Abstract This article explores the factors that make youth e-participation in political decision-making meaningful and identifies the challenges associated with it from the perspectives of government officials. Empirical data for the research are collected by conducting in-depth interviews with Finland’s government officials from nine ministries who possess experience working with young people. The results reveal that there is a lack of inclusion and understanding of existing digital tools and governmental processes. Furthermore, officials perceive feedback to young people as an essential component of meaningful participation, emphasising the importance of dialogue in this process and the necessity for innovative digital solutions to support it. The study contributes to developing the evidence base necessary for designing e-participation services that would bridge the gap between the needs of young people and the realities of the political environment.

Civic technologies are aimed at supporting citizens to participate in democratic processes. Civic robots - social robots that are designed to support people in civic participation - have potential to lower the barriers of participation especially for youth who face obstacles in participating through formal channels. We conducted an exploratory study with adolescents to investigate their perceptions of possible roles for civic robots. In the study, we asked participants of a youth event ($\mathrm{n}=24$, age range 14–21) to ideate civic participation related purposes and concepts for social robots. The findings suggest that scenarios in which a robot serves as social facilitator or provides decision support for civic activities seem promising. In addition, civic robots could indirectly increase participation ability by providing emotional or social support.

It is important for the sustainability of society that everyone can participate in societal discussions. Although a plethora of services exists for digital participation, they have not proven to entice a broad range of youths to contribute. The aim of this research is to investigate how digital tools can offer inclusive ways for youth to take part in societal processes. We present a study of young people’s needs for a digital service enabling societal participation. Altogether 74 young people aged 16–27 with varying backgrounds participated in six workshops. Scenarios were used as stimulus materials for eliciting participants’ feedback on digital participation. The findings bring up youth’s needs for such service. Needs such as having a safe environment for discussions and making the effect of participation visible were found. Finally, the findings and resulting Virtual Council prototype are presented and discussed, and their significance in advancing inclusive digital societal participation are elaborated.

Analyzing data from complex production systems and processes can be used in improving existing products, processes, and services, and innovating novel offerings. We report the findings from a six-month case study with a company developing flexible manufacturing systems. During a collaborative development process of a data analytics and visualization tool, our goal was to identify potential metrics, business opportunities, and challenges when utilizing logged data of end-users' human-machine interactions in development activities. Our key contributions include a characterization of the potential usage data metrics to be logged and visualized, identification of opportunities this data entails for business, and discussion about the challenges related to usage data logging in the studied context. Finally, we propose topics that should be considered in the organization before investing in usage data logging in the context of flexible manufacturing systems.