After reading Pepper's story about a student not knowing where to type the url address into a web browser, I'm reminded again that for all of the theorizing we do about how technologically advanced our students are, on the whole, we're often surprised when we find out the reverse. Aside from issues of access to technology and the sometimes prohibitive cost of certain tech devices, our students are also sometimes alternately savvy and naive about what they use and how they're using it. Yes, most of our students have Facebook profiles, text constantly, and have grown up with email, but I've run into students who have never used Wikipedia, never read a blog, and never downloaded a file.

Students are also often unaware of the underlying ideologies built into their tech devices and interfaces. Though Richard Ohmann's article might be a bit aggressive, he does elegantly explore the idea of a "neutral technology," one that comes from a neutral source and that "can be put to an infinite number of uses." Whether such an animal exists outside of utopian fantasies, is another matter, but the myth of the individual inventor and the neutral scientist permeate students (and our culture's) idea of how technology is created and meant for use.