Could you write on Youth Culture and Net Culture: Online Social Practices

[Tim Davies]

I've just had an e-mail drop into my inbox with a call for proposals for chapters in an upcoming book on 'Youth Culture and Net Culture: Online Social Practices'.

The brief for the book suggests that chapters might cover issues including:

# Adults' reactions towards young people's Internet use
# Youth culture in a historic perspective
# What young people are doing online; description and problematisation
# Abusive practices; cyber bullying and online harassment
# Online sexual predators and their victims
# Personal online security; monitoring, education or filtering?
# Gender issues in young people's Net cultures
# Young people's identity construction in a gender perspective
# Overuse or addiction? What does up to date research say?

Which shows a real need for the team working on the book to receive some chapter proposals which offer a bit more of a balanced view of young people's online lives - covering not least young people's online creativity, enterprise, participation and activism. The suggested chapter titles above also give the impression that the editors are thinking in terms of an offline-online divide in young people's lives - which many practitioners know is hard to detect.

So: anyone in the Youth Work Online network up for submitting a chapter idea? There would be a bit of research & writing to do - and it would be great if young people were involved in putting together the chapter - but it would be great to see more balance and insights from the field making it into the debate. (And I'd love to have some good stuff to read and quote next year...)

You can find out more here and respond to the call for chapter proposals.

[Charlie Bluglass]

I like the rural isolation one, let me think on...

[Simon Stewart]

Tim I've had a few thoughts maybe something along the lines of 'switched off' what are the social consequences within the peer group if they switch off, is this perceived as a social snub, is there pressure to remain 'connected' that type of idea. I like the isolation agenda as it raises the profile of an issue of great importance and could build on the theme of access for 'the enabled' enabling young people in a range of groupings to benefit, rural isolation, disability etc.

[mas]

Maybe some positive stuff - like how new opportunities are being presented, how increased connectivity benefits those otherwise in isolation (geographical, health etc.), how young people enjoy spending heir time online, what potential there is for change through online services, how integral the web is to normal life and how it likely to become increasingly so and what affect that will have on society

The brief so far looks like same old same old. Be nice to see something different.....