Youth information transformers as actors of change

Transforming information for young people

Living in an information age?

The politics of information

The informational worlds of young people

John Ellis’ Seeing Things (2002):

Era of scarcity: post-war industrial welfare state, developing mass consumer society, national consolidation, public service broadcasting (1950s – late 1970s)

Era of availability: commercial competition, satellite, post-industrial social formations, politics of identity and difference, citizens and consumers (late 1970s – early 2000s)

Era of plenty: digital television, technological convergence and interactivity, tailored media, further audience fragmentation, ‘time famine and choice fatigue’

Or…What did you think of X last night?

To

Did you see X last night?

To

Have you heard of X?

Informational stacking: PowerpointA fact

Maybe a quote

Another fact

Ok then maybe another

But no more than that

Thanks

Transforming information:What makes our channel reliable and

legitimate?

What makes it worth paying attention to?

What are our sources and how do we display them?

Can we provide countervailing information?

Do we (can we) put issues and information in wider frameworks and contexts of understanding?

Young People, the Internet and Civic Participation

European Commission/Civicweb project: How do civic websites for young people conceptualise their audience?

Huge variation in views of the ‘connected disconnected’ generation

Young people exist in specific, real local contexts

Producers assumed that because they are young they can communicate with young people

Problem: information to empower those who are already empowered?

Many recognised that young people are frequently wrongly defined by institutions that provide information for them

Down with the kids…

Engage young people through popular culture/entertainment?

Attempt to speak to young people in ‘their’ language?

Differences in how civic engagement of young people is viewed: how to be serious?