There is an increasing emphasis on empowering children through co-design and co-creation of technology that shapes their learning, wellbeing and lifestyle, and everyday lived experiences. However, several questions emerge: what does it really mean to empower children, what have we achieved thus far, and where are we headed now, as we fight the ongoing pandemic, and in the future when the pandemic is behind us? This workshop aims to answer such questions by investigating, through a strategy approach, different forms of empowerment of children and related ethical, practical, political, and technological implications, inline with this year’s conference theme of “shaping experiences, shaping society."

The main goals of the workshop include reflecting on previous research on empowerment of children through technology use and design and exploring future-oriented methods and examining how they can be adapted to design with children their technological future lives. We will focus on: advantages and limitations within the context of empowerment of children; ethical aspects in participatory methods entailing co-design with children; devising future pathways and defining ways for monitoring progress; creating an agenda for future research in this domain.

The outcome of the workshop includes a methodological toolbox for researchers working towards empowerment of children and other vulnerable users groups, with an aim to enable inquiry, design, and critical examination of children’s socio-technological futures.