like you could be an expert at what you do but you still do things like the old way or the new way of coming in comes in you like have to learn how to do that and it's faster and stuff like that.

R - So do you think other people might become an expert in the same way you did?

T - Um yeah, it's not that hard. Just do it on the net.

R - So it's about having time?

T - Yeah, having the time and patience to read.

R - and research it

T - Yeah

He said that in his graphics class at school, he has been asked for help lots, and deemed the resident expert. They are working on designing an image package of café logos, including menu, match boxes, serviettes, business cards, etc.

This is what the boys said about expertise

Tim said this.

R - How would you describe a technological expert?

T - Oh, someone that probably knows more than the average person, they know about computers and stuff like that, yeah.

R - Do you think you're a computer expert?

T - Um, probably compared to most people I am. There's people that know a lot more than me, but compared to like the average user, probably, yeah.

R - So how do you think you became an expert then?

T - Oh, I just guess from using it so much, and having friends that know all about it as well, to ask and get things from, yeah.

R - So you started learning from your parents - they taught you the basics and/when you did games, and you spent a lot of time on them. What other things have contributed as well?

T - Oh I dunno.

R - Do you think playing games is a good way of becoming a computer expert?

T - Oh sort of, I mean, if you play games and then get into doing other things on computer because of the games, yeah. But for the person who probably plays games, they're probably not interested in anything else to do with computers, so. I guess you could. You could become an expert on playing games. Sometimes.

R - Did the playing of games help you to get good at using the computer in other applications and programmes?

T - Well, I guess, yeah, I mean, I play games so I found these like message boards, and then, from there I can read about what other people have been doing, so I get interested in that, so I try it, and then, yeah.

R - What do you think is expertise? How would you define it?

T - Knowledge, experience, yeah like, oh just, I guess using, if you use something a lot, and you know a lot about it, and then done it for a long time, I guess, that's, you'd probably be an expert at it, yeah.

R - Are there different levels of expertise?

T - Yeah, I think so. Yeah like if you own your own business or something, and then you're good at that, whatever it is you want to do, like plumber or whatever, and you have an apprentice or something like that, they'll probably still be an expert, but not as expert as the person that is teaching them, yeah.

R - So do you think other people might become experts in the same way that you did?

T - Yeah, I think so. Like if they've got friends or parents that can teach them, yeah. Or if they want to find out themselves, there are things on the internet that you can learn, yeah.

This is what Charli said about expertise

When I asked her what types of people would create websites, i.e. how would she describe them, she said, "people who know their way about computers".

R - So what do you think is a technological expert?

C- Like, somebody that is confident with knowing their way around and stuff. Is that a right answer?

R- Well it's up to you. It's your opinion, so what you say goes.

C- Well yeah, I think that it's just someone that's confident, and they feel like they know enough about
what they do to like maybe show other people, guide other people. You know like, confident with trying new things on the computer and stuff. Me [giggles].

R- So do you think you are an expert?

C- I s'pose I am really. Like, I never used to think of like an expert like that, because I used to think that an expert was somebody that knows everything, but it's not really. I just think it is somebody that's confident, so yeah, I suppose I am.

R- Ok, so like we've already talked about y'know what you did and how, but in terms of being an expert, how do you think you became an expert?

C- It was over time really, just from like going onto the other links and sites and stuff and exploring really. Yeah, just exploring. And you learn with experiences.

R- Do you think other people might become experts in the same way you did?

C- Yeah. I think that's the like, easiest and quickest way to become an expert really. Is by just having the experience and exploring and stuff.

R- So it probably would be the opportunity to do it as well?

C- Yeah.

R- Like people who don't have computers at home, there's not much chance of them . . .

C- Not exactly [we both laugh]. Poor them. Deprived.

R - So who taught you how to use a computer?

C - Like Dad, like when we first got the computer. But like since I've been like an expert, or whatever, it's just like y'know you learn things as you go along, just like using your common sense, and when I first started becoming [an expert] it was like my friends. Cause they're quite expert.

This is what Anne said.

Anne claims to have been more of an expert when she was at intermediate school 2 - 3 years ago because the classes she was in emphasised computer literacy.

