Challenges to Work and Education in the Knowledge Society: Studying Power Users of Technology

In this article we sketch some of the commonly recognised challenges to work and education in the knowledge society and we discuss and introduce theoretical frameworks, by which some of these challenges may be better understood at a theoretical level. We argue that the challenges of the knowledge society can be researched through empirical investigations of innovative and technologically advanced power users in both formal and informal settings. Studying power users is by no means a simple enterprise and in this paper we discuss and argue how to study power users both theoretically and methodologically, bringing to fore reflections on what to study and where. Thus, the analytical unit of researching power users is critically investigated and discussed from different frameworks shedding light on possible ways of studying power users and equally on how to involve power users themselves in this process.