R_U_Online?Seminar on e-youth participation

A seminar on realising online actions and potential for youth activities

FINAL REPORT

19-24 February 2013 Tampere in Finland

IntroductionThe second edition of R_U_Online? seminar came after succesful implementation of the seminar in October 2012 in Finland. The seminar follows the approach that youth work activity should be implemented where the young people are. Nowadays, many young people spend considerable time being online.

The seminar looked upon what are our online practices on personal and organizational levels, helped to reflect on how internet is shaping our lives and youth work practices, introduced to good online practices related to using Internet tool in youth work activities, offered opportunities for practical learning in international teams and in hosting city of Tampere.

Participants got to know the Youth in Action opportunities and could develop ideas for future cooperation.

This Seminar brought together 36 participants from 15 European countries. The participants were coming in teams – 1 or 2 young person/s and 1 youth worker/leader each. Such combination gave opportunities to learn from different perspectives, coming from young people and youth worker.

Some of the participants were experienced in the Youth in Action projects. But to the most of them, the Youth in Action Programme was new experience.

Training team:Ossi-Pekka Ollikainen, senior programme advisor at Finish National Agency, http://www.cimo.fiGilles Baccal, TCP Officer, Inclussion Officer and Youthpass Contact Person at French National Agency, http://www.jeunesseenaction.frEssi Torkkeli, team assistant

Clive Bonnici – facilitatorEduardo Rodrigues – facilitator, http://maiscidadania.eu/ Nerijus Kriauciunas – facilitator, http://about.me/nercas

February 2013, Tampere About Tampere on-line: http://www.visittampere.fi/

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Concepts and understandingsThe seminar R_U_Online? served as a platform in which participants can speak about topics which are directly related to the world of internet and young people. Some topics were being discussed in certain depth and to summarize the below are the themes discussed and the conclusion which emerged through discussion from the participants.

“Great seminar where you will learn about online and offline practices with relaxed leaders and atmosphere, chance to meet wonderful people from 15 different countries that might been partners in common project next year. Rock&Roll”, participant

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Cyber bullying and Hate SpeechDuring this workshop the group agreed in general that it is a growing problem but not a new one. Bullying and hate speech were present in our lives since the beginning of times. The new key factor is the multiplying effect of the Internet. Some participants stated that it is important to increase the control of online identities in order to legally penalize the cyber bullies and hate speech by creating a unique log in to the internet itself with no anonymity. A part of the group disagreed, since it will strike a powerful blow in basic principles like freedom of speech and excessive control over our lives. The increase of cyber education and the introduction of a new subject in schools dedicated to new media content and its impact on society appeared as a posible solution.

E- ParticipationDuring this workshop it was highlighted that apart from knowing that community in general is shifting more to digital participation, it is also important to know what is the reason behing all this. The result of the workshop was that community in general, especially young people feel the need to be belong to a community, to produce things which they themselves are interested in. Internet is giving the space for young poeple to go back to in search for the values which were more present in the traditional communities.Media Scholar Henry Jenkins on Participatory Culture and Civic Engagement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgZ4ph3dSmYA video on Ever Changing world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuKu6PZXCIY

“A really good week full of opportunities to learn more about communication, Internet’s impact on our lives and at the same time discover what it is like to be part of the European community and share and take part of different cultures.”, participant

Anonymity and safetyThe group came out with the general idea that you have almost zero privacy online and all users should raise the privacy criteria of the contents they post. Users should also pay special attention to copyrights and breaching of information and material which is found online. They fear the future of internet and feel the need to change its course fast and to make its privacy standards more similar to those in real life. In an ambiguous way, they also stated that anonymity allows them to be and do things they overwise wouldn’t do in real life.