R - How would you describe a technological expert?

A - One that's good on the computer, [giggles] or good with their technology thing that they do.

R - Yeah?

A - Yeah.

R - Do you consider yourself to be a technological expert?

A - Well it depends on the different programmes that uses. Like, I wouldn't be able to go on and start programming or anything. But if I was asked to use Photoshop, or used to be able to do Dreamweaver, I'd be able to do that and be an expert in some programmes. Not the whole computer.

R - Ok, so if you were asked the same question at intermediate - do you consider yourself to be a computer expert - what do you think you would have said then?

A - I think I would have said exactly the same answer except I'd be able to be more of an expert in more programmes then I am now.

R - Yep. Cool. With those programmes that you consider you've got some expertise in, how do you think you became an expert in those areas?

A - Well we got taught them, well we used them quite a lot in the class. And so the teacher taught us some skills and when you are using a programme daily you learn things about the programme. But also a lot of it was just guesswork - see what this does, how does this affect that, what does that do, is this button, ooh! Y'know, guesswork, yeah, come across some good things and bad things, and or the teacher would do lessons on it, mmmm.

R - Do you have an idea of how people might become experts on computers? Like what would be the path to take?

A - Well it would depend like what kind of expert they want to be, like in a programme or the actual whole computer. I think if you can like take lessons, or trying to figure out how to work it, and then knowing every thing about it and then you'll know what the steps are. But I guess you start off learning about the basics and then just move up through basics to advanced to . . . . So you become more and more experienced and know more about the programme or computer and so you soon become an expert.

What do the participants say about expertise?

This is what Lisa said.

R - So what do you think is a technological expert?

L - Um, an expert in technology? [laughs] Yeah, I don't really know.

R - Um, so do you consider yourself to be an expert?

L - For my age group probably, yeah, but there are other brainier people in my age group that would be a total whiz on the computer [giggles]. But yeah, but I'm pretty average.

R - So what do you think is expertise?

L - Something you're an expert in? [we both laugh]

R - Um, what about if you described your expertise in computers? How would you describe it?

L - Just like knowing how the computer works really and knowing what I want to do on the computer and get it done, yeah.

R - Cool. Do you think there are different levels of expertise?

L - Mmmm [agreement]. Yeah. Cause like you'll be just starting off, or you're in the middle, or you're at the very top so I guess there's heaps of different levels, yeah.

R - So how do you, what's sort of the path that you took to becoming a expert in computers?

L - Um, just really fiddling around on the computer and just learning from that, yeah [giggles].

R - How much time do you think you've spent, sort of looking round?

L - Heaps [laughs]. A very long time. Yeah, I used to come home every day and would play on the computer, and listen to some music, mmm, about three years.

R - Oh ok. So it's something that basically every week day you've done for a long time, for a couple of hours at least?

L - Yeah, 2 hours. Mmmm.

R - So is it kind of like that you are finding out new things or what you can do?

L - Yeah, or just like checking any updates on like sites that I might go to, or download some new music or yeah. Probably print out something for friends and make CD's for friends.

R - So do you think other people could become an expert like you in the same way that you have?

L - Yeah, it's like possible, cause I learnt from like fiddling around, so other people would be doing it, cause my dad's done it. Yeah, he's the worst. He's got heaps of viruses on his computer cause he's just playing round on it, like I do, but yeah, so he's not too bad [laughs].

R - So do you think school helped you to become an expert in using computers?

L - Not really [giggles]. Cause I'm using my spare time on there really, at home. Mmmm.

R - So, last question, how important is it to you to be an expert computer user?

L - Um, I don't think it's that important, but it's always good having some knowledge of computers or technology. Cause we're not left in the dark. Yeah.

What is an expert?

These are comments from people other than my participants, i.e. the ones who I had initial meetings with to ask for their 'expert' recommendations.

