I was very busy yesterday, packing, traveling and unpacking, but I did sneak in a few moments to start Where the Action Is. I liked the preface and the first few pages of the first chapter because it was easy to translate Dourish’s more general introductions into pedagogical concerns.

For example when he says (on page viii.) that developing and using computers is “philosophical” because all computer technology introduces “some kind of formalization of the world,” I was think that this is true for pedagogy too: Using computers changes the ways students interact with content, each other, the teacher… also computer environments often engender different forms of language than we had before.

Again, when I translate Dourish’s general aim for this book, I find a friend who also feels that “we need to uncover the assumptions” about language and learning that run throughout both the theory and practice of using computers in the classroom, “and understand what kind of intellectual commitments are being made” (p. viii.) In other words, I think this book will help me to understand—and perhaps be able to explain to others—ways in which computer use is in fact ideological.

Dourish seems to be positive too. He celebrates and says that we need to understand “the contributions and opportunities emerging from dynamic new forms of technological practice” (p. ix). And he observes that computers have brought “whole new forms of interaction and activity that we would never otherwise have imagined.” I would agree that this is true in the classroom.

But Dourish also questions the degree to which the development and use of computers is still tied to old notions of what we can do with computers. The example he gives comes from early times in computing when it was expensive to use the computer. This led to finding ways to minimize computer time, which led to development of complex computer language and programming. Dourish claims that this notion is still with us: that we have to take a lot of our human time to make the computer run quickly. (At least that’s how I understand it.)

While reading this, I was wondering whether Web design is an example of “performance over convenience” (p. 2). I guess, for example, that Web authoring programs—and perhaps the bloggers—are attempts to replace complex HTML and other such methods of Web design which place “a premium on the computer’s time rather than on people’s time” (p. 2).

So Dourish seems to be saying that we need new ways of interacting with computers—ways that won’t take our total attention. This would be good in teaching—finding ways to use computers and talk and do others things at the same time.

Dourish finishes this section by suggesting what his philosophical approach and model of study will be. As far as I understand it, I really like his notions of looking at how computer programs are used instead of what they are supposed to do. What a good approach this would be for questions like, “Which is better: Dreamweaver or FrontPage or Manilla?” Better we should ask how each system gets integrated into teaching. What we need as teachers are models of interaction with computers—descriptions of computer-mediated teaching and learning that describe the “ecosystem” (p. 4) of the classroom.

Dourish has me wanting to read more.