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= <p style="text-align:left; font-size:44px;">'''Getting started on Yconic'''</p> =
= <p style="text-align:center; font-size:50px; color: white;">'''We make learning Yconic!'''</p> =
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<p style="font-family: 'Arial';font-size:20px; color:#c5192d">'''Yconic is a dynamic, wiki-based platform that empowers teachers to help youth (ages 12-17) understand and engage with the four big forces shaping the future.''' Through an '''inquiry-based learning''' approach, Yconic prompts students to explore how these global challenges relate to their own local communities. In turn, ‘Yconickers’ become local activists – while engaging with peers from around the World!</p>
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== Wiki and Yconic ==
{{YouTube|ID=Hf_fWPUAL5w|Width=600}}
<span style= "color:#c5192d">A '''wiki platform''' is an online resource that keeps growing organically – anyone who has access can add, edit or share information, in pretty much any format. Similarly, thanks to the principles of ‘'''open-source coding'''’, anyone, anywhere can launch wiki. While wikipedia is the mother of all wikis, thousands of platforms dedicated to specific topics exist. Some are wide open; others are for members only.</span>  
<center>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf_fWPUAL5w Why join Yconic?]</center>


'''Yconic''' is a wiki with four overlapping aims:
=== Making complex topics accessible for all young students ===
'''Climate change, the energy transition, digitalisation and social justice:''' individually, all are multifaceted challenges that many youth find difficult to understand. In reality, these four forces influence each other, both locally and globally. They also have direct or indirect impacts on social, environmental, economic and geopolitical systems that underpin daily life for people and the planet.


* Help students and teachers explore four topics that are reshaping society: climate change, the clean energy transition, digitalisation and social justice.
Using a journalistic style, Yconic offers a series of blogs for each topic, gradually leading students into deeper exploration. To reflect learning goals and capacities across a wide age span (12-17 years), the platform has two versions of each blog:
* Encourage students to interact about what they are learning.  
*'''The Basics''' covers fundamental elements in easy-to-understand language.  
* Equip students to communicate about how these topics influence their own lives.  
*'''In Depth''' integrates more data and content that promotes critical thinking.
* Analyse what and how students are learning and sharing information


For the next few months, Yconic will be a closed wiki. Teachers and students at only three schools will have access while the Yconic team keeps working in the background to add more content and support the platform’s use and growth. In 2025, the platform will become public, with students and teachers from around the world joining in.  
All blogs include links to content – videos, podcasts, animations, etc. – developed by others. This serves to meet the learning needs of different Yconickers, introduce credible online sources and demonstrate that complex ideas can be explained in very creative ways. A vital feature of a wiki platform is that students can opt to ‘auto-translate’ into their mother tongue any content created in English.  


As you get started on Yconic, it’s important to understand some basics about being active in the digital world – particularly when it comes to '''data protection, privacy''' and '''consent'''.  
To make Yconic both interactive and personally relevant, each blog prompts students to do things such as:
*Do a '''Data dive''' to understand how facts and figures support the content. 
*'''Investigate further''', with the aim of learning about local aspects of the global picture. 
*'''Have your say''' by sharing thoughts, experiences and questions with peers from around the world. 
*'''Act now''' to encourage ideas of how to become changemakers.  


So, let’s get started!  
Additionally, each blog ends with a quiz to assess comprehension and encourage self-expression.   
<!--Click below to view sample blogs:   


== What data will Yconic collect and how? ==
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The moment you start creating a personal profile, Yconic will start collecting data. Some of it will be basic information about your system (i.e. non-personal data). Other data will be more about ‘you’ (i.e. your personal data).
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[[File:YCN ART CC01 Title Image How do we know the World is getting warmer THE BASICS.png|300x300px|center|link=Introduction_to_climate_change_(the_basics)]]
<center>[[Introduction_to_climate_change_(the_basics)|'''What is climate change? (The Basics)''']]</center>
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[[File:YCN ART CC01 Title Image How do we know the World is getting warmer In depth.png|300x300px|center|link=Introduction_to_climate_change_(in_depth)]]
<center>[[Introduction_to_climate_change_(in_depth)|'''What is climate change? (Indepth)''']]</center>
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What’s most important is to know that as a User (i.e. a Data Subject), you have the right to control how much and which data you share with Yconic.  
=== '''Building communications skills''' ===
'''Yconic is designed to take youth from ‘learning’ to ‘telling’ and/or ‘doing’'''. Together, blogs and Lesson Plans prompt students to create content to tell their own stories, report on local problems or solutions, or develop an advocacy campaign. In the platform’s ‘Creative Zone’, Yconickers can access training content that will help them apply skills in storytelling, writing, journalism, or photography and video.  


