Some might ask: why youth work is done in online environments – isn’t it important to meet face to face with adolescents? Online youth work or web-based youth work as it is called as well, is parallel, complementary way of working with children and young in online environments, where most of young people spend an average of 2 hours in a day. Online youth work is done in Finland by hundreds of communal youth workers and dozens of educated volunteers from various associations in co-operation with companies providing online services. These acvities have increased especially after the school shootings in 2008 and 2009. Online youth work is extended also to concern police forces in Finland, we have special internet police group who is not controlling or supervising young people rather than giving them help, piece of advices and recommendations. But what do we mean by online youth work?
I have divided the forms or practices of online youth work in three different methods. This is not a complite picture of online youth work, but it maybe helps you to understand the field of it better: 1. Internet is used as an aid of informing about events of offline activities. Youth centres can inform about their activities in an electronic bulletin board in their website or use social media. Additional tool that usually supports marketing and informing work. Most common and oldest way of using internet in youth work. 2. Internet techniques are used to make councelling and helping easier. Discussion forums, ask and answer-columns are the most common ones. This is not simultaneous activity, but it usually takes a couple of days to get the answer from the youth worker. 3. Simultaneous online youth work is the most challenging format. Youth work in online communities that is based on real-time contact with young people. Resources are needed. 24/7. The most common way of work is to chat with young people in online services.
Now I will introduce some latest research results from Finland to assert the need of young people being tutors for other youth in online environments. First of all, I would like to remind you that there is no research done in this area of peer support, so these results and ideas are only suggestive and indicates the main problem of the field: lack of resources.
So, what kind of young people are we searching for? Old enough (15-18 years?) Responsible Emphatic Adequate technical skills Experience of being a peer pupil, scoutmaster… Educated in working as a peer person
Let me take you back in the first slide now to see, what the activities could be if young people enter the online environments as peer persons:
Now I will introduce some of the questions in my current research work, my thesis, which is focusing on active online participation. In my thesis I will interview young people who are doing youth information work through Painovirhe-online magazine. I’m concentrating more in motivations behind involving this activity and consequences of taking part of it, but I have also thought of the possible benefits or advantages what young people could receive when they act as peer persons in online environments.
So, now you have been briefly introduced to the novel field of youth work. First I introduced the practices of youth work in online environments by highlighting the pros and cons of each working method. As you maybe recognized from the perspective of research results I showed you, the need for online youth work exists, and it is done in various environments such as Facebook, communal question forums and online chats. The role of young people as being support for other teenagers and helping each other in online environments is unexplored area of youth work, and I assume that with the help of young people, the services could be improved by offering more help to help you alongside with adults. The level of asking help could be lower if you could ask from another teenager with a ”Ask me”-tag in his or hers profile picture. These young persons could also help to improve online services that are directed to young people. My thesis is not going to give extensive overview nor solutions for this issue, but it may help the people working in the field to understand the motivation of active young people even better. These future challenges which I’m showing you, are only the peak of the iceberg and more challenges and interesting research questions will rise up all the time.
Now I would like to thank you for your attention and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, and if the questions rises up later, here is my email address
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