1. "Youth as E-Citizens: The Internet and Youth Civic Engagement"
Principal Investigator: Kathryn Montgomery, American University's Center for Social Media

2. "News for a New Generation"
Principal Investigator: Susan Sherr, Eagleton Institute of Politics
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

See also Young Voters and the Web of Politics and Technology and Politics: Incentives for Youth Participation on the political participation and voting page.

 

"Youth as E-Citizens: The Internet and Youth Civic Engagement"
Kathryn Montgomery, American University's Center for Social Media

Project Summary
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Study Maps Online Political, Civic Activities of Generation Y, Documents Youth Involvement on the Web

An online youth civic culture, largely unnoticed by the general public, has taken root on the Internet and is fostering Generation Y's participation in U.S. politics and community affairs, according to a report released by American University's Center for Social Media.

The 155-page report, Youth as E-Citizens, identifies and analyzes almost 400 websites, created for and in some cases by young people, that engage youth in civic activities. An "online tour" of this new online youth civic sector provides links to seventy-five websites that vividly embody this new digital civic landscape.

Youth as E-Citizens received major funding from CIRCLE. The study is part of the Center for Social Media's new Youth, Media, and Democracy Project, which is supported by the Surdna Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

"News for a New Generation"
Susan Sherr, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Project Summary
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CIRCLE Working Paper 29: News for a New Generation: Can it be Fun and Functional? shows that one way to increase youth interest in the news may be through a redesign of news Web sites. The research utilized an experimental design where subjects were assigned to view one of four different news Websites: 1) a traditional site 2) a site with a youthful design and traditional text 3) a site with traditional design and youth-oriented text and 4) a site with youthful design and youth-oriented text.

The researchers found that while young people preferred the Web sites with the youthful design and youth-oriented text, they actually learned more from the traditional news Web sites. The researchers conclude that presenting news using a modern, dynamic design format does make the source more attractive to young audiences. However, these types of features must be employed judiciously. Overloading a TV program or Web sites with too many moving elements or colorful features may not only distract consumers but may also make the information seem trivial or unreliable.

For initial findings from this grant, see: CIRCLE Working Paper 16: News for a New Generation Report 1: Content Analysis, Interviews, and Focus Groups