And Yconic is committed to being transparent about what it will collect, how and what it will be used for.  
Additional content explains how to plan and execute an advocacy campaign for change and examines how the combination of policy, law and regulation shape societies.  


{{YouTube|ID=L50Ud1cZLTo|Width=800|Alignment=center}}
{{YouTube|ID=dajPGOZZ_ZU|Width=500}}
== How will Yconic use your data? ==
<center>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dajPGOZZ_ZU What is Advocacy?]</center>
Yconic aims to help you learn about how society is changing around you. The data it collects will serve two main purposes: 1) to measure how much you are learning; and 2) to analyse the processes you are using and the interactions you are having.


You might think of Yconic as a platform on which your activities help feed a growing tree of knowledge. In effect, data feeds the tree. And the more data available – thanks to participants consenting to let Yconic collect it – the more the tree will grow.{{Boxes Digitalisation (red)
=== Yconickers leading local change ===
| Type = Word pool
In 2024/25, students from pilot schools in Bulgaria, Italy and Spain created outstanding content across all four themes, investigating local aspects of global challenges and featuring effective solutions.  
| Content = <b>Consent</b>


Generally, consent means giving permission. Online, consent means explicitly permitting someone to ‘process’ your personal data – that means to collect, store, share, analyse, etc.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dciuAuu0Gk8&feature=youtu.be '''Climate change''']
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXfM03c8PLs '''Energy transition''']
*'''Digitalisation:''' Digital device use among Yconickers and their networks (survey underway)
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieLY1OJHoU0 '''Social justice''']


For consent to be valid, the ‘processor’ must do the following:
Yconickers at [https://insmontgros.cat/ Institut Montgros] (Spain) led a particularly notable action in the spring of 2025. To boost social cohesion in the surrounding neighbourhood, they organised a community dinner – which was attended by more than 200 people!


* explicitly indicate the purpose(s) of processing
=== Youth voices at the New European Bauhaus Festival ===
* give users the option to accept or reject data processing that is ‘non-essential’ to the purposes of processing.
In spring 2026, Yconickers investigated how policy, law and regulation (PL&R) interact to shape the daily lives of citizens.They learned how high-level policy -- such as the EU Directive on Single-use Plastics -- obliges Member States to implement legislation and regulations that prompt other actors to adopt more sustainable behaviours. Importantly, they were also exposed to how past PL&R creates systemic social injustices.
* provide a mechanism by which users clearly express their consent, usually by ticking a box, typing ‘yes’ or through some other accessibility means.
* explain to users how they can later withdraw consent.
}}{{Boxes Digitalisation (red)
| Type = Word pool
| Content = <b>Data processing</b>


Under European digital regulations, the following operations carried out on personal data – whether performed manually or by automated tools – are considered to be ‘data processing.’
For 32 students from Bulgaria, Italy and Spain, the learning included a field trip to Brussels to learn how the European Parliament functions, understand how advocacy groups influence PL&R, and practice the EU principle of cross-border collaboration. Using 'personas', Yconickers had to consider how problems related to housing, energy and digitalisation leave millions of EU citizens at serious disadvantages.
In turn, Yconic was thrilled to be selected to host a Satellite Event within the [https://new-european-bauhaus.europa.eu/festival_en New European Bauhaus Festival]! With additional research and dedicated preparation, Yconickers delivered an impressive webinar, full of ideas of how everyone can contribute to a more socially just future. Click here to view: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu9ttVqpUDs Efficient, Affordable Housing as a Core Element of Social Justice].


