IGF 2014

Where there is governance, there are citizens. No Internet governance discussion is complete without discussion among citizens about digital citizenship. On today's highly participatory Internet, many of the citizens are youth. This workshop follows our successful Baku workshop in which more than 30 participants spoke, nearly all of them youth from multiple countries. It will be a highly participatory, multidirectional discussion rather than a one-way panel presentation.

Our goal is to move from discussing the concept of digital citizenship to understanding its practices from youth perspectives – how they use digital tools and spaces to promote and support causes, make change and participate in civil society or even political life. With questions from the organizers and other participants, we will uncover how youth use connected media and whether that's changing how they view citizenship; hear the perspectives of those who are advancing digital literacy, participation and citizenship for youth; and examine the effectiveness of current online safety approaches and the role of digital citizenship in them. The workshop will include a roundtable of youth and other experts asking and answering questions such as:

• What are the Internet Governance issues or questions that should be addressed going forward?

• What are young people's approaches to developing a safe digital society that upholds participants' rights?

• Can bullying prevention in the form of respectful treatment of others and standing up for their rights contribute to citizenship online as well as offline?

• What are the most effective ways to teach and model good digital citizenship?

• What role does digital inclusion – supporting and enlisting the support of marginalized and disadvantaged populations – play in digital citizenship?

• Are "trolling" and other forms of anti-social online behavior affecting youth civic engagement and understanding among youth, government, industry, and other communities?

AGENDA:

1. Introductions: 5 min.
2. Overview & Background: 10 min.
3. Open discussion: 60 min.
4. Summarize & wrap up: 15 min.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

* "Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age," by W. Lance Bennett, University of Washington (http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/38360794.pdf)
* "What Makes You Tweet?: Young People's Perspectives on Social Media as an Engagement Tool," by Jen Rose and Lisa Morstyn, Youth Affairs Council of Victoria, Australia (http://apo.org.au/research/what-makes-you-tweet-young-peoples-perspectives-use-social-media-engagement-tool)
* "Youth & Citizenship in the Digital Age: A View from Egypt," by Lisa Herrera of University of Illinois in Harvard Educational Review (http://her.hepg.org/content/88267r117u710300/?p=cac083d7a05044e2a5cf9ac8d57102ae&pi=0)
* From the workshop co-organizer: "Digital citizenship, a lived curriculum," Part 1 (http://www.netfamilynews.org/digital-citizenship-a-lived-curriculum-part-1) and Part 2 (http://www.netfamilynews.org/the-lived-curriculum-part-2-what-that-looks-like); "Digital citizenship in process: Notes from the Baku IGF" (http://www.netfamilynews.org/digital-citizenship-in-process-notes-from-the-baku-igf), by Anne Collier