What is it about?
This paper is about how people from different fields—like teachers, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and tech industry professionals—can work together to make the internet safer for young people. While most online safety efforts (understandably!) focus on parents and teens, our study looked at the “behind-the-scenes” adults who design, study, and manage digital spaces. We found that each group wants to help, but they often have different goals and ways of measuring success. By listening to these perspectives, we developed practical ways for them to collaborate more effectively—through shared goals, open communication, and fair, transparent leadership.
Featured Image
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Every day, young people face risks online—from harmful content to privacy violations. No single group—whether parents, schools, or tech companies—can solve these challenges alone. This research shows that when we bring together people who care about youth safety from different backgrounds and professions, we can create stronger, more inclusive solutions that protect young people and empower them to thrive in digital spaces.
Perspectives
Our team is deeply proud of this work because it reflects what collaboration should look like—people with different expertise coming together to solve a shared problem. We were inspired by the honesty of our participants, who care deeply about youth safety but often feel isolated in their efforts. By giving voice to those working behind the scenes and mapping out a clearer, more connected way forward, we hope this research helps build the kind of trust, openness, and shared purpose that makes real change possible.
Liz Sweigart
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Building a Village: A Multi-stakeholder Approach to Open Innovation and Shared Governance to Promote Youth Online Safety, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, October 2025, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3757459.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
