www.nominettrust.org.uk

Can digital technologies facilitate the social inclusion of youth? The experience of Nominet Trust @nominettrust

dan.sutch@nominettrust.org.uk, @dansutch kieron.kirkland@nominettrust.org.uk @kieronkirkland

@nominettrust

www.nominettrust.org.uk Foundation charity of Nominet – the .uk domain registry (over 10 million .uk sites)

Social investor & grant maker aiming to redesign ways of addressing social challenges through the use of digital technology

Changing context of participation for employment

New global and

local markets

e.g. Taobao

Changing

locations of work

Individuals more

active in job

seeking

Certain industries

less ‘digitally

present’

Changing recruitment

methods

Structure of

employment

Growth in ICAG on

the web

Operation and

content skills

Increasing delivery of

public services on line

Changing context of participation for communities

‚Today a young person’s ‘community’ is not just made up by the locality where they live, but might also be extended online to include communities of interest, dispersed networks of friends, or diaspora communities‛ http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/The%20Digital%20Edge.pdf

Changing context digital participation

Today it’s not just technical skills that young people need, for example to operate or even code, but digital literacy - understanding how the digital structures we sit within affect our participation

To actively participate in

cultures and communities

that privilege digital making

and production?

Rise of ‘networked

society’; importance of

‘network literacy’

Risk of digital exclusion

(e.g. Online public

services)

Critical literacies and

engagement with the

web

The Digital Edge

To address the challenges faced by young people in participating socially and economically with their communities

Developing a programme of social investment ‘in the open’

Closer alignment between funder, intermediaries and beneficiaries

Refined over time through interaction with stakeholder groups

http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/how-to-apply/areas-investment/digital-edge

Digital Edge

Identified through consultation and research 4 key areas ‘Challenge Areas’ in the UK

1. Digging deeper – looking at the root causes

2. Changing nature of engagement – youth support often based on outdated models

3. Renegotiating professional practice

4. Youth unemployment – over 1 million unemployed 16-24 year olds in the UK

1. Digging deeper

‚Digging deeper involves listening to the diverse lived experiences of those affected by a social or economic challenge, and incessantly asking ‘why?’.‛

http://podnosh.com/

2. Changing nature of engagement

Youth support often based on models that existed before the internet

• Changing settings (young people’s participation in communities)

• Expectations (young people linked 24/7)

• Dynamic of relationships (young people connected, support often limited to discrete F2F meetings)

http://www.inclusiontrust

.org/notschool.html

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http://appsforgood.org/

3. Renegotiating professional practice Digital technology can enable, amplify and extend different forms of support for young people - What’s are the new models of professional practice?

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http://network.youthworkonline.org.uk/

4. Youth unemployment

Finding new forms of employment, reward and ways of organising work

http://youngrewiredstate.org/

http://www.sparked.com/

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How does the changing the nature of employment

affect your work?

How does the changing nature of community affect

your work?

How does the changing nature of participation

affect your work?

Questions to ponder...

dan.sutch@nominettrust.org.uk @dansutch

kieron.kirkland@nominettrust.org.uk @kieronkirkland

www.nominettrust.org.uk @nominettrust