Being connected to the local community through a festival mobile application

In this paper we report our investigation into how using and interacting with a local festival mobile app enhanced users’ festival experiences and connected them to other local users and their community. We explored the relationship between users’ perceived basic affordances of mobile technology, perceived opportunities of the festival app, and three elements that sustain the local community — attachment, engagement, and social support networks. Based on the usage logs of 348 active users, as well as survey responses from 80 users, we present a mobile-mediated local community framework and found that engagement is a key mediator of mobile experiences and facets of community

The Electronic Community Park Audit Tool (eCPAT): Exploring the Use of Mobile Technology for Youth Empowerment and Advocacy for Healthy Community Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change

Empowering and engaging youth in advocacy and participatory action research (PAR) for healthy community environments is an emerging approach to reducing the childhood obesity epidemic. Technology is a promising strategy for engaging youth in such efforts. The Community Park Audit Tool (CPAT) is user-friendly tool for evaluating the ability of parks to promote youth physical activity. Recently an electronic version of the tool (eCPAT) was developed and validated. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of eCPAT mobile technology on youth empowerment and advocacy. This study examined tool usability, youths' technology access, use, and readiness for PAR efforts, effectiveness of mobile technology on youth empowerment and advocacy, interaction effects between tool format and regular technology use, and tool format preferences. Youth ages 11–18 years were recruited and randomized into one of three study conditions: Control (no audit), paper (CPAT), and mobile technology (eCPAT). Intervention youth completed two park audits using assigned format. A subsample of youth in the Control group completed both CPAT and eCPAT audits for comparison. Independent samples t-tests and MANCOVAs explored differences in post-project levels of tool usability and empowerment and advocacy scores between groups. Multivariate linear regression analysis explored the interaction between Control, Paper, or eCPAT group membership and mean technology use in predicting empowerment and advocacy. Youth (n = 124) completed pre and post surveys. The majority of youth had access to technology (smartphone 77.4%, tablet/iPad 67.7%). Youth used mobile technology at least once a day to use apps (M = 7.8, SD = 3.2), browse the web (M = 6.3, SD = 3.3), and search for information (M = 6.3, SD = 3.5). Youth were also ready and willing to use technology for PAR (M = 3.42–3.59). No main or interaction effects were found for post-project levels of youth empowerment or advocacy. However, the eCPAT tool had high usability scores, was better liked, and was preferred by youth over paper-pencil methods. Mobile technologies are ubiquitous and a preferred strategy among youth for engagement in community change. Future studies should explore mobile technology as a potential strategy for engaging youth in ongoing PAR efforts to achieve successful engagement and advocacy in community healthy environmental change

eCPAT: Development and Testing of Mobile Technology to Engage Youth in Active Living Policy, Systems, and Environmental Health Promotion Efforts

Modifying the built environment is a promising way to promote youth physical activity and reduce obesity. Parks, in particular, are key intervention venues given their low cost and legislated ubiquity. Creating healthy communities, including better parks, will require the interest and participation of multiple constituencies, including youth. Creation of mobile technology environmental audit tools can provide a more interactive way for youth to engage with communities and facilitate participation in participatory action research (PAR) and health promotion efforts. The purpose of the first study was to describe the development and validity and reliability testing of an electronic version of the Community Park Audit Tool (eCPAT). The newly developed eCPAT app consisted of 149 items and incorporated a variety of technology benefits. Criterion-related validity and inter-rater reliability were evaluated using data from 52 youth across 47 parks in Greenville County, SC. A large portion of items (\u3e70%) demonstrated moderate to perfect or fair validity and reliability. Many items demonstrated excellent percent agreement. The eCPAT app is a user-friendly tool that provides a comprehensive assessment of park environments. The purpose of the second study was to explore the use of eCPAT mobile technology on youth empowerment and advocacy within a PAR framework and examined tool usability, effectiveness on youth empowerment and advocacy, interaction effects between tool format and regular technology use, and tool format preferences. A total of 124 youth were randomized into one of three study conditions (Control, Paper, eCPAT). Intervention youth completed two park audits using paper-pencil or mobile technology tools. Youth completed pre and post surveys that measured tool usability and preferences, technology, empowerment, advocacy, and youth demographics. Youth indicated that the eCPAT tool had higher usability scores, was better liked, and was preferred over paper-pencil methods. No main or interaction effects were found for post levels of youth empowerment or advocacy between study conditions. Mobile technology should be viewed as a potential strategy for increasing youth empowerment and advocacy within PAR frameworks given its ubiquity, usability, and preference among youth. Future dissemination will integrate the eCPAT as a critical component of youth-led action oriented PAR projects to improve community health

Revolting from Abroad: The Formation of a Lebanese Transnational Public

Nowadays social movements are driven by networks of people who resort to social media platforms to rally, self-organise and coordinate action around a shared cause, which can be referred to as the formation of publics. Due to years of political instability, conflicts, corruption, sectarianism, economic collapse and declining living conditions, in October 2019 Lebanon witnessed uprisings which transcended into a wider social movement. As the movement unfolded, Lebanese diaspora members living across the world formed their own publics in support of the Lebanese revolution that interfaced with the local Lebanon-based publics. As such, a broader transnational public emerged as a result of the coordinated online and offline efforts between diaspora actors and local actors, which had a crucial role in mitigating the aftermath of the compounded crises that hit Lebanon. In this paper, through observation and interviews with Lebanese diaspora members, we contribute a socio-technical understanding of the formation of a transnational public, with a particular focus on the underlying infrastructures that enabled its creation. Furthermore, we surface the challenges in relation to sustaining such a diaspora public and its interfacing with local publics in Lebanon. We contribute empirical insights that highlight how different technological tools and platforms, coupled with social processes built within diaspora groups and with local actors, led to the formation of such a multilayered transnational public

