“So My Views Actually Matter in the Democratic Processes?” - How Did Various Youths Experience the Design and User Research Workshops of an EParticipation Platform

The precondition for the democratic development of societies is the participation of youths from various backgrounds. Possibilities or actual participation should not be the rights of only the gatekeeper youths who have the abilities and position to participate. eParticipation platforms can play a substantial role in the democratic development of societies because digital platforms may at best enable and strengthen the participation of youths from various backgrounds. However, how much attention is placed on the design processes of such eParticipation platforms and how the views of the youths from various backgrounds are integrated in the design processes? eParticipation platforms alone do not guarantee participation for all kinds of youths or the actualization of equal rights of youths to participate. Looking ahead means to taking stock of the past. Thus, the need to study and understand the various user needs concerning eParticipation platforms is vital in order to create inclusive eParticipation platforms in the future. This multidisciplinary case study addresses the development of an eParticipation platform in Finland and especially the related user research workshops. The research questions are: 1) How did the participants experience the user research workshops? 2) How do the experiences differ between youths from various backgrounds? 3) How should the various backgrounds of youth be considered when designing eParticipation platforms? The study thus focuses on how the participants experienced the design workshops and on the experience discrepancies between youths with various backgrounds. We also address the question of various backgrounds of youths in design process and the related user studies. The platform the research focuses on aims to enable youth centred participation to various democratic processes on state and municipality levels. If the various needs and limitations of the youths that are on the fringe of participating are neglected, the power relations present in more traditional ways of participation can manifest in the digital solutions also. Therefore, at worse the participation will be the right of only some youths. Thus, the design processes should address the existing power relations but also foresee the possible new ones among youths and between youths and adults. Therefore, it should be widely addressed, who should be enabled to participate in the different phases of design processes of eParticipation services and how it affect the participation to democratic processes. In these design processes of eParticipation platform(s), the needs, wishes and expertises of youths from various backgrounds should be considered to enable the creation of more inclusive and equal possibilities for participation.