Power users of technology: who are they? Where are they going? Why does it matter?

UN Chronicle, June-August, 2004 by Joyce Malyn-Smith

To date, two centres have come forward: CINPE in Costa Rica, headed by Dr. Olman Segura-Bonilla, will serve as the coordinating institution in Latin America, while the Aalborg University's E-Learning Lab will serve in Europe. The Power Users Directorate at EDC is seeking additional partner institutions to join this initiative to represent the interests of North America, Asia, Africa and Australia. The Power Users Initiative is advised and supported by a wide range of partners, including EDC Europe, Microsoft Research, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, DigiPen Institute of Technology, CINPE-Universidad Nacional, University of Aalborg, California State University at Sacramento, KEMPSTER GROUP, PTC, and UNFIP.

There are several ways to participate in this emerging work:

* Raise awareness of the Power Users Initiative within your own networks. Link the Initiative to your web site, create new venues to share information, invite the Initiative to make presentations at conferences and author publications or articles of interest to your stakeholders;

* Join the research network. Become active in the international power users community, join our online discussion groups, respond to the "Call for Papers" to synthesize existing research on power users of technology and/or test new hypotheses;

* Provide internship opportunities for students to participate in power user research, projects and activities;

* Provide scholarships for power users in your region to participate in the International Symposium in 2005 or sponsor teams of educators/content experts to serve as participant observers;

* Join the International Council of Partners, which provides support for the Power Users Initiative and is planning the first International Symposium; and

* Support regional power users research and activities, through grants, in-kind support and partnership in your own research or programme efforts.

We welcome and challenge everyone to join us in this exploratory learning community--working together to understand the tremendous potential of young people and help the next generation take on the mantle of leadership that will make this world a better place.

"A highly-skilled workforce is seen as the key to economic growth and
prosperity, and the quest for economic growth and prosperity remains at
the core of public policy. It is now more and more accepted that
knowledge and skills are at the heart of the development and diffusion
of new technologies and crucial to technical innovation."
Overarching Framework, Statistics Canada, 2002

"Power users of information and communications technology are
individuals who break out of the confines of traditional learning,
demographic or technological barriers by constantly using, sharing,
creating, producing or changing information in creative, innovative
and/or unintended ways so that they become force multipliers in their
own environments."
Power Users Global Advisory Panel, 2002

Joyce Malyn-Smith is the Strategic Director for Workforce and Human Development of the Education, Employment and Community Programs at EDC, a non-profit research and development firm with more than 320 projects in forty countries worldwide (www.edc.org). She was a teacher and administrator in Boston public schools for more than twenty years.