The Edgeryders distributed think tank is entering a new phase: that of building on top of a great amount of data that’s been generated since the launch of our platform. The stories we’ve shared and our interactions - social, peer-to-peer and rewarding learning experiences as they feel - are part of an overriding research goal: to enable us to better inform policy initiatives around youth transition. We’d like to try to make sense of it all, as a community and with the help of a small research team; the team has been reading, analysing and placing Edgeryders material in contexts that the policy world, including institutions, can make sense of - i.e in the form of policy research papers, each addressing a specific theme.
Through this mission we aim to make sense of the material together! If we use the papers as a starting point for an open and collaborative writing process, as a community we can produce something much better than anything 10 experts in a room can put together. After the validation process is done, Rebecca will then synthesize the main points from the papers, and the community discussions around them into a first version of the transition handbook.
The transition handbook aims to leverage Edgeryders’ wisdom to the point where it makes an impact in the policy community, by speaking to individuals in institutions charged with addressing specific issues. The document should also speak directly to young people and other Edgeryders, using key terminology as used by Edgeryders themselves.
Want to help make sense of Edgeryders experiences?
Completing this mission basically means reviewing and reacting to the research papers, so mainly commenting on them as they are posted here as mission reports…
- Start by checking out the summary of Rebecca's and Valentina's ethnographic analysis:
Edgeryders transition: Getting the big picture
Do you recognise yourself in the description? Are there questions or issues you feel should be included? Any questions of your own you would like help in getting answered? Leave comments either in the post or directly on to the full report available in google docs.
- Second report out: research policy paper on innovative ways to make a living that Edgeryders have, their search for meaning and finally, a new policymaking that is evidence based: citizens experts like Edgeryders become subjects of policy
- Third report out: looking back 30 years at education policy in Europe, where it is broken and list of recommendations for improvement. From Edgeryders with love :)
- Fourth report out: Social inclusion has been on the European Commission and Council of Europe's agenda for the last 10 years, and its promise is that of fairer and more equal societies. Edgeryders have their own strategies to build healthy relationships with other people and with themselves. How can we increase their applicability?
- Final report out: Political participation and how it very often is perceived by young people as something different than what is intended by institutions. New cultures of participation and collaboration are being prototyped by Edgeryders, institutions still have a way to go to support small scale grassroots initiatives.
- HANDBOOK DRAFT OUT: A final synthesis of all the discussions and research set against the contemporary political context and what they mean for policymakers and designers of online policy-oriented communities: FULL DRAFT HERE.