Digital rights in digital exclusion settings: the experiences of institutionalised youth in Portuguese detention centres

Abstract

ABSTRACT Institutionalised youths who are digitally disconnected while long-standing in detention centres (in Portugal, these are called educational centres) face constraints to their digital rights. Given that most youths already come from deprived contexts, their present and future lives are deeply challenged. This article explores data collected in the participatory project DiCi-Educa, based on institutionalised youths’ digital media production and critical thinking, regarding issues such as digital citizenship, participation, and otherness. Using a participatory action research (PAR) methodology, they were stimulated to widen their views of the world and reflect on their digital rights and acts of participation using digital media. Institutionalised youths’ understandings before the project were centred on the use of social media, video games, illegal downloads, and hacking. Thus, during the project, they were challenged to debate participatory acts using the internet and digital media as tools for social change. The results point to these tools as relevant opportunities to the disconnected settings of the ECs. We recommend the need to tackle critical methods for thinking the digital realm as a path to building critical skills with these youths. Widening their views of the world can stimulate their well-being and contribute to avoiding risky behaviours.