Young People and Seniors in Finnish 'Mobile Information Society'

E-democracy, digital democracy, and e-government are all phenomena that are developing together with ICT sector growth and rapid public-service development processes. Governments, at least in the Nordic countries, have strongly supported change in the Information Society and in electronic services. From a broad perspective the change is not only about transferring the services onto the Internet and making them reachable via different network infrastructures: it is more a question of profound strategic change in public-sector services overall, and a new kind of “virtual” citizenship. Support for traditional political participation will come from technology, online information, 24 hour discussion groups, and local virtual arenas such as municipality web sites. (Grönlund, 2003; Hacker & van Dijk, 2000). Participation, voting, and especially, youth empowerment are important activities for building up the Information Society. Voting rates have declined during the last few years in both local and government elections in Finland. Similar results have also been reported from other European countries (Macintosh et al., 2003). Surprisingly, large groups of young people have totally rejected participation in political elections. This has been seen as a strong sign of the possible destruction of the welfare state, and also a major threat to Western democracy. Participation in elections of people from all social groups, from different geographical areas, and from all age groups has been seen as the most powerful way of committing citizens to the costs and delivery ideology of Nordic welfare-state services. The traditional decision making in the public sector has been strongly in the domain of the professionals, and it has been implemented in top-down official hierarchies. Elements such as formal politics, administration, and civil society are all in the process of transformation. At the same time, emerging technology enables citizens to obtain and actively use all kinds of public information. Information Society rules and regulations have to be rewritten quickly, especially as young people start using the participation channels actively. Today’s youth is familiar with virtual realities in the form of avatars or different kinds of virtual features, and knows how to remain unidentified if necessary.

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Towards mHealth Systems for Support of Psychotherapeutic Practice: A Qualitative Study of Researcher-Clinician Collaboration in System Design and Evaluation

International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications ◽

10.1155/2016/5151793 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Karin Halje ◽

Toomas Timpka ◽

Joakim Ekberg ◽

Magnus Bång ◽

Anders Fröberg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Young People ◽

Collaborative Research ◽

Trial Protocol ◽

Design Phase ◽

System Technology ◽

Organizational Influences ◽

Mobile Information ◽

Mobile Information Systems ◽

Trial Phase

We examined clinicians’ and researchers’ experiences from participation in collaborative research on the introduction of Internet and mobile information systems (mHealth systems) in psychotherapeutic routines. The study used grounded theory methodology and was set in a collaboration that aimed to develop and evaluate mHealth support of psychotherapy provided to young people. Soundness of the central objects developed in the design phase (the collaboration contract, the trial protocol, and the system technology) was a necessary foundation for successful collaborative mHealth research; neglect of unanticipated organizational influences during the trial phase was a factor in collaboration failure. The experiences gained in this study can be used in settings where collaborative research on mHealth systems in mental health is planned.

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Predicting the Participation in Information Society

Interactive Media Use and Youth ◽

10.4018/978-1-60960-206-2.ch012 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 207-221

Author(s):

Sheila Zimic

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Social Factors ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Information Society ◽

Computer Skills ◽

Important Indicator ◽

What Is Said ◽

Digital Skills ◽

Information Skills ◽

Strategic Skills

The approach in this chapter is to recognize what is said to be important regarding the feeling of participation in the information society. The perceived feeling of participation is assumed to be an important indicator for young people´s online experiences. In previous research, digital skills and other related concepts such as self-efficacy and a relationship with technology are shown to be important in order to be able to participate in the information society. In this case, there is an exploration into the amount that social factors, digital skills, self-efficacy and a relationship with technology are able to explain the variance in perceived feelings regarding participation. It has been determined that education, self-efficacy, instrumental computer skills, information skills and strategic skills can explain 22 percent of the variance in the perceived feeling of participation. This implies that young people themselves might define other factors as being more important with regards to participation in the information society.

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Japan's ubiquitous mobile information society

Info ◽

10.1108/14636690410699781 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 234-251 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Lara Srivastava

Keyword(s):

Information Society ◽

Mobile Information

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Back to basics: the role of reading in preparing young people for the information society

Reference Services Review ◽

10.1108/00907320310486818 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 219-226 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gayner Eyre

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Information Society

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The Lifeworld of Youth in the Information Society

Youth & Society ◽

10.1177/0044118x10383655 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 549-567 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Shauna A. Morimoto ◽

Lewis A. Friedland

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Young People ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Information Society ◽

Media Use ◽

Minority Youth ◽

Economic Insecurity ◽

Structural Barriers ◽

Barriers To Achievement ◽

Networked Individualism

Media is now central to how youth form their identities. Media also shapes the cultural background of much of young people’s action and decision making and the institutional framework of social interaction. This article explores this mediated “lifeworld” of young people by examining rates of current media use and the infiltration of media into conventional forms of socialization such as schools, family, and peers. The authors argue that increasing media use coincides with a larger structural shift to an information-based society wherein social relationships are constituted and reinforced through a cycle of “networked individualism” and growing “risk” among youth. The authors illustrate the cycle of media use, individualization, and risk by briefly examining (a) rising economic insecurity among all Americans and American youth in particular, and (b) the contradictions minority youth face in navigating structural barriers to achievement. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of their work and suggesting policy directions for youth in a media-saturated society.

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