Designing for young people's ICT use

Information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet figure very prominently in the lives of contemporary youth; online activities are deeply embedded in their everyday routines. Existing research has identified a number of "genres of participation" in the online behavior of youth, including "hanging out," "messing around," "geeking out," and "doing serious business." This study extends this categorization of genres by identifying a "passing time" genre of participation that also plays a significant role in the online life of youth. In addition, this study posits that understanding young people's online behavior indicates relevant aspects to be considered in ICT design for youth. Thus, as the main contribution of this paper we propose design guidelines for ICT design for youth, extending the present set of design guidelines that address this age group.