#BeyondTheBullets

THE Complexities and Ethical Challenges of Interpreting Social Media Posts

In this workshop, participants will explore the complexities of interpreting social media posts from young people in neighborhoods with high rates of violence. Additionally, we will consider the ethical challenges we face when involving digital constructed selves of the people we serve in our respective professional fields.

As participants, you will apply your own theoretical and practical frameworks from your professional field along with your personal experiences and perceptions to critically analyze social media posts from gang-involved and/or affiliated youth in Chicago. Together, we will challenge our frameworks and perceptions, while asking questions we may not have answers to.

learning oBJECTIVES

1.    Humanize gang-involved and affiliated young people - Begin to see these young people beyond popular and dehumanizing tropes through multiple critical lens.

2.    Discern meaning from social media content - Begin to practice and explore intent and interpretation of social media content from contexts different from our own.

3.    Challenge our frameworks surrounding participants and clients - Begin to challenge our own frameworks around how we view young people who are on the receiving end of our prevention and intervention programs and strategies.

4.    Ethical Challenges of digital research/therapy - Examine the ethical challenges surrounding research and therapy in digital spaces and with people experiencing interpersonal, institutional, and systemic marginalization and exploitation.