Deep Thinking

When you check your RSS feeds, some days everyone is talking about the same thing. How much original thinking and writing is going on versus clipping and quoting others and adding a pithy statement to the beginning? Just because something shows up on 3 or 4 blogs, doesn’t mean the original thought is written in stone. In the age of fluidity, creative thinkers are the ones putting together ideas and generating new products. They will survive the outsourcing of tasks because they are focusing on the big picture of what is wanted and how to deliver.

Now for the issue that irritated me today: women buying more of the market share of technology. You know that journals take a long time to recognize trends, admit there may be something, send reporters to gather facts, decide that it would be newsworthy enough to print, and actually print the article. By the time you read the article half of the population dismisses it as “old news” and the other half was oblivious all along and overreacts. You may notice some disdain on my part for the over-reactors.

Businessweek came out with an article called Meet Jane Geek which details the fact that more women are buying technology. The article verges on demeaning when it superficially lists the things that stores are doing to attract women shoppers. One comment on the site warned them about being condescending.

One of the TechDirt blog entries is from Mike with the great tag line ” from the took-’em-long-enough dept.” Tech Companies Finally Realize That Women Buy A Lot Of Gadgets. It’s funny that this comes up again because in January 2004 CNN had a study showing women buying more technology than men. In September of 2004 Hilde Corneliussen discussed this issue in Gender and Computing and warned against tech companies making tech gadget pink as the only attempt to attract women shoppers. A more in-depth linking report came out from the Crutchfield Advisor in February of 2004 called Suddenly, Technology is a Girl’s Best Friend.

There are some differences between the ways some men and some women shop (not all). Is it gender-based or knowledge-based? For example, I don’t dart into a store and buy a gadget because it’s new. I research it. I study similar products and compare, look at the purposes and functions, read online reviews by real consumers, and sometimes visit stores twice before buying major products. For small tech gadgets, I determine whose opinions I trust, read their ideas, price around, and shop quickly. Now, my best friend is the opposite. She’ll rush out and get the new thing, bring it in to show me, hand me the manual and say, “Now tell me what I’m going to do with it?” Are the differences gender based? No, way! Consumer shopping techniques vary.

Take the issue of gender-biased sales clerks when you are shopping. More and more clerks are being knowledgeably trained to stop making assumptions about people based on whether they are male-female, wearing blue jeans, older-younger, etc. When I shop with my husband, no clerk directs his “intelligent sales pitch” to my husband because he doesn’t participate in the asking of questions. I know the questions to ask and pin them to the floor until I get genuine answers. My husband doesn’t shop on his own because he is not an informed tech purchaser. Doesn’t have to do with his gender…it’s his consumer knowledge. Not all men and women are the same.

Years ago little girls were taught that they would be mistreated by mechanics because they were girls. When I would head in for a repair, I’d first call my father who is a great mechanic, and I’d ask him for the proper vocabulary to use. When I hit a spot where I didn’t know if I had the correct information or the repairman was trying to bamboozle me, I’d pause the conversation, call my father, and tell the repairman that I was getting a second opinion. I currently have a great group of mechanics that I trust 6 states away from my parents. They know that I will research what they tell me, get a second opinion, and make only the needed repairs. When I talk to other female friends, they tell me that they do not get mistreated any more by mechanics. What changed? We became more informed. We demanded better service. We became tougher and held people to a higher standard. I also refuse to be condescended to and have been known to refuse to deal with an employee who belittles women and I am unafraid to call a manager over. In the 1970s my mother and I may not have been as tough as the women I meet now. Society has changed. I believe women are MUCH tougher now, more informed, and taught to seek the best, not settle for the immediate.

Back to technology. Why do we have to fight a battle of genders over technology? Who is coming out there stating that men are the only techies and geeks? Look at the field of library information science. Women KNOW what’s going on. We can use the technology, repair it, purchase it, plan for it, implement it, and let companies know what is and isn’t working. Why are the majority of the technicians men in my district? Not because women aren’t capable! I think that I have the ability to juggle far more details in my life than simply repairing the same type of network and CPU issues over and over. I’m focused on using the technology to increase productivity. Does this mean that I am any less knowledgeable than my technician? No! But, to the children in my school do they see me as a techie? Perhaps not because they don’t focus on the product or tool I’m using, but they focus on the end result of our lesson. We aren’t teaching digital camera usage, we are focusing on choosing the best image to tell our story and share our learning.

Is there something that I should be doing differently? Perhaps, I now take the time to mention to everyone - male and female - that they can grow up and do what I do (recruitment); I mention to kindergarten girls that are afraid to touch the mouse that I believe they will become experts by the end of the year with practice (encouraging experimentation and changing mindsets); and I provide opportunities for creative thinking and using tech tools as communication devices (ICT skills). Maybe more importantly for both genders, I should continue to emphasize their questioning what they see, hear, and believe. I should continue to give them the skills they need to gather information and make informed decisions.

I know times have changed. Recently my father called me while he was purchasing some technology and he said, “I need the vocabulary to use with this guy before he tries to sell me something on the new computer that I don’t need.” I’m happy to be your second opinion, Dad.