Giving a Voice to the ‘Hard to Hear’ - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 88

• the Government should fund the creation of a citizenship portal;
• the extent to which young people have used ICT to engage with politics,
decision-making and civic society should be reflected in their National
Record of Achievement;
• the Connexions Smartcard should be used to reward young people who
use ICTs as a means of political engagement;
• the location of free ICT facilities should reflect the environments that
young people like, which might involve giving young people free access
to technology in cinemas, shopping malls, leisure centres and youth
shelters (Howland and Bethell n.d.).
Medium term recommendations focused on wider issues of developing
interactive TV and mobile phones as media for engagement. The computer
industry was charged with making the Internet safer for young people.
5.3.4 Online Surgeries for Young People - UK
Another pilot project undertaken as part of the UK Government's Local
e-Democracy programme focused on engaging young people in the par-
liamentary and political process. The project, undertaken by the Royal
Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, involved a series of six 'online surger-
ies' in which young people were able to discuss issues with elected repre-
sentatives in their local authority. The aim was to make young people
more aware of political structures and processes within England (Local
e-Democracy National Project n.d.).
The project was sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
with the help of The Hansard Society. The Hansard Society had identified
that young people were capable of identifying political issues and that they
would be enthusiastic about setting an agenda for debate in online surger-
ies (The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames n.d.).
The organizers wrote to selected schools to invite their participation.
The project was also publicized in the local press in October 2004 and
January 2005. All local councillors, MPs and Greater London Assembly
members received emails asking for their support and participation, and
Heads of schools and citizenship teachers received personalized briefing
letters. Six surgeries were then organized.
In preparation for the surgeries, year 10 and 11 students attended work-
shops given by the Hansard Society and the council. In the workshops pre-
liminary information about the status and work of local councillors and
MPs was provided. Ideas to discuss during the surgeries were elicited in
the 'brainstorming'. Students were handed questionnaires to answer both