Name: Edward Mutua

Age: 35

Gender: Male

Highest level of education: PHD

Occupation: Youth Representative

Religion: Staunch Christian: SDA

Ethnicity: Kenyan

County: Nairobi

Motivations (What motivates this person's participation in civic engagement through digital media?)

• To create an open channel for citizen interaction and direct engagement

• To reach a large and diverse number of people and communities on platforms they already use

• To control the narrative on key issues

• To understand digital platforms so as to create effective laws and regulations that will protect users on the internet

Aspirations (What aspirations does this individual have of civic engagement in the digital space?)

• As a government official, he would want to set the tone on issues on the digital space i.e. misinformation and how to cope with them through civic engagement

• Ensure that individuals especially young people are able to make politically informed decisions

• Ensure a positive correlation between digital civic engagement by young people and offline youth political participation

Challenges (What obstacles or barriers does this person’s face in their civic engagement digitally?)

• Fake news (Political misperceptions)

• Differing political opinions

• Lack of trust; A lot of young people have low levels of trust on information shared on the internet

• Harassment and Trolling

• Data and Surveillance; Indelible traces about a person may be generated and stored by an unintended party without their knowledge.

Support (What support does this individual need to increase their digital and media literacy in order to participate in civic engagements?)

• Acquire Digital Media literacy skills on how to manage risks on social media so as to protect their reputation

• Specific metrics and indicators that will assist him in measuring his social media impact

• Promote and support civic education and development of digital literacies and skills in young people i.e. Encourage other ministries to invest in fostering the development of digital skills because lack of digital skills and literacy including critical thinking and ability to use digital platforms can hinder young people from participating.

Opportunities (what can this person take advantage of digitally to improve their civic engagement?)

• The ability to reach marginalized, hard to reach people and young people

• Community Research; through exploration of communities on digital media to learn about their assets and how they are affected by current social problems and to come up with solutions.

• Unite with activists to bring forward petitions to the government

• Use digital media as a channel for citizens to file complaints i.e. report issues to different ministries for instance reporting of lack of morality in music videos and movies shown on family channels on Kenyan television to the ministry of entertainment.

Leadership moment (When, where and how does this person feel they can take actions/roles/opportunities to lead and influence civically in the digital space?)

• When they engage citizens in public policy discussions.

• Through community creation (Creation of one big community that is united) and involvement on digital platforms to eliminate issues that cause political division such as tribe and ethnicity issues.

• Ensuring that the information they put out is true and factual

Quote (“As government we are actively setting up policies and laws that will protect digital media consumers from having their data harvested or stolen”)

“Youth are less invested in ‘dutiful’ citizenship acts; favouring personalised engagement through digital networking, self-expression, protests and volunteerism.”

Where does this individual get their civic/political information? (e.g. news, opportunities)

Firsthand from fellow government officials and politicians

• News

• Newspapers

• Digital Platforms

• Connections; such as friends in media and high people in the public and private sector

• Blogs

Digital Access and Literacy

• How comfortable is this person with using digital communication tools? Very Comfortable

• What digital devices do they have frequent (every day) access to e.g. computer, mobile? Television,Radio,Mobile,Laptop

• What digital communication tools do they use the most? (WhatsApp, social media – facebook etc) Facebook,Whatsapp,Twitter,Internet Search

• How does this person describe their internet connectivity? Very Stable

What types of media is this person attracted to (i.e. sources, formats, etc.)?

• Reports

• Articles

• Academic writing on digital media usage

What digital media literacy learning and research questions does this person need/want to know?

• What are the active enablers of digital civic engagement by youth i.e. equitable access to technology, civic education etc.

• What are the important tactics in the repertoire (skills/types of behavior that young people typically use on digital platforms of digital civic engagement i.e. Use of humor, memes etc.