Reflections on You Tube as a Site for Civic Engagement and Learning

This paper is based on a public lecture held at Soka University in Tokyo, on June 6 th, 2018. It explores some of the literature and my insights around young people’s usage of social media platforms and YouTube specifically for civic engagement and learning. First, I address the prevalence of social media in Canada and Japan, and explore some concerns that arise around the relationships between technology and youth. I introduce concepts like civic engagement and participatory cultures to examine the relationships between their consumption and production of social media texts- on YouTube particularly- with online political participation and learning. I end this paper with my thoughts on the importance of YouTube media education for critical pedagogy. This paper aims to motivate educators to recognize the important political and educational role that YouTube plays in the lives of modern youth, and to critically explore this platform with their students.departmental bulletin pape