Talking it further: from feelings and memories to civic discussions in and about places

Civic engagement systems to date frequently focus on purely rational aspects of deliberation void of emotions. In order to empower youth in a largely immigrant and lower-income neighborhood, we designed a location-based storytelling and story experiencing system for web-enabled mobile phones. The system is based on a novel concept of pervasive play where stories emerge and develop on several dimensions -- most notably for our design a geographical one. This system functions as a research instrument in this paper. Through a qualitative analysis of the comments made through the system, we find (1) memories, feelings, and attitudes to be prime means of expression for youth, (2) the expression of such personal emotions leading to civic discussions, and (3) such discussions expanding over geographic areas in the neighborhood. Consequently, we argue for an approach to locative civic engagement systems that takes a vantage point in youth's emotions rather than a very rational and dry approach to deliberation.