An expert is:

• Someone who is good at working out new stuff
• Doesn’t need to ask for help
• Doesn’t need to be told
• If there is a problem, they can fix it.
• They know how the computer works.
• They can fix it quickly
• High level of skill
• Can explain clearly what they are doing
• Know what they are doing
• Knows a lot about stuff
• smart, or brainy
• good at science,
• good at what they are an expert in,
• interested in what they are doing,
• like doing it, or like it
• People who know their way about computers
• Someone who basically can do anything on a computer

Software

I belong to the AERA-GSL list and for once, I had some useful information come my way.

A lady recommended a qualitative software programme which works on Macs and has a free download version available. So I've downloaded it and thought I'd play around with it, over the next week or two. It has a limit of 7 case studies, so I may have to purchase the complete version at a later date, if I find it proves to be useful.

The url is http://www.researchware.com/

It's called HyperResearch 2.6.

I've downloaded four tutorials and looked at the 'how to' page, so lots to learn.

Tim

Tim lives with his mother, father, and younger brother in a suburb of a city of approximately 100,000 people. Both his parents work full-time. He has had broadband internet access since the beginning of the year.

Tim is a 16-year-old male who attends a public, co-educational school (years 9 – 13) and is in year 12. He takes the following subjects: Maths, English, Physics, Geography, Business, and Computers. He usually gets marks of ‘achieved’ or ‘merit’.

The PC desktop computer is situated in Tim’s double bedroom which also has a TV, double wardrobe, chest or draws, single bed, bedside cabinet and double wardrobe (fitted into the wall). His computer desk is a complete set-up (like Tom’s), but (unlike Tom) he has a quality office chair too. Tim has a Sharp Hi-Fi stereo on the top of the computer cabinet from which the stereo sound from the game comes through. Tim has had his computer for three years and it was his parents old one. He has bought new parts for it to make it better. His brother (aged 14) got his halfway through last year. His parents have another desktop computer in their office.

Tim spends 2 – 3 hours per week day on the computer, and approximately 7 hours per weekend day and per holiday.

Tim and his family emigrated to New Zealand from England when Tim was 7 years old.

Tim and Tom have been good friends since they first went to school together. Tom recommended Tim to me, as someone who was happy to be involved in the research, and someone whom Tom considered to be an expert. Like Tom, Tim spends most of his time online playing the game, ‘World of Warcraft’.

Tom

Tom is a 16-year-old male who attends a public, co-educational school (years 9 – 13) and is in year 12. He takes the following subjects: design, graphics, maths, English, business administration computing, and computers. He and his family emigrated to New Zealand from South Africa. He lives with his mother, father, and younger brother. Currently his older brother and his wife are living in the same house also. Both his parents work full-time.

Tom spends most of his time online playing the game, ‘World of Warcraft’ (WOW). WOW is a massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG). WOW is a continuation of Warcraft I, II, III (and another one) but they were formally real time strategy games (RTS). He originally played first person shooter (FPS) games.

Tom’s bed is along one wall of his single bedroom while his desktop PC computer and his elder brother’s computer sits along the other side. He bought his computer from his elder brother, but it is one of many in the house (estimated another 5 desktops and laptops).

Tom has 45 websites (on record) that he has designed since the age of 10 or 11. He used Macromedia Dreamweaver to design the pages, though he knows HTML. He had mainly designed websites to promote ‘Counterstrike’ gamers but had also designed them to demonstrate his portfolio. He plans to have a career in website design.

Tom has unlimited time on the computer, especially as it is in his bedroom, and not monitored by his parents. However, he was banned from the internet during the course of the research because he did not hand in a school assignment in time.

Tom plays soccer weekly because he ‘has’ to.

Lisa

Lisa is a 16-year-old girl with a Maori father and a white European mother. She lives with her mother and younger brother. Her mother’s boyfriend lives with her mother on the weekends. Lisa spends approximately four nights per week at her dad’s house.

Lisa has had a computer for about three years (since year 8). She is usually on the computer from 4 – 6pm, then her brother has a turn, then her mum, and then sometime later, she will get back on. In regard to weekend use, if she is at her dad’s, she will check her emails, but she said she didn’t really use the computer in the weekends because she was too busy. The computer is a Windows XP 2000 desktop which is situated in the corner of her mother’s lounge.

