Discussing technological progress in the field of genetic engineering is a major challenge for politics, science and society. A well-informed and critical public is essential for this debate. But how can young people also participate in this debate in a qualified manner? Together with research and practice partners, the IZT has developed a discourse forum for young people on the Internet: "Genetic Research Interactive". An innovative online platform was jointly developed, trialled and evaluated. It appealed to participants through its topics, design and interactivity and encouraged them to engage in argument-led dialogue.

In order to further strengthen the participation of citizens, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research funded discourse projects on ethical, legal and social issues in the modern life sciences. This also included the topic of genetic research. Due to its progress, this represented a major challenge for politics, science and society. The challenges here went far beyond medical and technological issues.
Introducing young people to social dialogue processes using the example of genetic engineering was the focus of the research project "Discourse forum for young people on the Internet: Genetic research interactive [Genitiv]". A platform on the Internet with the URL www.wie-weit-wollen-wir-gen.de was designed for this purpose.

The discussion programme for young people on the platform was based on the weblog model. An "open" version was chosen; this means that - in contrast to conventional weblogs - not only the operators of the site, but all users were able to publish contributions. Teenagers and young adults were asked on the platform for their opinion on various aspects of human genetic engineering. Users were free to submit their own opinions or comment on those of other participants. In addition, each contribution and each comment could be rated. Lines of consensus and dissent were asked for by means of a pro and con rating ("agree with this contribution" - "disagree"). The debate was accompanied by experienced moderators. The topic of "human genetic engineering" was introduced by means of background information published on the website and prepared for the target group. The main topics were "genetic screening", "DNA banks" and "the risk of genetic discrimination". The discussion process was moderated to ensure that everything ran smoothly. The moderators did not intervene in the discussion at any time and only rarely had to delete text passages that violated the rules.

Registration was not required in order to minimise the barriers to participation. However, users had to "activate" their messages, i.e. verify them by entering their email address and sending a confirmation email. This ensured that the system was not misused to send e-mail spam. The protection of privacy was another guiding principle when setting up the discourse programme. For example, e-mail addresses were not displayed in the front end.

The research project was comprehensively evaluated. Content analyses, expert interviews and focus groups were used as methods. The results of the evaluation showed that online platforms are an instrument for enquiring about and ascertaining young people's positions on ethical and political issues - in this case in the field of human genetic research. In order to promote an online discussion, topics should be chosen that are controversial within society and, above all, within the target group. The concerns and interests of young people should be specifically taken into account when designing the dialogue tools, selecting topics and language.

The results of the research project showed that platforms on the Internet can make a fundamental contribution to involving young people in social debates and dialogues.

The research project was carried out jointly by the IZT - Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment, pol-di.net e.V. / politik-digital.de, VDW - Association of German Scientists and Dialogik.

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