Digitally Connected: Global Perspectives on Youth and Digital Media

"By making these diverse reflections and youth contributions available to the public, we hope to continue and further stimulate the global conversation about both the challenges and opportunities children and youth face online." - Urs Gasser, Executive Director of the Berkman Center

This ebook is a collection of essays that provide diverse perspectives on youth experiences with digital media, with a special focus on the Global South. More than 30 academics, practitioners, government officials, tech industry representatives, and activists team up with 25 youth contributors to share their views and opinions about digital technologies and the impact the internet has on young people's lives. Through adult voices combined with written and visual contributions by young people from around the world, the ebook addresses a series of questions related to youth and digital media by exploring key topics such as: safety and wellbeing; identity, privacy, and reputation; skills, literacies, and cultures of learning; creativity; innovation and entrepreneurship; participation and civic engagement; and youth participation and policy.

The ebook is an output of Digitally Connected, an initiative created by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that brings together a network of people from around the world who together are addressing the challenges and opportunities children and youth encounter in the digital environment. (See Related Summaries, below, for details.) Digitally Connected emerged out of an April 2014 international symposium on children, youth, and digital media to map and explore the global state of relevant research and practice, share and discuss insights and ideas from the developing and industrialised world, and encourage collaboration between participants across regions and continents.

This book is one contribution by this growing, global network of collaborators and consists of two parts. The first part brings together a series of reflection pieces in the form of short essays written by friends and colleagues who attended the Digitally Connected symposium at Harvard University. The second part consists of a collection of stories, art, and digital media by youth about their experiences online. These creative pieces were submitted through an open call, which consisted of 10 prompts youth could reflect upon - e.g., How does the internet make you feel connected? Have you ever felt like a part of an internet community? If so, what was that like? Some of the reflection pieces are closely connected to issues discussed at the symposium; others reflect more generally on personal observations and/or opinions or highlight and discuss insights and learnings from specific studies or concrete projects.