Youth–Adult Partnerships in Digital Spaces: Redesigning an Online Writing Community Together

Abstract

This paper explores how an intergenerational research team (n = 21) used a three-phase participatory design approach and youth–adult partnerships to establish a youth-led digital writing community on Discord. Findings analyze three “moments of emergence”: (1) a moment in which we navigated tensions between our intergenerational writerly affinities and the persistence of youth–adult hierarchies; (2) a moment in which youth expertise became visible; (3) a moment in which we restructured our roles by changing our governance systems. We argue that noticing “moments of emergence”—dynamic moments in which tensions and possibilities become part of the broader discourse of a group—can be used as catalysts for redesigning spaces, activities, and relationships, as well as for disrupting adult–youth power imbalances in online spaces. Such work is particularly urgent given the turn toward digital platforms for connecting educators, researchers, and youth, requiring adults to think carefully about how not to inscribe, replicate, or exacerbate existing inequities.