Youth, Politics & Civic Participation: the 'Manifesto Machine'.

We present the Manifesto Machine, a collaborative writing environment for drafting and designing manifestos. In this instance, we report on a workshop with a group of local youths. We used the environment as a thought probe for provoking reflections on politics and civic participation. Our insights indicate that while there is a tendency to view youths as apolitical, there is scope for using such a tool to encourage active discussion and engage communities around the topics that affect them.