Presentation in the English program at the "Nuori 2019" event in Turku, Finland. Shared under a CC BY 4.0 licence

1. Digital youth work and
inclusion of young people
Juha Kiviniemi
Nuori 2019
28.3.2019

2. ”Young people are increasingly engaging with new
technologies and digital media. There is clearly a role
for online youth work practice, in terms of exploiting a
new space for youth work in a meaningful way,
supporting digital literacy and enabling young people
to deal with some of the associated risks. The practice
implications for youth workers lie in new
competencies required and new forms of boundary
maintenance in relationships with young people.”
(Declaration of the 2nd European Youth Work
Convention, Brussels, April 2015)

3. ”If youth work fails to embrace the
use of technology and social media
there is a risk of becoming
outdated and irrelevant to young
people who use youth work
services. ”
- Youth Worker, Screenagers -study
(2016)

5. TO CHANGE THE FATE OF ONE
INDIVIDUAL IS TO CHANGE THE
WORLD.
-Sir Terry Pratchett, ”Soul Music”

6. Digital youth work

7. What is digital youth work?
• Digital youth work means proactively using or addressing
digital media and technology in youth work.
• Digital youth work is not a youth work method – digital youth
work can be included in any youth work setting (open youth
work, youth information and counselling, youth clubs, detached
youth work…).
• Digital youth work has the same goals as youth work in general,
and using digital media and technology in youth work should
always support these goals.
EU Expert group - definition of digital youth work

8. What is digital youth work?
• Digital youth work can happen in face-to-face situations as well
as in online environments – or in a mixture of these two. Digital
media and technology can be used either as a tool, an activity or
a content in youth work.
• Digital youth work is underpinned by the same ethics, values and
principles as youth work.
EU Expert group - definition of digital youth work

10. The diversity of digitality in youth work
Digital Youth Work
Digital Services
Digital Solutions
Digital Infrastructure

11. How does digitalisation affect young people?

12. Digitalization is not
something in the future.
It’s happening now.

13. The ownership of information
has irrevocably changed.

14. Young peoples methods, intensity and
speed of social communication are radically
different from our own.

15. Young people do not
”go online”.

16. Digital skills = citizenship
skills

17. Digital skills = digital life
skills

18. Who are the digital natives?

19. There aren’t any.

20. #punchacolleague
(please don’t actually punch them,
but you have my permission to
gently but firmly correct them)

21. “The idea that someone would know
everything about digital media just because
they have always lived with it is as ridiculous
as the idea of us sleeping in a library and
knowing all the information in the world.”
- Any Pöyskö, WienXtra - medienzentrum

22. Digital divide
(It’s not only about age!)

23. Digital divide
• Access to technology
• Skills to use that technology
• Level of understanding how technology works
• Participation vs. Access to information - who is in control?

24. What does this mean for inclusion?

25. The diversity of digitality in youth work
Digital Youth Work
Digital Services
Digital Solutions
Digital Infrastructure

26. Can digital technology contribute to inclusion?

27. Better access to activities

28. Better access to
and accessibility of services

29. More data from
and of young people

30. Can digital technology contribute to exclusion?

31. Digital divide
• Access to technology
• Skills to use that technology
• Level of understanding how technology works
• Participation vs. Access to information - who is in control?

32. What if we would plan all our youth
work activities around digital devices?

33. Are we making sure young people have
the necessary skills to participate?

34. Are all young people
participating equally?

35. Who is in control?

36. Digital youth work has the potential to..
..make our services and activities much more inclusive,
in regards to age, skill level, physical limitations,
geographical limitations, socio-economic status etc.

37. But
( and it’s a big “but” )

38. Digital youth work also has the potential to..
..accidentally exclude a number of young people from
our provided services if we make assumptions like
“All young people are digital natives” or “all young
people use social media”.

39. Some of the central challenges
• Identifying the services / activities that can benefit from
digitalisation, or ones that can benefit from complementing digital
approaches
• Capacity building of practitioners to connect digitalisation with
inclusion
• Connecting technologisation of society with inclusion of young
people on a policy level

40. Some of the central challenges
• Using data to identify issues related to social inclusion
• Lowering the threshold of access to technology for young people
while developing their skills
• Tackling social issues in young people’s online environments
• Re-evaluating and adapting all youth work practice wherever
necessary

41. “Youth work values are what’s
most important, and then we build
the technology around that:
It’s less about building technical
skills and more about being a tool
to express themselves.”
- Youth Worker, Northern Ireland

42. Thank you!
Juha Kiviniemi
juha@verke.org
Tel. +358 40 1835 264
Twitter: @puikko
Instagram: @humanistimotoristi
Verke
Tel. +358 9 310 89067
info@verke.org
Twitter: @VerkeOrg