Online RelationshipsDuring this workshops the topic was tackled by looking at the ‘Why?’ do young people invest more and more time into online relationships. To discuss the topic a video highlightening the need for people to communicate was shown. After the video the participants were given Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to try to understand which of the level of the pyramid are satisfied by building online relationships. After a brief discussion on the Maslow’s pyramid, another pyramid was shown with specific online tools which are contributing to satisfy these needs.Video on people’s communication: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icW00G41XZoMaslow’s pyramid applied for on-line behaviours: http://visual.ly/social-media-and-maslow%E2%80%99s-hierarchy-needs

Impact of New mediaThis workshop was mainly based on the ideas of Marshall McLuhan who was well-recognized media thinker. During the workshop participants explored the concept of “medium is a message” and discussed how different mediums influence our lives. The Tetrad of Media effects was introduced to participants as a tool to reflect the on-line tools they use daily. In small groups participants applied Media Laws to understand better the effects of the search engines, Internet browsers, smartphones and social networks.About Marshall McLuhan and his ideas: http://marshallmcluhan.com/

Copyright challenge on-lineThis workshop explored the changes brought with the Internet to our understanding and practice of copyright. At the beginning of this workshop participants reacted to several controversial statements related to copyright practice on-line. Then, participants watched a series of short-movies produced by the filmmaker Kirby Ferguson. The movies reflect current challenges with implementing the copyright in the digital era. They explore how music and movie industries work; how creativity is applied for inventions; and how copyright fails in digital environments.About Kirby Ferguson and his movies: http://www.everythingisaremix.info

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Positive actions on-line and off-lineDuring the seminar participants implemented practical projects in order to promote positive actions. They used variety of online tools and did actions in Tampere with local population. All of the teams were focusing on one of the annual priorities of the Youth in Action Programme for the year 2013.

Creativity, entrepreneurship

Encouraging the firsts steps in taking initiative by showing good practices and inspiring videos on a Facebook page. A treasure hunt about Finnish history with a final

certificate of recognition was one of the alternative methods used by this group. It was also conducted an opinion poll both

online and offline.

Healthy lifestyles

Promoting healthy life styles through an informative blog, a powerpoint presentation and a street poll documented by a photography report about

local young people. The use of multimedia tools (Video and

photography) was a constant.

http://onlineappleaday.blogspot.fi/https://www.facebook.com/trytobecreative

Creativity, entrepreneurship

Addressing the issue of unemployment through blog post about the home countries realities

and Finnish reality. A Flash mob (Freeze! I am unemployed) was promoted on the streets of Tampere as well as interviews

with the locals about youth unemployment.

http://onlineappleaday.blogspot.fi/

Participants of the seminar shared and used various online tools for the youth work activities. Here is the comprehensive list of various online tools which can be used in the youth work contexts.

Online tools for youth work activities

“This seminar is not related to “spceific” IT knowledge. Do not think to come here and know how Facebook works. This is not the purpose of the seminar.”, participant

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List of online tools for youth work activities:

1. Create text documents online http://piratepad.net2. Create a timeline http://www.dipity.com3. Social voting tool https://tricider.com4. Online presentation tool http://prezi.com5. Mind maps http://www.mindomo.com6. Turning your photos into videos http://animoto.com7. Working with sounds http://audacity.sourceforge.net8. Make your own website http://www.wix.com9. Visual ideas online http://www.easel.ly10. Design Flyers http://www.smore.com11. Graphic Blog http://www.glogster.com12. Create stories http://storybird.com13. Create comics http://www.comiclife.com14. Collaborative file storage https://www.dropbox.com15. Publishing documents online http://issuu.com16. Easy video editing http://maker.mozillapopcorn.org17. 3D contents creation http://www.blender.org18. Creating videos on-line http://www.wevideo.com19. Blog tool http://www.jux.com20. Webpage creating tool http://wix.com

Youth services

The twelve youth centres maintained by the Youth Services are located all around Tampere and they are open to everyone, regardless of where you live. Youth Café Uniikki is one of the most popular gathering places in the city centre.

Youth work services in Tampere

“If you really want to understand, what is happening online, you have to meet offline and discuss/argue/share!”, participant

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Nuorten Tampere

Nuorten Tampere, Young People’s Tampere is a website maintained by the city’s Youth Services. The site offers information and activities for young people living in Tampere. The city’s Youth Services employ approximately 50 people, most of whom are youth workers and youth leaders.Website of Nourten Tampere: http://www.nuortentampere.fi

Multifunctional centre 13

The centre has 2700 square metres of activity, confer-ence and meeting facilities on five floors. The centre also has it’s own internet lounge, game world, culture & audio-video workshop, music studio, medialounge and space for just hanging around. The centre also has an area dedicated to arts and crafts as well as rooms equipped with full stage equipment. Website of the youth centre 13: http://www.nuortentampere.fi/13/

Evaluation resultsAt the end of the seminar participants evaluated its content, methodology and organisation. They expressed their evaluation feedback by filling in the on-line questionnaire and verbally during the closing circle of the seminar. The following account is a summary of evaluation results.

