Designed for Good: Community Well-Being Oriented Online Databases for Youth - Community-Built Databases: Research and Development - page 295

communicating with others [ 72 ], Johnson and MacEwan (2006) suggest that
meta-cognitive abilities are developed as a result of all these activities. Video
games, as well as synchronous communication, decrease cognitive processing
speed (i.e., reaction time). Video games require simultaneous processing; online
communication requires successive processing. Video games make extreme demands
on visual and meta-cognition skills. Accessing Websites builds the knowledge base
and contributes to concept development.
12.4 Youth-Oriented Community-Built Databases (YCD)
Youth-oriented community-built databases are a part of almost all web spaces
aimed at young people. Well-known examples of this include the open-source
community, social networking sites, message boards, discussion forums and the
Wikipedia community. Most features available on youth-centred web spaces are
usually intended to fulfil one or more of the following purposes; promoting knowl-
edge about a particular issue or set of issues, promoting youth voice or empower-
ment of youth as members of society, social trust, or community building and /or
promoting team building or leadership skills [ 61 ].
This section will present a comparison between two popular youth websites;
one is at an international level (Voices of Youth) and the other is at a national
level (Aotearoa Youth Voices). The purpose of this comparison is twofold: to
explore what purpose each website serves in terms of target audiences as well as
the features they provide, and to explore the strengths and weaknesses of two very
different approaches to the design and creation of a youth-oriented community-
built database.
12.4.1 Voices of Youth - UNICEF
Voices of Youth is a website that was created by UNICEF in 1995 and proclaims
that since its launch, Voices of Youth has reached young people in more than 180
countries, of whom over 60% are from developing countries. The primary purpose
of this web space is listed as creating a vibrant online meeting place where young
people from around the world explore, discuss and take action on global problems.
This website has three main areas for exploration. The first is called Explore which
gives youth the opportunity to learn about rights-related issues such as sexual
exploitation, HIV/AIDS and education. The second area is called Speak out
where youth have the opportunity to voice their opinions and take part in discussion
forums on issues that concern them as young people. And the third section is called
Take Action, whereby youth have the opportunity to learn the skills to start their
own projects and report back to their peers on progress and ideas. As mentioned
previously, a major part of this website is concerned with gathering youth to draw