Modeling Youth Civic Engagement in a New World of Networked Publics

In an increasingly networked public, the Internet and social media provide rich opportunities for reconnecting youth with their civic life. In a questionnaire study of 578 14-20 year old youth, we explore the relationship between Internet technology experiences, civic efficacy, community identification, and civic engagement in their everyday lives. Contrary to prevailing stereotypes of digital youth, we found that most rely on email and text messaging to communicate with others in their local communities about civic issues. Further, those more experienced with technologies in the public sphere (such as blogs, wikis, and Twitter) had higher levels of civic engagement. Teens who strongly identified with their local community and who had higher levels of civic efficacy were especially likely to be civically engaged. These results highlight the importance of encouraging youth to emotionally connect to their local communities, and to do so online in the public sphere rather than through more personal communication channels

Nurturing the political agency of young people in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Policy at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Adult-led civic and political contexts play a critical role in shaping the experiences of young people in social and political activism. These contexts are shaped by social and political constructs that continue to regulate youth participatory rights and overlook their contributions in broader contexts. This qualitative-exploratory research explored how young people are developing their political agency through social and political activism. As a qualitative-exploratory study it utilised face-to-face semi-structured interviews to explore young people’s understandings of their political experiences. The data was analysed using thematic analysis informed by a social constructivist theoretical framework and underpinned by relevant literature. The research found that young people’s understandings of the political world were inconsistent with widespread beliefs about their ability to contribute. In contrast, with common misconceptions of their apathy and disengagement, the participants in this study were participating actively in social and political activities within broad civic and political contexts around issues of significance to them. Consistent with findings in other literature, the research also found that social contexts, access to political experiences, and connection to social and political issues of concern to young people were critical in nurturing their political agency. The research findings highlight the need for a shift in the way formal political institutions frame young people’s participation. It also calls for a cultural shift in civic and political settings to consistently provide genuine space for their active participation in these settings. Further research into young people’s lived experiences in these contexts and into different patterns of youth political engagement across various social and cultural groups in society may provide insight in to how best to nurture their political agency and reduce disparities in political participation

Designing with and for social innovation: service design by working with youth civic groups in Lebanon

Ph. D. ThesisWithin contested contexts marked by profound political, social, and economic changes, social innovation emerges to reconceptualise services, ideas, and products. At the intersection of multifaceted agendas, social innovation brings forward a paradigm shift in tackling problems that traditional methods fail to adequately address. In this thesis, I focus on the context of Lebanon which suffers from political, economic, public health, and social turmoil. In light of a fragmented, politicised and weak welfare system, Lebanon is a fertile ground for the proliferation of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and particularly youth-led, grassroots organisations that challenge the existing status quo by devising novel ways of creating and delivering services. Therefore, how can we surface, structure, and scale youth-driven social innovation in service design and delivery, through participatory methods within contested spaces? With participatory action research (PAR) as an overarching methodology and by applying embedded ethnography, participatory design (PD), and service design methods, this thesis examines social innovation focussed on designing services across three distinct contexts of civic engagement. These include: 1) large-scale organisations in which the youth are positioned as beneficiaries; 2) small-scale youth-led organisations; and 3) the Lebanese social movement of 2019, encompassing a constellation of local and transnational grassroots. Findings reveal tensions when attempting to adopt participatory research methods within environments which lack inherent participatory attributes. Conditions needed for the creation of technology-supported social innovation for service delivery within such a complex context surface, and new forms of socio-technical infrastructures resulting from circumstances of emergency and uncertainty are highlighted. I contend that a hybrid model of design with top down and bottom-up elements is most suited to be able to structure and scale out social innovation especially while navigating both embedded and emerging issues of participation and power. Also, the design and adoption of digital technology within such contexts requires re-purposing familiar tools and building new social practices around them. Finally, due to the ongoing and evolving negotiations that need to take place as a result of circumstances on the ground, researchers ought to shift roles ranging from facilitators to activists when working within such contested spaces

[THIS SPACE MUST BE [THIS SPACE MUST Modeling Youth Civic Engagement in a New World of Networked Publics

Abstract In an increasingly networked public, the Internet and social media provide rich opportunities for reconnecting youth with their civic life. In a questionnaire study of 578 14-20 year old youth, we explore the relationship between Internet technology experiences, civic efficacy, community identification, and civic engagement in their everyday lives. Contrary to prevailing stereotypes of digital youth, we found that most rely on email and text messaging to communicate with others in their local communities about civic issues. Further, those more experienced with technologies in the public sphere (such as blogs, wikis, and Twitter) had higher levels of civic engagement. Teens who strongly identified with their local community and who had higher levels of civic efficacy were especially likely to be civically engaged. These results highlight the importance of encouraging youth to emotionally connect to their local communities, and to do so online in the public sphere rather than through more personal communication channels