Editorial

Marcus Foth

Atari Metcalf and his colleagues report on a research and youth development initiative by The Inspire Foundation that looks at the role information and communication technology plays in the life and well-being of young people. The objective is to promote civic engagement and social connectedness with young people at risk of mental health issues and experiencing marginalisation. The article traces the project’s development and seeks to better understand young people’s use of ICT and outline new media literacy skills necessary to promote and support civic engagement and social connectedness.

Christine Satchell presents research findings derived from two new media and mobile technology studies into the identity formation of young people in digital environments. She describes how the challenges for digital identity management systems in these studies were responded to with design solutions, and offers a set of lessons and recommendations how these ideas relate to organisations in the non-profit and community sector. Christine was a keynote speaker at Making Links 2007.

Ali Asghar Kia provides a unique account of the situation of young people in Iran accessing the Internet to satisfy personal and collective communication and interaction needs. He discusses the role the Internet plays in the everyday life of young people who participated in his study. His paper offers a rich analysis of the way Internet access and usage shape and impact on how these young people form, represent and experience their identity between traditional and modern lifestyle choices.

Danny Butt was the second keynote speaker at Making Links 2007. His article highlights some of the problems associated with planning, executing and evaluating development projects that seek to take the benefits of new media and information and communication technology to local communities. Danny suggests a way forward by avoiding an externally forced upon focus on short term practical outcomes and instead recommends a nuanced communication approach in order to manage and balance the expectations of external stakeholders.

Edwina Luck and Elizabeth Buchanan wrote a paper that is not based on a presentation given at the Making Links 2007 conference, but we felt that its topic and contribution was sufficiently complementary to the theme of this issue that it warranted inclusion. The article looks at sporting organisations in Australia and discusses their current communication and membership outreach strategies. In a number of ways, sporting organisations – being attractive to and populated by a majority of young people – face similar concerns and challenges as other non-profit and community organisations, and this paper presents a thorough study that points at ways organisational capacity can be strengthened to meet the contemporary communication needs of members and constituents.