Rethinking Responses to Young People and the Internet - beyond Opportunity and Risk - EU Kids Online II - September 2011

EU Kids Online II Conference - September 23rd 2011Practical Participation - [email protected] | @timdavies

Rethinking responses to young peopleʼs online livesParticipation, protection, provision

Rethinking responses

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“…online opportunities and risks go hand in hand: the more children and young people experience the one, the more they also experience the other, and vice-versa.”

Livingstone & Bober, UK Children Go Online, 2005





“…online opportunities and risks go hand in hand: the more children and young people experience the one, the more they also experience the other, and vice-versa.”

Livingstone & Bober, UK Children Go Online, 2005

Much research looking at young

people and the Internet draws on the

‘Opportunity-Risk’ framing.

Whilst this was a good starting point

for research, it offers a very limited

framework to accommodate

research findings, and narrows down

the range of possible policy

responses.













The terms we use to frame our

research have a big impact on what

we do. And the policy responses that we can identify. In 2008 we sought to build on an

‘opportunity’ and ‘risk’ frame, but to

focus on practice by asking about

ways young people could navigate risk, and take up opportunity.





Risk Opportunity

What are we researching?





- Risk and opportunity on the Internet?

Risk Opportunity







- Risk and opportunity experienced by young people?

Risk Opportunity








- The harm or benefits that result?

Risk Opportunity









Risk Opportunity


On it’s own terminology of

opportunity and risk is very

unspecific - and can lead to confusion

as to what is being discussed.








Risk Opportunity


Myth #9: Teaching digital skills will reduce online risks

For example: what does this myth really mean? How many different ways could it be

interpreted?





Risk Opportunity

What are we doing?Policy and practice responses

Even though EU Kids Online has repeatedly stated risk and

opportunity ‘go hand in hand’ - research and policy is frequently

framed around ‘balancing opportunity and risk’.





RiskOpportunity









RiskOpportunity





And risk is a ‘heavier’ concept. Risks might lead to specifiable harms that we can all agree are bad. Opportunity frequently leads to an opening up of diverse benefits - which different actors will place different value on.

In risk-averse organisations, within protection oriented child and youth policies - simplistic approaches to ‘risk’ will always unbalance our responses.





Working with practitioners, I’ve consistently found the ‘remove risk first’ approach leads to ineffective digital engagement and ineffective

strategies to properly address potential harms to young people, and

young peoples’s digital literacies. The www.youthworkonline.org.uk network brings together 100s of practitioners to discuss working with young people in a digital world.



http://www.youthworkonline.org.uk

http://www.youthworkonline.org.uk



“Safe and effective”

We’ve experimented with a language

of “Safe and Effective” to capture the

need to build on safe-and-sound

foundations, but to work through

active engagement with the digital

world.

But this is also a limited framing:

begging the question of what we

mean by safe? And what effective

online engagement is?





Risk and opportunity based policy & practice

Without an alternative framework,

risk distorts policy and practice

responses, leading to:






Blocking & restriction-focussed responses are frequently counter-productive









Blocking & restriction-focussed responses are frequently counter-productiveAllowing adults to ignore responsibilities; denying participation of young people in online spaces; circumvention increases risk.










Ineffective safety messages











Restriction-focused responses undermine other rights











Restriction-focused responses undermine other rightsRights to participation, provision, privacy and other protections.











Restriction-focused responses undermine other rightsRights to participation, provision, privacy and other protections.

Confusing risk to organisations and risk to young people













Services neglecting digital dimensions of young people’s lives






Services neglecting digital dimensions of young people’s livesMissing support needs; and opportunities to develop opportunities.







Missed opportunities to build digital literacy for future workforce and for our communities








Young people excluded from the debate or contributions ignored








Young people excluded from the debate or contributions ignoredNarrow youth fora pre-empt conclusions.






An alternative frame...

So where can we find an alternative framework?

Over the course of the last year we’ve been exploring possible

conceptual frames to guide our own research, policy and practice

responses to young people’s online lives.

Starting at the Internet Governance Forum in 2010, and continuing

through the Youth Work Online Month of action, we’ve been looking at

how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child can be used to

develop a richer container for research results, and more

comprehensive guide for action.





!

Drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child





!


The convention rights are often divided into three categories:

Protection, Provision and Participation





!


These are not rights in conflict to be ‘balanced’, but are mutually re-enforcing. Look at the triangle: if you remove any side, it will collapse.





!

Drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of the ChildMany research, policy and practice

agendas start from one side of the

triangle: for example, focussed on online

child protection.

This frame suggests they must also look

at provision online, and young people’s

participation in decisions about the

digital world to have a full understanding

of what to explore and how to respond





!


Similarly - a provider of online services cannot focus only on provision: but also needs to look at having good protection and participation foundations in place.





!


But if we are to fully understand the mutually re-enforcing nature of these aspects of young people’s online lives, we need to add a little more detail.





!

Support digital citizenship

Empower young people

Respond to risks

Promote resiliency

Provide positive spaces

Youth shaped services





!



Respond to risks

Promote resiliency



So we add a circle: six principles: one principle to

express what responses look like on each side of

the triangle (responses focussed on a particular

set of rights), and one principle at each

intersection - showing how these mutually re-

enforcing areas of rights relate.





!



Respond to risks

Promote resiliency



So if we’re researching e-participation, we should ask how it empowers young people with skills to manage their safety online, and how young people are shaping the provision of participative spaces.





!



Respond to risks

Promote resiliency


Youth shaped servicesIf we’re planning a protection policy, we

need to look at how it builds on young

people as empowered participants in

their own protection, and how we

promote resiliency.





!



Respond to risks

Promote resiliency



Etc...





!





!

This is just a draft model: a sketch of how

we can find alternative frames for thinking

about young people’s lives

Refining a model that can capture the depth of insights into young people and technology that research, and young

people’s own voices offer us; the strong foundations of the UNCRC; and a need for

simplicity; will take more work.





Where next?





Where next?

Your views on this model, and how we

escape the limitations of an opportunity-

risk dichotomy would be very welcome.

(Web space for discussion coming soon -

for now get in touch by e-mail, or leave a

comment alongside these slides)





@timdavies | http://www.timdavies.org.uk | http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk



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Rethinking Responses to Young People and the Internet - beyond Opportunity and Risk - EU Kids Online II - September 2011