Launch of Digital Youth Month

Manon Michaudet

3rd edition of the Digital Youth Month
The digital age, a world of possibility!

Montreal, January 26th, 2022 – Digital Youth Month (DYM) will be held February 1 through March 6. An annual event aimed at young people under 35 who will be able to discover a wide range of activities and resources online thanks to a new programming platform (WWW.DYM.QUEBEC).

Types of activities included in the programming

Workshops and trainings ✺ Conferences ✺ Discoveries ✺ Exhibitions ✺ Shows ✺ Video games ✺ Hackathon Careers ✺ Youth and teacher resource directory

Jonathan le Prof, the 3rd edition ambassador of the DYM

The high school social studies teacher from Rouyn-Noranda is well known as an educational influencer on social media: “Allowing young people to use the Web in an entertaining way while becoming informed is a way to get their interest! Facilitating access to online resources is also a way to ensure equal opportunity. Young people living in remote areas, in particular, may have less access to facilities where they can experiment with technology. The Digital Month platform allows them to do this, in addition to learning about various issues such as algorithms and their impacts.”

“Studying, working and communicating in the digital age has its share of challenges! We are fortunate to count on various actors in Quebec who are developing innovative activities and tools to accompany young people so that they can become awake, critical and creative citizens”,

explains Mehdi Benboubakeur,
Executive Director of Montreal Digital Spring (Printemps numérique).

Some observations:

“The school closures caused by the health crisis have helped highlight digital and academic inequities as schools, students and their families have experienced everything online.” [Simon Collin, Chaire de recherche du Canada sur l’équité numérique en éducation, UQÀM 2020];
As of 2019, the tech industry represented more than 136,000 jobs in Quebec, and it has been growing ever since. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic has created new technological needs. [Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation, 2019];
In 2020, women represented 22% of the ICT workforce and this figure has been on a downward trend for several years. [TECHNOCompétences – Comité sectoriel de main-d’oeuvre (CSMO) en technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) 2020].

As the development of digital skills and the future of young people is everyone’s business, Montreal Digital Spring and the organizing committee (École Branchée, Communautique, Tobo, Réseau des Carrefours jeunesse-emploi du Québec and Musée de la civilisation de Québec) have united their efforts to bring together a pan-Quebec community in digital literacy.

In addition to the calendar of activities, to raise awareness of the issues of the Citizen’s Charter in the digital age, “transparency” is in the spotlight this year: all users should be able to access understandable information about the processing, distribution and storage of their data.

Montreal Digital Spring, which initiated the event, will also offer its own activities as part of the programming:

30 Virtual Digital Cafés: an immersive experience with a 3D Virtual World (Metavers) to introduce high school students to digital possibilities;
4 Facebook LIVE with inspirational young professionals from the digital field, who will speak up about and question the concept of mindful digital (on February 8, 10, 15 and 17 at 6PM, open to all);
A video creation contest for people from 16 to 29, aiming to promote the “transparency” issue;
A Webinar with Nellie Brière on Facebook Live as part of the Quebec digital literacy Concertation table and #intersections (on february 24 at 12PM, open to all).

DISCOVER THE ACTIVITIES

– 30 –

3rd edition of the Digital Youth Month The digital age, a world of possibility!