Using Social Media to Engage Youth and Racial Minorities

Today at the EPA 12th Community Involvement Training Conference in Arlington, VA, Beth Offenbacker gave a presentation focusing on the role of technology in engaging youth and racial minorities in civic capacity building and environmental awareness.  The presentation showed examples of interactive games and mobile applications ("apps") that seek to broaden the public engagement process. Emerging technologies for communications, computing, and visualization can be effectively used during the planning process for public involvement, data collection, spatial analysis, and visioning. At the same time, we should critically assess the impacts of technology on planning processes such as outreach. Civil liberties and the digital divide are two such concerns. These two emerging technologies present opportunities for future civic engagement, public involvement and even future employment, including for traditionally underserved groups, and particularly to reach youth who may be highly conversant with the technologies or who may be interested in becoming more active in their communities. Public involvement efforts can and should focus on opportunities to cultivate a culture of participation with youth and racial minorities. Three games/apps will be highlighted in this session: Walking History, an interactive, mobile game; Community PlanIt, an immersive 3D game; and Participatory Chinatown, a game designed for the master planning process in Boston's Chinatown.