Headstream
Collab Lab 2021

Through Collab Lab, Headstream broke down barriers between young individuals and adults, uniting six young talents with tech professionals from the largest social media and gaming companies like YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook. In this two-month program, they collaborated to create a safer online space, exploring innovative co-creation practices that can be applied across various organizations within the tech sector.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Authentic
co-creation

Collab-Lab sparked authentic co-creation, where youth professionals  and tech experts collaboratively designed solutions that promoted positive and meaningful online experiences for young people and that can be replicated in other companies. Through four youth-led workshops, participants:

  • Engaged in meaningful discussions and activities focused on building collective principles of digital wellbeing
  • Translated youth stories into product co-creation
  • Applied digital well-being principles to real-world digital use cases
  • Brought the spirit of youth voices back to their respective social tech companies.

OUTCOMES

Youth Digital Well-being Principles [YDWP]:

Participants harnessed their collective insights into a video series around youth digital wellness. These videos represent the essence of youth perspectives and collaborative efforts, playing a pivotal role in advancing YDWP and promoting an inclusive, innovative approach to digital product development.

Watch the Video Series Here

Youth Digital Well-being Principles

1. Safety as a Foundation for Digital Well-being

In this video, Headstream introduces the Youth Digital Well-being Principles. Safety is the foundational principle of digital wellbeing and it means different things to different people, especially for youth. Learn more about what safety looks like for youth and why it is important to design with their perspective in mind.

In this video, we will explore the principles of Building Healthy Communities, Diversity and Representation of Your Online Experience, and Agency Over Your Online Experience. Dive in as we discuss how these three principles set the foundation for healthy digital spaces.

Once the foundation is built, maintaining healthy spaces online requires integrating the following Youth Digital Wellbeing Principles: Fun-Filling Online Experiences, Transparency and Education on the Impact of Our Tech Experience, and Progress to Adapt and Develop Platforms.

Our final principle, Authenticity in How You Show Up Online, is the most important value for young people’s digital experience to be a truly fulfilling one.

Youth Co-Creation in Action

This video will explore the importance of young people as co-creators when building social technologies.

Explore the different ways you can authentically empower youth to co-create with your organization.

Youth have amazing ideas to create and innovate digital spaces to truly empower young people today. Tech companies have an opportunity to support youth in the creation of their ideas that can impact the way youth's digital well-being is brought into the tech industry at large.

Bringing in youth as systems innovators means giving young people a seat at the table where large-scale decisions are being made. In this video, explore why it is important to bring in youth as decision-makers, how to build them a seat at the table, and practical ways to get started.

Our final video of the co-creation segment will explain the tremendous impact that comes from centering young users in the design of your technology and pathways to start co-creating today.

Meet Our Participants

Youth Professionals

Arielle Geismar
Bomi Ayandipo
Dami Ayandipo
Harini Sridar
Nathan Asher
Megha Sharma

Tech Practitioners

Angela Hession
VP Trust and Safety,
Twitch
Dona Bellow
Responsible Innovation Manager, Facebook
Laura Higgins
Director of Community Safety & Digital Civility, Roblox
Natasha Miller
Senior Research Scientist, Blizzard Entertainment
Parita Kapadia
UX Designer,
Youtube