Lisa is a year 11 student and attends a public, co-educational high school for years 7 – 13. Lisa takes geography, maths, English, recreation, sports science, and human biology, and is an average student. Lisa has not taken any courses in computers at school, and does not see any link between what she does at school and what she does at home. Her computer use at home is for leisure.

Activities Lisa is involved in on the computer include MSN, playing ‘Need for Speed’ (game), researching personal interests, downloading and sharing music files, writing CD’s, and downloading tracks to her mini iPod. She has also created a website, and it is the second one she has completed, as she forgot the password to her first website and it was deleted by the server. She has taught friends and family about how to use the internet, use sites, make sites, download music, and make CD’s.

Lisa plays in two soccer teams.

Joe

Joe is a 14-year-old boy who attends a co-educational public high school. He was born in India but moved to New Zealand at the age of 3 years.

He lives with his father, younger sister, and mother. His father works full-time and also owns a business. I did not ask what occupation his mother has.

The family computer Joe uses is situated in the corner of the dining room beside the kitchen. He is the main user. It is six months old and has a flat screen (PC desktop). He has dial up internet.

Most of his homework is completed on paper except for graphics. He sometimes uses Britannica software to research info. He copies information, pictures, and diagrams into Word, and then prints it off. He uses Powerpoint for school presentations. He uses Excel to record his cricket scores which he has been doing for the last three years.

When not on the internet, he will use the computer to play games, listen to music, sort files, and watch DVD’s. The game he specifically mentioned was Cricket 2004.

Joe has many interests and he researches them on the internet. They include space and flight (nasa.gov), cricket (cricinfo.com), soccer (soccerespn), music (music.yahoo.com), current events (xtramsn), latest games (gamesman.co.nz), and scientific learning sites. He also visits sites about the Da Vinci Code (author: Dan Brown), has interest in art and art history, weather, climate change, and astronomy (planetarium website and CyberSky). He also checks on details for the latest ringtones (Telecom and Xtra), and info on his favourite bands.

He admits that most of his internet use is for homework research. A site named howstuffworks.com is very interesting for him and initially used it for a school assignment. Technical things of all types are explained, ranging from the Sith in Star Wars, to lockpicking, to how Playstations work, to how GPS works. He said that his friends use it to find out about Playstation and XBOX.

Joe usually will go on the internet for an hour, after which he gets “fed up” and will take a break, do something else, then come back to the computer. I asked him about this and he said, “Well if I don’t find anything interesting, or there’s no one to talk to [on MSN], I get fed up”. I asked him who made up that rule/guideline, and it seems to be self-imposed, but he admitted that is allowed to spend more time on the weekend on the computer, yet weekdays is when he does his homework.

Jake

Jake is a 16-year-old in Year 12 at a local, public, co-educational secondary school (years 9 – 13). He currently takes three classes – geography, English, and drama. He is the network administrator for his school and has 140 computers that are networked. He is the manager for the local branch of a lighting company that is based in a bigger city. He does sound and lighting at a church with a modern sound and lighting system. He does sound and lighting for his secondary school which is known as a mini-concert venue. He also works for a local Concert venue once or twice a month and has learnt a lot from the employees of that venue. He also does video work including the ‘editing and running’ of videos. Jake sometimes gets paid for the out-of-school work he does for his school through the running of their ‘hall’/auditorium. He is also the official sound and lighting person for his church’s youth band.

Jake constantly is asked for help with the computers at school or the equipment in the school hall. He is online and uses MSN and iChat to communicate. Text messages he receives also request help. Jake has broadband internet access at school and at home.

Schooling has actually been a source for the outlet of his interests. He has been able to learn to do sound, lighting, and computer networking at school. These are not traditional things that are learnt in school, but through this experience, he has been able to apply what he has learnt at school (though not in class time) in out-of-school life and focus on making a career of being a ‘techie’.

Jake spends about 6 hours a day in front of a computer, 2 hours a day behind a lighting desk, and about 9 hours a week behind a sound desk.

