Politicians’ failure to get to grips with technology is preventing young people from practicing e-democracy, the manager of an online political discussion forum for under-18s told last week’s ‘Future Democracy 09’ conference hosted by Headstar ( http://www.headstar-events.com/edemocracy09/ ).
A misunderstanding of conversational formats commonly adopted online was cited as one issue that isolated politicians from younger people in the internet age, said Beccy Allen, project manager of HeadsUp ( http://www.headsup.org.uk/ ). The project was created as an educational resource by the Hansard Society, a charity promoting Parliamentary democracy.
“It’s very difficult to engage young people if you’re talking to them like they’re ‘policy wonks’, said Allen. “They’re not. They’re very different and they don’t want to speak in the same way that politicians do in the chamber. They need things to be tailored to the way they like to communicate.”
Another example of successful youth engagement presented to the session was Battlefront, an online youth campaign platform linked to a Channel 4 TV series encouraging young people to campaign for causes they believe in. Tom Robbins, one of the Battlefront campaigners ( http://battlefront.co.uk/ ), said a range of online tools and social media including video clips and Facebook had helped him promote his cause, ‘Random Acts of Kindness’.
“The web…allows people to come across your message, which will have resonance for a longer period of time,” said Robbins.
NOTE: Article originally published in E-Government Bulletin issue 301.
Click here to visit/return to issue 301 index
