Shout, say it, do it, and express yourself! The motto is set for the beginning of the “Expressa-te” (Express Yourself) campaign. It is an initiative of the bYou research project, which invites, until March 2024, all children and young people under 18 to make their voices heard through content on issues that concern or interest them. The works submitted will be published on the online Mural das Expressões (Wall of Expressions), and a selection of these contents will be the object of a physical exhibition in Braga.
Video, podcast, photography, drawing, painting, text, poem, dance, music: all forms of expression are welcome. bYou wants to know the importance of the various media in the day-to-day lives of the younger generation and learn about the issues that most motivate or concern them. bYou, therefore, wants to listen to children and young people on their own terms. The three conditions for participation in the Express Yourself campaign are: being under 18 years old, protecting the identity of participants during the content creation, and not using resources subject to copyright or intellectual property rights.
According to Sara Pereira, bYou’s responsible researcher, the Express Yourself campaign “is part of the project’s second phase, related to children’s participation and expression. Its goal is to get them to use the media and the technologies to express themselves on various topics”. The Wall of Expressions gives shape to this purpose. According to Daniel Brandão, co-researcher responsible for bYou, “the wall and the Express Yourself campaign are a way of implementing the consecrated right to participation” of young people, as stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Learn more about the campaign in the video.
The campaign launch includes the video “Grita, diz, faz…. EXPRESSA-TE!” (Shout, say it, do it, and express yourself!), posted on the project’s YouTube channel, and an audio spot to be broadcast by national and local radio stations.
Besides the Wall of Expressions, the bYou Wall features thematic cards to collect brief opinions from young people and quizzes about the media and the rights and citizenship of the younger generation.
The Express Yourself campaign and the Wall of Expressions are initiatives of the research project bYou – Study on children and young people’s experiences and expressions of the media: It is ongoing at the Communication and Society Research Centre at the University of Minho and the MILObs: Observatory on Media, Information and Literacy, with funding from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PTDC/COM-OUT/3004/2020). The project aims to listen and give voice to children and young people to understand and address the relationship and practices of younger people with the media.
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