Impulse youth gathering 2012 ”Social e://UROPE: Digital transformation of European Citizenship”

After we have been asked frequently over the last few weeks: We have now set up the new Impulse Programme for next years international youth gathering (17th - 23rd of June 2012): Title and Topic: 

”Social e://UROPE: Digital transformation of European Citizenship”

Find the Programme and the registration form here 

Voices from this year: 1 / 2 / 3

Further Programme information:

The emergence of Web 2.0 has driven the excitement about web-based applications that are characterized by interactivity, collaboration and information sharing. Moreover, these applications enable Internet users to produce and publish so-called user-generated content with great ease. Users have become producers‘, which means that they simultaneously consume and produce information. Web 2.0 platforms which facilitate the production and dissemination of information have been growing tremendously over the past few years. They allow for the involvement in participatory cultures to share individual expressions or creations. Furthermore, people with similar interests and goals are enabled to connect with each other on blogs, social networking sites, video- photo- and music aggregators, social bookmarking sites and collaborative platforms, such as wikis.

The Web 2.0 ideology is characterized by certain promises, such as increased democracy, openness, the end of hierarchies, the power of many, free services, the rise of the professional amateur, and a rich and convenient user experience. Several concepts are often used by enthusiasts to promote these ideas, including folksonomy, wisdom of the crowds, crowdsourcing, remix culture, and produsage-based journalism.

However, instead of merely highlighting positive implications, this youth gathering is concerned with critically engaging the cultural, economic and political dimensions of the Web 2.0. The realm of social media is an emergent political field that is here to stay, given the continuous development and expansion of social media platforms. This has enormous implications for the millions of individuals who use social network sites. Although social media enable users to interact in new, enjoyable and useful ways, they are also criticized for their privacy issues, constraints of their software, and the exploitation of user generated content. Together with young Europeans we are going to learn from and with each other how to make our voices heard within a Europe of diversity. The challenges European citizens are facing right now are manifold. High unemployment rates among the young generations, a financial crisis that has not yet reached its peak, the implications of globalization on Europe, migration, racism etc. – the list could be continued endlessly.

The transformation of European society is imminent and we want to be part of that process. Together we will start shaping European citizenship and European identity. It is up to us to develop not only the ideas to overcome European obstacles, it is also important to know how to amplify the voices to get the messages across. Therefore we will document all our different ideas and approaches on a seminar-blog that will gain attention and spread our achievements. We will explore various ways to multiply the idea of European citizenship and join public discourse. In the long-range we aim at providing all participants with a deeper knowledge about social communication and participation strategies – a mixture of a deepening European awareness and a Blog ( plus an API toolbox) to spread the message sustainably are the two main objectives of this seminar.