Jake first got internet at his home in this way:
“My parents didn’t want to get internet. But then I found out that it was just when Zfree had just started. So I signed us up with a Zfree account and they didn’t even know, until the Zfree letters started coming home saying ‘thank you for being a customer’. And then they’re like ‘what’s this Zfree company?’ ‘Oh it’s free internet’. ‘So that’s what that fax tone is when I pick up the phone’. Yeah. So it was really naughty of me actually.” [Interview 1, 9/5/2005]

Chris

Chris is a year 9 student at a public, co-educational college (years 9 – 13), and is aged 13. He is a slightly built boy with blonde hair. Chris was born in England and moved to NZ at the age of 3. His mother said that Chris was using a computer at 2 years old. He lives in a suburb of a city with approximately 100,000 people.

At his mother’s house, the PC desktop computer is situated in the dining room beside the breakfast bar in the kitchen. They have dial-up internet.

Both Chris and his younger sister have their own personal laptops at their dad’s house which they are at for a week at a time before returning to their mother’s house (week and week about). They have broadband at their dad’s house. He tends to spend more time on the computer at his father’s place because of the ease of broadband and because he has more restrictions at his mother’s place.

Chris spends a lot of time playing games, but this is usually on his Playstation 2 machine. Chris believes he is a computer expert, but that currently, this has been ignored and somewhat discouraged at his school. He can list many software programmes that he believes he is skilled at using. The school he formerly attended played a significant role in the development and encouragement of his expertise.

Chris is involved with weekly drama classes and events.

Both parents work full-time and his mother is currently studying for her Masters degree. I did not have any contact with Chris’ father.

Charli

Charli is a 13-year-old, white European girl who attends a co-educational area school with almost 1000 children, catering for Year 7 – Year 13 students. She is in Year 10 and had to compulsorily take computers for three years but is not taking it this year. She doesn’t believe the keyboarding and touch typing skills she was made to do in these classes helped her with her computer interest or skill. She said that when she went on MSN for a week, that made her type fast. She turns 14 at the end of next month.

Charli lives with her mother and her step-father in a rural area of a city of about 100,000 people in New Zealand. Charli’s parents own a business at which they both work at. Her mother does the office administration.

Charli mainly uses a desktop PC at her home which is situated at the end of a hall (dead end) between two bedrooms, hers to the right and a spare room to the left. Her parents do not use this computer as they tend to use their work computer. She spends up to approximately 2 hours per week day on the computer and possibly up to 4 hours per weekend day.

Charli regularly uses MSN, and Hotmail. She has a few websites that she regularly visits to see what the latest is. She is a member of an online community, which writes poetry and prose and shares it with other members. People are able to view different categories in this community and write comments on others’ poems. Charli met many people through this site and from there, went on another site which allows people to create their own websites. Many of her associated friends from the poetry site have their own website on this other community. Charli has spent a lot of time creating her own website.

Charli has some very important friends which she has met online, and she calls them her ‘overseas friends’.

Charli plays soccer for her school and attends drama classes weekly. She is an above average student for most of her subjects, except for English (average).

Which title do you like?

Just as a side . . . .

Specialist communities of technological expertise: youth culture and schooling

Specialist communities of technological expertise: youth culture, gender, and learning

Specialist communities of technological expertise: youth culture and learning

Teenage Technological Experts: Examining Youth Culture, Gender and Learning

Specialist Communities of Technological Expertise: Examining Youth Culture

Expert Use of Technology: Youth Culture, Gender, and Schooling

I'm tossing up between nos 4 and 6. Hmmm, but is the word 'examining' a bit loaded?

Anne

I have eight participants, of which I am going to present a general description of each in the forthcoming blog entries.

Anne is a 14-year-old (who turned 15 at the end of the research period) who attends a public girls high school in a city of approximately 100,000 people in New Zealand.

She lives with her younger sister, mother and father. Her father works from home and her mother works full-time. Anne’s parents both have post-graduate degrees. The family is wealthy and lives in a rural area of the city. Anne’s family emigrated from England when Anne was about 5 years old.

