Research project Current initiatives to widen participation in technology are not succeeding and novel research is key to diversifying the field.
This project aims to trace how the figuration of 'the geek' includes and excludes and how its shifting articulations are transforming available identities in technology education.
Swedish Research Council (VR)
Heather Mendick,
Independant researcher, London
Twitter: @helensclegel
Heather Mendick works as a freelance academic focusing on science, mathematics and technology; equity issues; youth aspirations and choices; and the relationship between learning and popular culture. She is the author or co-author of three books: Masculinities in Mathematics, Urban Youth and Schooling and Celebrity, Aspiration and Contemporary Youth. She has published widely, blogs irregularly on education and politics, and tweets from @helensclegel. She still does a bit of maths teaching, is trying to learn Spanish, is excited by the growing popularity of veganism and spends most of her free time trying to secure a Corbyn-led Labour government.
Andreas Ottemo,
Department of Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg
andreas.ottemo@ped.gu.se
Andreas personal page at GU:
https://ips.gu.se/english/about-us/staff?languageId=100001&userId=xottea
The geek, often derided but also identified as stereotype and gatekeeper of technology in educational research, is on the rise today, increasingly linked to entrepreneurialism and success. Hence, this is study is timely. We break with previous studies in not contending with rejecting the geek, instead exploring the logics at play in gendering and racialising the geek and 'his' passion for technology through looking outside formal education.
ImageJames Pond
The four-year project consists of three sub-studies, each analysing a context with both traditional geek representations and spaces where the geek is re-articulated and resisted. These are: Popular culture (film, TV and their viewing); Open source coding/gaming communities (weekend gatherings and on-line); Higher Education (student clubs/events). We will produce data using ethnographic methods including group/individual interviews and participant observation. Our ambition is to deconstruct the geek, locating its conflicting discourses. We will thus shed light on its pluralisation and its gatekeeper role in passionate relationships to technology. Our findings will create openings to widen participation in technology.
https://geekequity.org/
https://twitter.com/gatekeepergeek
AUTHORS
Heather Mendick, independent academic, London, UK; Andreas Ottemo, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden; Eva Silfver, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Maria Berge, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
