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...Users Initiative will be how to translate the long-term research into a continuous flow of information to inform education ministries for purposes of developing education policy." --Dr. Ulf Lundin Executive Director of European Schoolnet at WSIS, Geneva, 2003

Who are the "power users of technology"? We see them in the developing and developed world, among youth with access to technology, at home, in school, telecentres, community technology centres and cyber-net cafes. They play video games, use instant messaging, listen to music and do homework, all at the same time--multi-tasking, shifting focus from one task to another seamlessly, without effort. They seek information and learn what they want to know and when to satisfy their needs and interests, on a just-in-time basis. We call upon them at home to programme video recorders, troubleshoot software and hardware problems, and advise us on specifications for technology purchases. They are our technology advisors.

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After a decade of work focusing on building the capacity of youth and adults to use technology as a tool for living, learning and working, the Education, Employment and Community programmes at the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) launched a long-term research initiative to learn from and with children who are the power users of technology. This initiative asks the central questions: What happens to youth when their technology capacity is highly developed? How does this capacity shape thinking and reasoning, educational and career decisions, family and social interactions? How do youth translate their technology skills and interests into "currency" in a global information society?

"We are investing in this work because we know that 'power users' around the world offer humanity an entirely new source of talent and imagination for the future.

"But our goal is not simply to nurture these unusual and masterful young power users to create a new elite ... but to understand better what is at...

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