Researchers' Toolbox for the Future: Empowering Children to Shape Their Future
Sirkku Kotilainen, Jussi Okkonen, Guna Spurava, Ole Sejer Iversen, Netta Iivari, Marianne Kinnula, Sumita Sharma · 2020
There is an increasing emphasis on empowering children through co-design and co-creation of technology that shapes their learning, wellbeing and lifestyle, and everyday lived experiences. However, several questions emerge: what does it really mean to empower children, what have we achieved thus far, and where are we headed now, as we fight the ongoing pandemic, and in the future when the pandemic is behind us? This workshop aims to answer such questions by investigating, through a strategy approach, different forms of empowerment of children and related ethical, practical, political, and technological implications, in line with this year's conference theme of “shaping experiences, shaping society." The outcome of the workshop includes a methodological toolbox for researchers working towards empowerment of children and other vulnerable users, with an aim to enable inquiry, design, and critical examination of children's socio-technological futures.