“...collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction of personal data.”
{{YouTube|ID=Uu9ttVqpUDs|Width=500}}
<center>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf_fWPUAL5w Efficient, Affordable Housing as a Core Element of Social Justice]</center>


Other countries may have slightly different rules and regulations about what counts as processing.
=== Teachers feel empowered ===
}}To measure, Yconic will include a lot of quizzes and short answer content. A way cooler aspect is that Yconic will use artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) to analyse how you are learning, including how you interact on these topics with other Yconic users.  
Yconic was inspired, in part, by studies showing that many teachers feel they lack knowledge of these four subject areas, particularly as online resources often present conflicting ideas. Lesson Plans in the Teacher Zone provide links to relevant Yconic blogs and to additional background material, as well as definitions of unfamiliar terms. In turn, they suggest questions for in-class discussions and activities, or assignments for group or individual work. To date, Yconic is being used across diverse subject areas: geography, science, civic studies, science, mathematics, languages, etc.  


* '''Artificial intelligence''' is, at its core, intelligence exhibited by machines – particularly computer systems to perform human-like cognitive tasks. In its broadest sense, it’s an overarching framework within which computers are programmed to perceive their environment. Computers can learn from it and self-adapt to maximise their chances of achieving the goals that were built into them.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence</ref>
'''Ms. Asya Bogoeva,''' a geography teacher at [https://138suzie.com/ 138 High School for Western and Eastern Languages "Prof. Vasil Zlatarski"] (Sofia, Bulgaria), describes how the Yconic platform prepares teachers and engages youth.  


* '''Machine learning''' is a sub-field of AI that involves ‘training’ machines to learn from data. ML can recognise patterns and trends in data, and use them to make predictions and decisions. Within Yconic, ML models will also help us in uncovering any hidden topics in the “Discussion” section. .
{{YouTube|ID=xW43GWhaMrA|Width=500}}
<center>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW43GWhaMrA Teacher Feedback on Yconic, Asya Bogeva, Bulgaria]</center>


* '''Natural language processing''' is another sub-field of AI that gives computers the ability to analyse elements of human language, in both text and speech formats - even when students will use slang, abbreviations, or varying regional or contextual tones.
=== Mining Yconic data to analyse learning ===
During the pilot phase (2024-26), Yconic is analysing how students use, learn from and interact on the platform. When first joining, students complete a quiz to assess their baseline knowledge of the four themes. Repeating the quiz later demonstrates the level of knowledge growth.  


Yconic will ‘capture’ text in articles uploaded, in chat rooms and in journals within personal profiles. It can also transform recorded conversations (audio or video recordings of ZOOM meetings, for example) into transcripts to analyse more informal interactions.
In turn, their inputs – e.g. quiz responses, forum engagement, recordings of class or group discussions, and content created – become data points for analysis using '''natural language processing (NLP)'''. A form of artificial intelligence (AI), NLP  enables  computers to analyse, interpret and make sense of human language. By examining what students write, share and discuss on the platform, NLP helps researchers interpret how what students understand, how they feel and how their thinking evolves


Only YOUR active participation on topics and interactions with other users will grow the tree of knowledge. Using safe AI elements, Yconic’s data analysts will uncover cool insights from the collected data - ultimately publishing a research paper to share the findings.
=== Key achievements to date ===
Working closely with teachers and students, Yconic has built up an impressive body of content, including a growing archive of works created by students.
*'''Five schools''' participating in '''Bulgaria, Canada, India, Italy and Spain.'''
*'''>470 students''' actively involved on the Yconic platform
*'''>30 teachers''' using Yconic in diverse classes and extracurricular activities
*'''>15 training''' videos viewed '''>500 times'''


