ChannelParticipation modesRelationship typeSynchronicity
Idea assemblies, project expos and vote sites at community centres, T stops and partner organisationsIn-person eventsIn-person groupSynchronous
Weekly after-school Change Agent committee meetings (BCYF sites in 2014, City Hall in 2016)In-person eventsIn-person groupSynchronous
Schools, classes, after-school programmes and clubs; schools as the main vote sitesEmbedded in existing spacesEmbedded in a trusted intermediarySynchronous
Paper ballots, printed in several languagesPaperSelf-serviceSynchronous
Online idea submission (Citizinvestor site in 2014) and digital ballots (2016)Digital platformSelf-serviceAsynchronous
Text message idea submission (2016)Phone or textSelf-serviceAsynchronous
Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)Social mediaMass or broadcastAsynchronous
Personal outreach by Mayor's Youth Council representatives and Steering Committee organisationsPeer and partner personal outreachOne-on-oneSynchronous
Flyers and mass advertisingFlyers and advertisingMass or broadcastAsynchronous
Maker’s note · curator

Depth of participation tracks the channel. Voters mostly met the process at a ballot box in a school, community centre or T stop and were often hearing of it for the first time; in 2014 over 70 percent had done nothing else, and 38.7 percent of votes were cast at six Boston Public high schools. Change Agents, by contrast, gave weekly after-school hours and often long journeys, which Grillos (2014) and Augsberger et al. (2016) both identify as the main cost and the reason committees skewed toward already-engaged youth. Digital channels grew from a marginal 2014 website (nine eligible ideas) to text, social media and digital ballots by 2016, which participants credited with wider reach but found impersonal. Door-to-door canvassing was recommended in 2014 and is not documented as having happened. Translation and interpretation were offered as often as feasible, and youth themselves prioritised Haitian Creole, Spanish and Vietnamese for vote materials in 2016.

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