During this last session an old pitfall showed up. When talking about tools, technical opportunities, new apps and other online novities one tends to lose the focus of the main aim: what can these means add to the support youth workers offer to young people. For a while it looked as if the means became the goals – which happens more often. For instance, when talking to a developer about an assessment tool the developer will be eager to put in a lot of technical amazing features. Which can easily end up in a huge, user unfriendly tool that costs much too much money and the users will resent to use. This is a serious issue that youth workers should be aware of in their cooperation with developers and technicians of online tools and apps.
During the conference I also had the chance to facilitate a smaller group discussion on a subject that I was curious about:
How can we use online youth work to reach “new’ target groups (e.g. vulnerable youngsters or youngsters at risk).A question that unfortunately became more current in the weeks after the conference. Because of the lockdowns and schools and youth clubs closed children and youngsters in menacing domestic situations or who are victims of physical or sexual abuse where suddenly homebound and had hardly any means to escape their aggressors. Many of them got out of sight of their teachers, youth workers or social workers. So, this definitely has become a more urgent mission for youth workers and developers: how to answer that question more effective in the very near future.
