Civic Engagement
Editor: Lance Bennett, University of Washington
Summary of Volume: This book looks at politics and civic life from the standpoint new generations of young people who have grown up living substantial portions of their lives online: seeking entertainment, social relationships, and expression. Even as it is clear that participation in online communities is important for most young people, it is less clear how, or how often, this translates into public voice or political participation.
In addition to learning how online networks and communities may be able to rekindle conventional political participation, scholars and practitioners must also learn how creative uses of digital technologies by young people are expanding the boundaries of politics and public issues. In what ways do protests in gaming communities, music file sharing, or fan petitioning of music companies constitute political behaviors? Do the communication skills and action patterns in these familiar areas of online life transfer to more familiar political realms such as voting and public protest? Perhaps most importantly, what can we learn about civic life online that might help young citizens make these transfers more effectively and more often?
Volume Chapter Summaries and Authors:
"Civic Engagement and the Internet: Developing technologically-rich educational programs to promote civic participation online and offline"
Marina Umaschi Bers
This paper will map out the state of the art regarding the development of technologically-rich interventions to foster youth civic engagement, including socio-technical considerations involved in the design of these new technology-rich programs and the methodological challenges of evaluating the promotion of positive changes in civic participation not only in the virtual world, but also in the face-to-face world.
"Doing It For Themselves: Young People and e-participation from the ground up"
Stephen Coleman
This is an age of anxiety – about unprecedented and unmanageable global risks; falling levels of trust in hitherto accepted authorities; the availability of abundant, but often bogus, information; new social divisions and exclusions; and the atrophy of the public sphere in which strangers learn to collaborate with one another for the common good.
"Contesting Cultural Control: Youth Culture and Online Petitioning"
Jennifer S. Earl and Alan Schussman
This chapter focuses on contestation over cultural products associated with youth culture, using research on social movements, culture, and technology. We argue that conflict over who controls cultural products is an important form of civic engagement and we explore these conflicts using data on electronic petitions related to youth culture.
"The Audience Problem"
Peter Levine
Creating digital products is a powerful form of civic engagement. Young creators need responsive audiences or else creativity is frustrating. But most people prefer professional products produced by celebrities who have corporate backing. How can ordinary youth build publics for their digital work?
"Digital Media and Youth Civic Engagement: Intersections of Practice and Policy"
Kathryn C. Montgomery
Foundations, music industry celebrities, corporations and wealthy donors have poured large sums of money into a variety of new initiatives designed to encourage greater civic and political engagement among young people. Many of these initiatives rely on the Internet, mobile technologies, and other digital technologies for organizing, information dissemination, and community building. While it is too early to determine if these kinds of efforts can help reverse long-term disengagement trends, it is clear that the new digital media hold the potential for contributing to greater participation among youth.
"Public Voice and Civic Literacy in the Always-on Era"
Howard Rheingold
Teaching young people how to develop a public voice through the use of digital media links their natural interest in identity formation with civic engagement practices: learning to use blogs, wikis, and virtual communities as media of self expression within a context of public voice should be part of 21st century civic curriculum.
"TakingITGlobal: Using Online Community to Create Real World Change, A Case Study"
By Kate Raynes-Goldie and Luke Walker
This chapter examines the emerging world of online civic engagement sites for youth and by youth. Through a close examination of TakingITGlobal, an global online civic engagement site, combined with a landscape survey of sites with a mandate to civically engage youth, we present some initial findings on how youth are civically engaged and what it is they are actually doing on these sites.
"Not Your Father’s Internet: The Generation Gap in Online Politics"
Michael Xenos and Kirsten Foot
We propose a chapter that would synthesize a variety of insights from our previous work on digital media and politics, as they apply to youth political participation. The central insight points to a generation gap between the web production practices and preferences of political candidates and younger voters.
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