BECOMING A TECHNOLOGIST Days in a girl's life

Abstract

Studies of the gender relations of information and communications technologies (ICTs) seldom deal with these relations as experienced in early childhood, except as located in schooling. The construction of identity in relation to technology is negotiated from an early age. In this article a technological strand is identified in childhood using 'experience stories', writing about specific situations or events on a specific theme, with the focus of analysis being on the theme, rather than on the individual. In reflecting on this technological strand of childhood the article tries to make sense of how everyday experiences serve as sites for constituting our relations with ICTs, and more personally, how they constitute relations for a young white working-class girl. This article also hopes to make visible technological acts which are essentialized and/or made invisible in later years. This article draws on a multi-layer definition of technology and uses conceptions of locally situated knowledge and practices to explore how a young girl might develop a familiarity with technology as part of everyday living. Class and race relations as well as gender relations are significant in early conceptions of 'knowing and doing' and later awareness of constructions of technology and technological identities and subjectivities. This article therefore attempts to identify these relations within the experience stories. By applying a concept of technology that encompasses the knowledge, skills and practices in the everyday life of a young girl, the author hopes to contribute to a richer understanding of the gender, class and race relations implicit in what is recognized as technological knowledge and to contribute to a more inclusive understanding of the social relations of ICTs.

Keywords:

• Autobiography
• Childhood
• Class
• Everyday Life
• Gender
• Technology