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. 2016;29(10):1287-1307.
doi: 10.1080/09518398.2016.1201609. Epub 2016 Oct 13.

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) 2.0: how technological innovation and digital organizing sparked a food revolution in East Oakland

Antwi Akom  1   2 , Aekta Shah  3   4 , Aaron Nakai  3 , Tessa Cruz  3
Affiliations

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) 2.0: how technological innovation and digital organizing sparked a food revolution in East Oakland

Antwi Akom et al. Int J Qual Stud Educ. 2016.

Abstract

This article argues that technological innovation is transforming the flow of information, the fluidity of social action, and is giving birth to new forms of bottom up innovation that are capable of expanding and exploding old theories of reproduction and resistance because 'smart mobs', 'street knowledge', and 'social movements' cannot be neutralized by powerful structural forces in the same old ways. The purpose of this article is to develop the concept of YPAR 2.0 in which new technologies enable young people to visualize, validate, and transform social inequalities by using local knowledge in innovative ways that deepen civic engagement, democratize data, expand educational opportunity, inform policy, and mobilize community assets. Specifically this article documents how digital technology (including a mobile, mapping and SMS platform called Streetwyze and paper-mapping tool Local Ground) - coupled with 'ground-truthing' - an approach in which community members work with researchers to collect and verify 'public' data - sparked a food revolution in East Oakland that led to an increase in young people's self-esteem, environmental stewardship, academic engagement, and positioned urban youth to become community leaders and community builders who are connected and committed to health and well-being of their neighborhoods. This article provides an overview of how the YPAR 2.0 Model was developed along with recommendations and implications for future research and collaborations between youth, teachers, neighborhood leaders, and youth serving organizations.

Keywords: CPBR; People sensors; Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR); citizen science; digital organizing; environmental justice; location-based services.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
YPAR 2.0 visual. Source: Adapted from Flicker et al. (2008).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Models of YPAR continuum.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Summary of interview data of 30 youth participants over 3 years.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Itemized list of most sold items at seven food retail outlets on MacArthur Boulevard.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Official public database vs. ‘Ground-truthed’ Database. Source: Images from Local Ground.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Data layers.
Figure 7
Figure 7
YPAR 2.0 Model of research engagement. Source: Adapted from González et al. (2007).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Agyeman J. Just sustainabilities: Development in an unequal world. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2003.
    1. Akom AA. Ameritocracy and infra-racial racism: Racializing social and cultural reproduction theory in the twenty-first century. Race Ethnicity and Education. 2008;11:205–230.
    1. Akom AA. Critical race theory meets participatory action research: Creating a community of youth as public intellectuals. In: Ayers W, Quinn T, Stovall D, editors. Social justice in education handbook. New York, NY: Erlbaum Press; 2009a. pp. 508–521.
    1. Akom AA. Research for liberation: Du Bois, the Chicago school, and the development of black emancipatory action research. In: Anderson NS, Kharem H, editors. Education as a practice of freedom: African American educational thought and ideology. New York, NY: Lexington Press; 2009b. pp. 193–212.

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