Why?
Young people grow up in an environment that is increasingly driven by and dependent upon digital technologies. Their social, learning and play spaces are being encroached upon by ubiquitous technologies so that the divide between public and private, online and offline is being eroded. At a time of crucial development this leaves them exposed to a unique set of challenges, such as tech habits and addiction, information pollution, algorithms and discrimination and data surveillance. But what do youth want?
What?
"What The Future Wants" is a creative, playful, youth-focused initiative by Tactical Tech designed to empower young people to shape the digital world they want to live in. Through visually engaging and captivating educational interventions and resources co-created with youth and educators, we foster spaces for conversations about how technology impacts our lives—from the individual to the societal and planetary levels. Moreover, we aim to build educators' capacity to lead initiatives that cultivate a sense of agency among youth in responding to the challenges of growing up in a tech-driven world.
What The Future Wants educational interventions
What The Future Wants Exhibition: Debut edition
A visually captivating public education intervention, co-developed with young people, that explores the profound impacts of technology on society. This exhibition pioneers creative and adaptable resources that equip educators to help young people navigate - the challenges of growing up in a tech-driven world.
Featuring posters, interactive activities, and thematic-workshops, this exhibition aspires to create visually stimulating, playful, and unconventional analogue formats designed to captivate young audiences and trigger important conversations and reflections.
Explore the exhibition.Set-up of the What The Future Wants exhibition. Image by La Loma, Berlin, 2022.
Participant interacting with What The Future Wants exhibition posters. Image by Nigeria ICAD, 2022.
Participant of the What The Future Wants exhibition activities. Image by the Young Catholic Students (IYCS) Africa.
Participant interacting with What The Future Wants exhibition. Image by Casa Hacker
Everywhere, All The Time Exhibition
“Everywhere, All the Time” is a creative and playful digital literacy intervention for teens that fosters critical conversions about AI, technology and it's impacts. Co-developed with 300 young people and 100 educators worldwide, it includes sets of easy-to-print and install posters, activity cards and an extensive educators' guidebook.
These resources assist educators in guiding teens to explore crucial topics, including understanding how AI chatbots work and the hidden labour behind technology, recognising the attention-grabbing designs behind popular games, and learning about the physical infrastructures that power the internet, among many other topics.
Explore the exhibition.Everywhere, All the Time Exhibition, Sao Paulo, 2024. Image courtesy of Avenues.
Activity cards of the Everywhere All The Time Exhibition. Image by Tactical Tech
Training and workshops
The project also provides workshops and Training-Of-Trainers programmes to schools, cultural centers, museums, libraries and any organisation working with youth that build the capacity of educators to host media literacy interventions, combining thematic workshops with practical methods. The sessions focus on digital safety, security, and well-being, enhancing their capacity for effective media literacy.
Assets, resources and materials you can discover, use and adapt:
- Digital literacy creative exhibitions including interactive posters and activities in different formats and digital versions
- Educational activities
- Educators Guides for educators and facilitators.
- Co-development Methodologies
What the Future Wants is interesting for:
- Civil society organisations & rights groups
- Educators, facilitators, schools & universities
- Librarians, museums, community and cultural centres
- Other organisations and individuals who want to promote digital and media literacy among young people.
“The collaboration with TT resulted in the development of WTFW. This exhibit has been an attractive offer for many of our partner schools in Southeast Europe. It provided additional impulses within our efforts to promote information and media literacy among young people in the region.”Gordana Baboska and Falk Schleicher from the Dept. of Educational Cooperation at Goethe-Institut Skopje
“Tactical Tech has a wealth of resources on digital security, privacy, misinformation and well-being in accessible formats and various languages. The main strengths of these resources pertain to their design in collaboration with partners of diverse backgrounds from around the world. These have been used to facilitate discussions around the implications of digital technologies, present practical solutions accessible to broader audiences, and inspire communities to build upon Tactical Tech’s materials and start alternative initiatives.”Soledad Magnone, director of JAAKLAC
“The resources that Tactical Tech created in digital literacy are highly engaging. The curation of content and topics for the exhibition and clear-set instructions make knowledge transfer easy. Tactical Tech exhibitions have helped me be a better listener of the youth. It allowed them to express, and for the first time for most, thoughts about their devices, technology and society.”Ashkumar Gopalani, leader of the Voices of What The Future Wants in India project
What the Future Wants Highlights
The "What the Future Wants" project and its interactive exhibition fulfilled educators’ needs for engaging and creative media literacy resources.
460eventswere hosted worldwide together with our partners.
