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BCS and YouthNet to get young people savvier about politics |
Savvy Citizens campaign to get young people to harness technology to access political information.
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT has teamed up with YouthNet to encourage young people to take an active interest in politics through the Institute’s Savvy Citizens campaign.
The Institute believes that although amongst the technologically savviest in society, young people risk becoming politically disenfranchised unless they harness technology to access political information and get involved in the political process, which includes registering to vote.
he Institute has created a top ten list of online resources that allow citizens to find out more about the political process and participate in it.
These are keyword alerts, council monitor, hearfromyourMP, No. 10 petitions, parliament.uk, theyworkforyou, RSS Reader, DirectGov, Twitter and UpMyStreet.
A recent report published by the Hansard Society found that 34 per cent of 18-24 year olds thought that politics was a waste of time, compared to 21 per cent of the population as a whole. Only 27 per cent of that age group thought that they would be certain to vote at the election.
Elizabeth Sparrow, President, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT said: "It is anachronistic that young people, probably the most digitally enabled in society, are not making use of the new platforms available to get savvy and participate in the political process."
"With the Savvy Citizens campaign the Institute hopes that more young people will play an active part in their futures by using the internet to get savvier about the political process."
Further information:
Savvy Citizens
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