The role of the coterie of computer experts highlighted the way power relations shifted. They had quickly become a focus of authority in the class as technological problem-solvers, giving me advice on HTML code, helping other students after class to post web pages, and trouble-shooting hardware problems in the computer lab. While they were enthusisatic participants in class discussion and exercise, this was not translating into grades above Cs or low Bs. They thus enjoyed far less authority as intellectual problem-solvers until we reached Patchwork Girl.

At that point their obsessive reading, albeit with the purpose of figuring out how the software 'worked,' transformed them into content mentors, too. A and D often skeined together the collection of 'dead ends' that stumped a colleague simply because they had covered more text blocks than anyone else. Their practical, learn-as-you-go approach to conquering complex software translated expeditiously into rewarding literary experience, for themselves and their peers.