There are many challenges that surround the engagement of youth in the management and editorial components of youth engagement sites. PSO partners are actively discussing different ways we may be able to succeed in this capacity.
We’re currently partnering with other local organizations to get their youth involved in using the PSO site when it launches, and we are running school-year and summer youth content production teams out of the YMCA. We’re simultaneously engaged in an active discussion about how to develop youth governance of the site. We have been discussing different strategies and possibilities for engaging youth in the management and editorial process, and we would love to spark a conversation about recommended approaches to this issue.
Do we keep youth editorial and governance teams separate, or do we combine them into regional youth teams? Are team members elected by the youth who use the site, or do we recruit them through an application process housed in partnering organizations? When and how do we kick off this process? Feel free to weigh in on the discussion!
For six weeks during the summer of 2007, a diverse group of Seattle-area youth collaborated to design, implement, and advertise a web site intended to help connect local young people to civic opportunities and public life. They directed, filmed, and starred in this video PSA (available below the jump), which communicates the site’s purpose via a creative visual metaphor.
PROPOSAL A:
ESTABLISHING YOUTH ACTIVITY AND CONTENT FOR THE WEBSITE
Rationale:
At this launch phase, our marketing efforts to recruit large numbers of unpaid youth will be effective IF and ONLY IF the site appears active and interesting when these youth visit it for the first time. This proposal is designed to ensure that the website becomes active (an active community of youth is consistently using the site for the kinds of activities for which it was designed, productively engaging in discussions and posting content) and interesting (there is ample, circulating content on the website).
1. Problem: We need content.
Solution: We ask our partners to provide us with content created by their youth.
2. Problem: Why would partners want to provide us with content? What do they get in return?
Solution: We give them the promise that all content posted by their youth will be commented on and discussed by youth using our site who are trained to engage in positive dialogue around youth content. Their youth can participate in discussions that stem from their work.
3. Problem: How will we ensure that all content is being discussed?
Solution: We hire a team of paid youth to comment on and discuss all website content. They receive training on how to positively do this, and we create job descriptions that are very specific about expectations for their positions. They could work out of the Y or even from home.
PHYSICAL SPACES:
As we establish these content partners, we will test program collaborations that open up physical spaces for PSO youth. For example, we may collaborate with the libraries to report on their Writers’ in the Schools event, or collaborate with the VERA project to host an arts or music event tied to PSO content. These opportunities will open up on a case by case basis through meetings and correspondence with partner staff.
Proposal A PHASE TWO: MARKETING TO YOUTH
The purpose of Proposal A is to ensure that the website becomes active and interesting so that a phase two marketing campaign to recruit many youth to the site will be effective.
What do we need to make Proposal A possible?
• Funds to pay youth staff
• Staff work on creating partnerships to get content for when the website launches
• Staff work on structuring job descriptions and training for paid youth staff
• Staff recruit youth to act as paid staff when the website launches