50+countrieswhere the events and interventions took place.
22,700young peoplewere engaged in critical conversations.
Causas Digitales: Creating a movement around digital change in Latin America
"I imagine a future in which the digital ecosystem is framed by human rights and centred on our younger generations", says Soledad Magnone, director of JAAKLAC, an organisation that advocates for a quality education tuned with the challenges and opportunities of the digital age.
JAAKLAC collaborated with Tactical Tech to implement social media campaigns and ideate plans for community exhibitions in Latin America with and for youth. Through their work, they raised awareness and facilitated educational resources on various pressing issues in the region stemming from the intersections...
Read more →Goethe-Institut Skopje: Promoting conversations around youth and
technology in Southeast Europe
Goethe-Institut Skopje partnered with What the Future Wants to promote critical digital literacy in young people across Goethe-Instituts in Southeast Europe. They organized co-development workshops, translated the exhibition into multiple languages, and collaborated with schools and civil society organizations to host exhibitions throughout the region. This initiative created safe spaces for learning and critical thinking about the impact of digital technologies on youth and their communities.
A notable highlight was the exhibition hosted in Skopje, North Macedonia, as part of the...
Read more →Voices of WTFW in India: changing the conversation among libraries and
young people in India
Voices of WTFW in India is a project by digital literacy educator Ashkumar G. in partnership with the Free Libraries Network, Community Library Project and Next Page Foundation. The initiative translated the What the Future Wants exhibition and its supporting materials into Hindi to make them more accessible to young people from Hindi-speaking communities in India.
The project hosted 12 rounds of facilitated What the Future Wants exhibitions in English and Hindi that engaged more than 100 young people in Mumbai, New Dehli and Gurugram. “Now, the network of libraries is organizing...
Read more →ForSet : Promoting digital literacy among youth and educators across Georgia
ForSet, a creative enterprise based in Tbilisi, empowers change-makers through data, design, and technology. They translated The Glass Room: Misinformation Edition and What the Future Wants into Georgian, showcasing the Misinformation Edition at DataFest Tbilisi 2022 with over 600 attendees.
Using these translated resources, ForSet organized an event at the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. It brought together university students, journalists, employees from private companies, artists, civil servants, and digital literacy stakeholders, including NGO representatives and the...
Read more →Casa Hacker: Co-developing education and digital inclusion programs in Brazil
Meet Casa Hacker, a Brazilian organisation that empowers communities to transform their realities through digital inclusion and STEAM Education. Their dream is to make the internet and digital technologies an inclusive space for everyone in Brazil.
During the last year, Casa Hacker collaborated with Tactical Tech’s initiatives: The Glass Room and What the Future Wants to run three capacity-building events in 3 cities: Campinas, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Over 100 young people and educators actively participated in dialogues and debates on privacy, security, disinformation and...
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The Glass Room: experiences that invite people to examine their digital lives
This public intervention and interactive experience invites visitors to reflect on how technology impacts their lives and society. Available in multiple formats, from large-scale exhibitions to low-cost self-print formats, it is easily used and adapted. It features printed and digital poster exhibitions, animations, apps, workshop curricula, and other assets in around 30 languages.
Read more →Data Detox Kit: Practical steps and tool to improve your online life
The Data Detox Kit, available in over 45 languages, offers tips, tools, and concrete steps to improve your online life, enabling informed choices and personalized digital habits. It includes over 30 guides, workshop outlines for educators, an alternative App Centre, and a resources page on digital privacy, security, environmental impact, wellbeing, and tackling misinformation.
Read more →Digital Enquirer Kit: An E-learning platform to navigate the internet safely
This e-learning interactive course advances and disseminates knowledge on media literacy, verification, and safe Internet navigation. The course contains simple explanations and real-world examples illustrating secure research and information-gathering methods. The modules feature engaging and creative formats, such as tutorials, quizzes, and interactive games.
Read more →The Influence Industry Project: Understanding the industry behind our
opinions
This project produces research, resources and masterclasses on digital influence, focusing on its impact on public opinion, particularly in politics. It examines the global industry companies that use digital technologies and personal data to shape opinions. The project offers an accessible database of industry actors, case studies, and research methodologies.
Read more →Exposing The Invisible: Advancing the investigative community's capacity
The project offers comprehensive resources, workshops, and institutes on investigative tools and methodologies for civil society actors such as media organizations, experts, researchers, academics, investigators, and journalists. It fosters spaces for collaboration and exchange to enhance the capacity of today’s global community of digital and OSINT investigators.
Read more →
