Young People, the Internet and Civic Participation (CIVICWEB) is a project aiming to analyse the potential contribution of the internet in promoting civic engagement and participation among young people, aged 15-25. It is a collaborative effort between seven European countries – Great Britain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.
What is basically at issue is the question about the internet’s abilities to provide the young with components of what Putnam (2000) terms social capital, that is, the intellectual and relational assets enabling people to active and informed civic involvement. Another way of describing it is, as for instance Milner (2002) does, in terms of civic literacy, that is, the citizens’ capabilities to adequately understand and make sense of the political world.
