European youth at Safer Internet Forum 2016

Last week, 19 young people from all over Europe came together in Luxembourg to prepare for and attend the Safer Internet Forum (SIF) 2016. This year again, the youth panelists were a diverse group with ages ranging from 13 to 19 years old, with various backgrounds and different interests. 

Date 2016-11-29 Author European Youth Panel
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Moreover, they were all keen to discover the Makerspace and to engage in lively discussions on recent and future technological innovations which are becoming an inherent part of our daily lives. The Makerspace is a community-operated workspace where people with common interests, often in computers, technology, science, digital or electronic art, can meet, socialise and collaborate.

BEE CREATIVE Makerspace BASE1 @ Forum Geesseknäppchen hosted the youth panelists for a morning full of hands-on activities and demonstrations: some young people had the opportunity to code and build their own robots, some decided to create their own music and others used the laser cutter to create their own gadgets. The afternoon was dedicated to workshops and discussions in smaller groups on innovations in technology and how these impact young people's daily lives as well as how they see the innovations of the future changing their habits and the way they use social media and technology. Additionally, focusing on hate speech and online behaviour, young people identified the different reporting tools and mechanisms available for the various social media networks they use and talked about their experiences with reporting content online.

SIF was a whole new experience for most, as approximately 200 guests gathered at Forum Geesseknäppchen to talk about principles, policies and practices for a better internet. Two of the youth panelists were invited to express their thoughts and those of their peers in two separate panel discussions. Likewise, young people had the opportunity to take the floor to ask questions to the speakers and add their comments based on their own experiences.

The two events were an enriching experience which will be recorded in a brief report to follow drafted by participating young people for all young people.

Find out more about Safer Internet Forum at www.betterinternetforkids.eu/sif2016.

Find out more about youth participation in the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) agenda more generally.

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