Publications

Pawluczuk, A., Hall, H., Webster, G., & Smith, C. (2018). Youth digital participation: Measuring social impact. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science.

Abstract

Current scholarly debate around digital participatory youth projects and approaches to their evaluation are examined in this article. The analysis of the literature presented here reveals (1) an over-reliance on traditional evaluation techniques for such initiatives, and (2) a scarcity of models for the assessment of the social impact of digital participatory youth projects. It is concluded that the challenges and limitations of social impact evaluation practice in digital participatory youth projects should be addressed through the adoption of alternative, participant-centred approaches. These issues are discussed in reference to a currently ongoing study that seeks to identify solutions for enhancing social impact evaluations of participatory digital initiatives by young people.

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000618769975

Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C., & Hall, H. (2019). The Social Impact of Digital Youth Work: What Are We Looking For?. Media and Communication, 7(2), 59-68. doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i2.1907

Abstract

Digital youth work is an emerging field of research and practice which seeks to investigate and support youth-centred digital literacy initiatives. Whilst digital youth work projects have become prominent in Europe in recent years, it has also become increasingly difficult to examine, capture, and understand their social impact. Currently, there is limited understanding of and research on how to measure the social impact of collaborative digital literacy youth projects. This article presents empirical research which explores the ways digital youth workers perceive and evaluate the social impact of their work. Twenty semi-structured interviews were carried out in Scotland, United Kingdom, in 2017. All data were coded in NVivo 10 and analysed using thematic data analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Two problems were identified in this study: (1) limited critical engagement with the social impact evaluation process of digital youth work projects and its outcomes, and (2) lack of consistent definition of the evaluation process to measure the social impact/value of digital youth work. Results of the study are examined within a wider scholarly discourse on the evaluation of youth digital participation, digital literacy, and social impact. It is argued that to progressively work towards a deeper understanding of the social value (positive and negative) of digital youth engagement and their digital literacy needs, further research and youth worker evaluation training are required. Recommendations towards these future changes in practice are also addressed.

Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i2.1907

Pawluczuk, A., Hall, H., Webster, G., & Smith, C. (2019). Digital youth work: youth workers' balancing act between digital innovation and digital literacy insecurity. Information Research: An International Electronic, 24(1).

Introduction. The aim of this paper is to present empirical research which examines the ways youth workers in the United Kingdom perceive their work in the context of digital literacy project facilitation. There is currently limited research focusing on digital youth workers’ perspectives on opportunities and challenges affecting their interactions with and perceptions of young people’s digital literacy. Thus, this study aims to: (1) contribute to the scholarly discussion on digital youth work and digital youth literacy (2) elicit and analyse youth workers’ perceptions of the opportunities and challenges of youth digital literacy project facilitation.

Method. Twenty interviews with digital youth workers in the United Kingdom were conducted in 2017. The interviews were based on themes drawn from a literature review that explored the areas of digital literacy, youth information behaviours in the digital age, digital youth work, and digital youth participation.

Analysis. Research data analysis was guided by grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) methodological approach and conducted using NVivo 10 software. Results show a clear alignment with the existing literature in the areas of youth digital literacy and digital youth work. The analysis presented here focuses on two emerging themes: (1) Digital technologies in youth work: youth workers’ hopes and fears; (2) Digital literacy in youth work: youth worker’s perspectives on the digital skills gap between young people and adult youth work facilitators.

Conclusion. The results of this study reveal that youth workers are both excited and sceptical about the digital development in the field. There is existing anxiety associated with the lack of digital literacy skills in the youth work sector. Thus, it is argued here that further research and practical digital training initiatives should be undertaken to examine youth worker’s digital literacy skills.

Available at:

Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C., & Hall, H. (2017). Evaluating the social impact of youth digital culture co-creation: let's participate and play. In Proceedings of the 31st British Computer Society Human-Computer Interaction Conference (p. 32). BCS Learning & Development Ltd. doi.org/10.14236/ewic/hci2017.32

This paper examines young people's participation in digital culture and current approaches to measure its social impact. The analysis of the literature presented here reveals the current scholarly understanding of the value of digital youth culture, social impact evaluation methods and their limitations. In order to contribute to the analysis of the value of young people's contribution to digital culture, this paper proposes two areas of consideration when working with young people: 1) Youth participation in evaluation; 2) Playful approaches to evaluation.

Available at: https://ewic.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ewic_hci17_4p_paper32.pdf

Publications/ Conference Papers

Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C.F. & Hall, H. (2018). 'Social impact evaluations of digital youth work: tensions between vision & reality'. Presenting at Transmedia Literacy International 2018 on 23rd of March.

Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C.F. & Hall, H. (2019).

'The social impact of digital youth work: what are we looking for?'. Article publication accepted in Media and Communication (ISSN: 2183-2439)

Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C.F. & Hall, H. (2018). 'Digital youth work: youth worker's balancing act between the digital innovation and digital literacy. Research paper presented at ISIC2018 Krakow 2018 October 11.

Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C.F. & Hall, H. (2017). Digital culture co-creation: capturing the social impact of small-scale community projects. Paper to be presented at Ways of Being in a Digital Age – A Review Conference, Liverpool, 10 - 11 October 2017.

Pawluczuk, A., Hall, H., Smith, C. F. & Webster, G. (2017, June). Youth digital participation: measuring social impact. Paper presented at i3 - information: interactions and impact, Aberdeen, Scotland

Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C.F. & Hall, H. (2017). Evaluating the social impact of youth digital culture co-creation: let’s participate and play. Paper to presented at Make Believe – The 2017 British Human Computer Interaction Conference, Sunderland, 3-6 July 2017.

Pawluczuk, A. & P.Kopec (2017). Young innovators in the digital era In The guide to the tools for research of youth in the migrant communities (pp. 54- 64). Warsaw, Erasmus + Program & the School for Leaders for the Polish Community Abroad

Awards

Best poster award at The Digital Human: Humanities and Social Sciences in the Digital Age at the University of Strathclyde (2016).

Best presentation at iDocQ Information Science doctoral colloquium 2016.

Presentations

British HCI doctoral consortium 3rd July 2017

Measuring the social impact of youth digital culture co-creation. British HCI doctoral consortium
PhD poster pesentation
Student paper presentation: Pawluczuk, A., Webster, G., Smith, C.F. & Hall, H. (2017). Evaluating the social impact of youth digital culture co-creation: let’s participate and play. Paper to be presented at Make Believe – The 2017 British Human Computer Interaction Conference, Sunderland, 3-6 July 2017.

i3 - information: interactions and impact, Aberdeen, Scotland

Full paper presentation: Pawluczuk, A., Hall, H., Smith, C. F. & Webster, G. (2017, June). Youth digital participation: measuring social impact. Paper presented at i3 - information: interactions and impact, Aberdeen, Scotland

Edinburgh Napier University's research conference 21st June 2017

3 Minute Thesis Challange
PhD poster presentation

iDocQ 2016 Information Science doctoral colloquium at the University of Strathclyde

20x20 presentation: Measuring the social impact of youth digital culture co-creation in Scotland (best presentation)

Teaching

Lecturer in Design Thinking & Doing at Edinburgh Napier University (2016 and 2017)

Lecturer in Being Digital at Edinburgh Napier University (2017)