Anne is aware that she is privileged and for example, has a rowing machine in her bedroom. Anne mainly uses a PC desktop and has wireless broadband access to the internet. She knows she is the only one of her friends that does not have ‘only’ dial-up internet. This PC is situated in the ‘kids’ wing’, which she and her sister share. It has a small living area, two bedrooms, and their own bathroom. The living area has a computer (sitting on a desk with a chair alongside), TV, and bean bags to sit on.

Her younger sister has an Apple iBook laptop computer which Anne doesn’t use very often. However, this computer used to be Anne’s when Anne attended the same school that her younger sister is now attending.

Her father has another PC laptop which Anne likes to use when he is not using it (he works from home, so often is using it).

Anne does not use the computers at her school very often and does not attend any computing class. She is adamant that the computer classes for the first two years at her high school are very easy, and are far too simple for her level of expertise.

Activities she regularly undertakes on the computer mostly comprises homework research. She uses Google to search for pictures and websites, and does not have many ‘bookmarks’ or ‘favorites’. She often talks to her friends on MSN and plays online games with them (via MSN). Email use and internet surfing comprise a fair bit of Anne’s leisure time.

Anne spends a considerable amount of time practicing her chosen sport/s.

Her strengths at school include maths and science. She is considering a career in computers but is not sure as she expects she might find computer programming boring.

I plan to . . .

Through determining how computers and technology are used within non-school communities of expertise, for leisure and for learning, I hope to be able to explain the nexus and complexities between popular youth culture, schooling, and constructions of expertise. It is possible that, by going beyond school contexts to look for technological expertise, that ‘hidden experts’ who are positioned as deficit in formal school settings will be identified.

Gap to be filled

The gap this research will fill relates to finding out how expertise is obtained, constructed and perceived by teenagers in regard to popular forms of media and digital technology in non-school settings.

The dictionary definition:

ex·pert n
1. somebody with a great deal of knowledge about, or skill, training, or experience in, a particular field or activity

So, not only am I looking for a more complex definition, I will be looking to understand the development and process of stages towards attaining technological expertise (in using digital media) in non-educational settings. I want to develop a definition out of what I see and make the point that I am doing this work to set it alongside the kind of school based measures of expertise which are almost exclusively tied to performance in testing regimes.

I want to be known for the development of sophisticated understandings of what expertise means in non-educational settings and the implications this has for curriculum and policy within educational settings. Looking at how teenagers’ expertise was and is understood, developed, informed, shared, and communicated will lead to sophisticated understandings of technological expertise, interest, and engagement, which in turn, will lead to redesigning effective pedagogy.

Current Summary

This study will investigate and document the social construction of technological expertise, gender, and identity within teenagers' non-school communities. The primary purpose is to explore the construction of technological expertise. This study will focus on teenagers’ perceptions of their expertise in their site of learning (non-school setting) as a source for agency compared to traditional school settings, and their descriptions of how their expertise was obtained, developed, shared, and communicated. This study will ask how gender features in the construction of technological expertise in these non-school communities, as well as explore the capital and agency possessed by these non-school ‘experts’.

The field of practice with which this project is concerned is expertise, learning, and technology use in teenagers' home, leisure, and out-of-school use of technologies. This study will identify and describe the construction of expertise within non-school experiences, drawing on research literature on the construction of gender, the attainment of expertise, and issues associated with the field of technology within society.

An ethnographic, participant observer approach will be used to gather data for in-depth case studies, of which data collection is likely to include open-ended interviews, field notes, observations, the researcher’s journal, and audio taping - the resulting artefacts of which will be examined and deconstructed. Interviews will be conducted with participants to understand and explore teenagers’ perceptions of the agency and value of non-school ‘experts’ and construction of ‘expertise’.

It is anticipated that “new knowledge” that comes from this study will contribute significantly to the field of technological expertise and gender, as well as having implications for learning and teaching in the classroom and beyond, within an increasingly digital culture. This study will define technological expertise, technological interest, and technological engagement through documenting how teenagers’ expertise was and is understood, developed, informed, shared, and communicated, which will lead to sophisticated understandings that is needed in these areas.

From the research findings, implications for new educational spaces within a digital age will be identified.