“There was very supportive atmosphere there, where I feel free expressing my thoughts and opinions loudly. Everything was nicely organized. We got competences and had fun at the same time.”, participant

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The participants expressed high level of satisfaction regarding various aspects of the seminar. The seminar addressed their expectations well and even in some cases superseded them (more than 94% participants evaluated that their expectations were met highly (from 4 to 6 in the scale of 1 to 6).

According the participants evaluation, the seminar R_U_Online provided them with many various opportunities to under-stand better how Internet is shaping our lives (more than 91% of participants expressed this); to exchange and learn about different online practices (more than 94% of participants expressed this); to understand better how to use on-line tools (more than 91% of participants expressed this).

Few participants expressed wish to have more time on practically using on-line tools during the programme of the seminar.

After the seminar all participants felt highly motivated to implement the project, which promotes positive change in society using on-line tools.

Almost absolute majority of participants (more than 91%) evaluated sessions of the seminar as being interesting and fo-cused on the objectives of the seminar. More than 94% of participants thought that the energisers were fun. In their feed-back all participants well evaluated trainers preparation and facilitation.

The accommodation, learning environment and logistics were evaluated highly by the seminar participants. From 97% to 100% of participants evaluated the practical organisation of the seminar highly. Only the food received lower satisfaction (around 77% were highly satisfied) because for people it was too much fish in the menu:).

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2016

Evaluation results

I came to this seminar as...

54321

R_U_Online seminar was up to my expectations

5

10

15

20

25

6 54321

Now I understand better how Internet is shaping our lives

5

10

15

20

25

6 54321

I had the opportunities to understand better what I can do using online tools

5

10

15

20

25

6

54321

I think that the trainers were prepared and facilitated well this seminar

5

10

15

20

25

6 54321

I feel more motivated to implement a project which promotes positive changes

in society using online tools

5

10

15

20

25

6Young personYouth worker/leader

Future developments

• To explain better in the application form for the seminar the roles of participants: young people and youth workers/leaders.

• To improve cooperation with local youth work services and where feasible to benefit from their facilities and youth work experience.

• To keep good balance of working together and in separated groups of young people and youth leaders/workers worked towards better understanding of importance of youth participation and exchange of perspectives.

• To continue with workshops on specific topics related to Internet because they make significant input to deepen participants’ understanding of on-line and off-line practices.

• To ensure that during the seminar young people will grow by having enough opportunities to learn new on-line tools, cooperate in intercultural teams and gain practical experience.

• To offer the group dynamics activities during the programme; and socialising space for the informal moments of the seminar.

• To extended the on-line learning opportunities of the seminar allowing not selected participants and whose interested to follow the seminar activities and learn.

• To introduce the Youth in Action Programme earlier in the programme. To explain the use of on-line tools during the breaks starting from the second day.

During the final evaluation team made the following conclusions for the future developments of this seminar:

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Final programme

Arrival, 19 Feb Tuesday

Day 2, 20 Feb Wednesday

Day 3, 21 FebThursday

Day 4, 22 FebFriday

Day 5, 23 Feb Saturday

Departure, 24 Feb Sunday

Arrival

8.00-9.30 Breakfast

Online friends search: What do we

know about each other?

The Internet era: before, now and

after

Youth culture and youth online

services in Tampere

Refresh: sharing and debriefing

yesterdays experiences

Going home!

11.00-11.30 BreakLog in:

Doing positive actions online

11.00-11.30 Break

Open source:Seminar programme

and expectations

RSS feeds: differ-ence brought by the

Internet

Installing…Youth in Action

13.00-15.00 Lunch break

r_u_online? Sharing and exploring online

activities

Learning desktop: workshop on topics related to Internet

Free time in Tam-pere

Uploading_Ideas for future projects

Copy and Paste:Sharing good

practices of actions online

iLearn! But what exactly?

18.00 Log out:Doing positive

actions in Tampere

iLearn! But what exactly?

Save progress:Evaluation of the

seminar

19.30 Dinner 18.00 Dinner out 20.00 Dinner out 19.30 Dinner

Welcome eveningShow me your hits (if you love your

country)Sauna evening Free evening Exit evening