Participating in digital society – Homeless youth and the use of ICT

Working Group 5

Participating in Digital Society

Homeless Youth and the Use of

ICT

Investing in young people to prevent a lost generation in Europe:

key policy and practice in addressing youth homelessness

8th November 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Bibi Agger

• Deputy Director for project UDENFOR.

• Holder of a MA in Psychology and Social

Science, as well as a Diploma of

Leadership and Organisatonal

Development.

• [email protected] Investing in young people to prevent a lost generation in Europe:



Projekt UDENFOR

• Projekt UDENFOR is a private foundation

which combines active social street work

with training and research in approaches

to homelessness and social

marginalisation.

• www.udenfor.dk







Projekt UDENFOR

• Practical work towards

the individual on the

street:

Outreach work

Ad hoc projects: Mobile

Café, Migrant project,

IT-project e.g.

• Communication about

homeless people &

homelessness:

Conferences, studies,

etc

Media

Dialogue with

politicians, decision-

makers, etc

IT - Project

• The lady you saw in the previous picture is an outreach

worker in project UDENFOR’s “IT project”. It is an “ad hoc

project” which started a year ago.

• IT-project:

Target group: Digitally and socially excluded from today’s

society. Know many of them already. Few youngsters.

Working on street-level, introducing computer technology &

services to homeless non-users of IT.

The homeless people involved in all the work on I-pads




Projekt UDENFOR, IT and

Digital Inclusion

• Besides the IT-project we launched earlier this year, we

did a minor study on the use of ICT among the homeless

youth; ICT meaning Information, Communication &

Technology.

Grown un in a digital world (in contrast to the users of

our IT-projekt).

Facing the complications of being both ICT-user and

homeless at the same time.




The Study (Participants)

• 10 Interview participants

• Age range: 18-29

• 2 Women & 8 Men

• 4 Street sleepers (one former) & 6 sleeping in shelters

• Challenged by complex overlapping problems, such as mental

diagnoses, family problems, lack of supporting networks, daily

drug or alcohol use and distrust of the social system

• Almost none of them consider themselves to be “homeless” –

but that they just happen to not have housing




The Study (Analysis)

• Conceptual framework: in order to be digitally

included you to:

Use ICT (skills)

Have the physical equipment to use ICT (access)

Find it meaningful for you to use ICT(engagement)




The Study (Homeless Youth as

Relatively Digitally-Included) • ICT-skills: Digitally trained

Using ICTs in different ways

ICTs are naturally, incorporated in everyday activities

• ICT-access: Own mobile phones (at least, most of the time)

Internet access in libraries, their shelters, or at friends

Extra effort

Weekly or daily use of Internet

• ICT-engagement: Engaged in ICT? – Yes!

Engaged in web-based civil services? - No




The Study (Conclusions)

• Reach out through ICT.

• Digital inclusion is important for social inclusion –

but does not necessarily lead to it.

• Involvement and participation – starting point in

engagement.




Youth-project

@ projekt UDENFOR

• Creating new arenas of expression and development for homeless youths.

• Establishing corporation with creative professionals and positive peers.

• Offering workshops in storytelling and the making and sharing of films.

• A mobile production-office, designed by the young participants themselves

• Reflection of own lives

• Ensuring first-person-perspectives on youth homelessness, enhancing

participation of homeless youth in social debates.

• Arranging a film-screening/seminar based on the film made by the young

participants

• Building bridges







Thank you for listening!

Bibi Agger See more at www.udenfor.dk/uk

www.facebook.com/UDENFOR

http://www.udenfor.dk/uk

Participating in digital society – Homeless youth and the use of ICT

Government & Nonprofit

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