== Using Yconic safely ==
<!--=== Interested to learn more? ===
Yconic does not deploy any intrusive technology -- so there is NO spying on your activity on the platform! Additionally, Yconic has designed the way it uses AI, ML and NLP to uphold ethical standards. Our efforts mean that you can safely continue learning on the platform.  
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[[File:YconicLearnMore.png|200x200px|center|link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC9kHjq7CvY]]
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Hop over to YouTube to watch a webinar in which Yconic partners explain the platform in more detail.  
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But online safety (here or anywhere) is your responsibility, too! So, keep scrolling to learn some important concepts about data, privacy and your digital superpowers.
=== Ready to register your school or class? ===
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[[File:YconicJoin.png|200x200px|center|link=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJvbeLkxobzUCptZ8AeFsvQxNR0jW-GTIcRieAHbF9K51qVw/viewform]]
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Use this QR code to access information about how to join Yconic!
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==== Personal vs non-personal data ====
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Generally, websites and wikis collect two kinds of data: personal and non-personal. In reality, the line between them is pretty blurry.
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=== Sample blogs: What is climate change? ===
[[File:YCN ART CC01 Title Image How do we know the World is getting warmer THE BASICS.png|300x300px|center|link=Introduction_to_climate_change_(the_basics)]][[Introduction_to_climate_change_(the_basics)|'''The Basics''']]


Your name, birthdate, age, address (both email and physical), phone number, gender – any information that can be used to identify YOU makes up your '''personal data'''.  
[[File:YCN ART CC01 Title Image How do we know the World is getting warmer In depth.png|300x300px|center|link=Introduction_to_climate_change_(in_depth)]][[Introduction_to_climate_change_(in_depth)|'''In-depth''']]
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=== Sample student content ===
[[File:WILDLIFE.png|150x150px|center|link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Cr1LeLlDc]]'''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Cr1LeLlDc Wildlife]'''


In contrast, your postal code, your device’s internet protocol (IP) address are a bunch of numbers unique to your location and do not tell much about YOU on their own – it’s '''non-personal data'''.  
[[File:Loneliness-milan.png|150x150px|center|link=https://www.canva.com/design/DAGjffDquNY/gU3AgXlff5vmIjE7uqD_yA/watch?utm_content=DAGjffDquNY&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h6d74ac3ffd]][https://www.canva.com/design/DAGjffDquNY/gU3AgXlff5vmIjE7uqD_yA/watch?utm_content=DAGjffDquNY&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h6d74ac3ffd Loneliness in Milan]


But here’s the cool (or creepy) part; whenever Yconic directs you to use Youtube, Google or Facebook, their features (e.g. ‘Like’) let the '''digital trackers''' on those platforms catch your presence. Eventually, the seemingly harmless act of giving a ‘Like’ to something can be linked back to things about YOU: IP address, search history, etc. These trackers can also collect your data passively across devices - from smart devices to web applications. Almost every page you visit is keen to understand your habits and preferences.
[[File:Project_Safe_Water.png|150x150px|center|link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYrhUeyo4Pk]]'''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYrhUeyo4Pk Social and Environmental Justice in Bulgaria]'''  
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=== Sample lesson plan ===
[[File:Climate-change-lesson-plan.png|150x150px|center|link=https://yconic.energypedia.info/images/1/1d/Lesson_Plan_-_Climate_Change.pdf]]
*[https://yconic.energypedia.info/images/1/1d/Lesson_Plan_-_Climate_Change.pdf Download Lesson Plan: Climate Change as PDF]
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=== Interested to learn more? ===
<p style="text-align:center; color: #c5192d;">Hop over to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC9kHjq7CvY YouTube] to watch a webinar in which Yconic partners explain the platform in more detail.</p>
[[File:YconicLearnMore.png|200x200px|center|link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC9kHjq7CvY]]
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=== Ready to register your school or class? ===
<p style="text-align:center; color: #c5192d;">Use this QR code to access information about how to join Yconic!</p>
[[File:YconicJoin.png|200x200px|center|link=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJvbeLkxobzUCptZ8AeFsvQxNR0jW-GTIcRieAHbF9K51qVw/viewform]]
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=== Contact ===
[mailto:yconic@energypedia.info yconic@energypedia.info]
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==== Privacy ====
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In the digital age, data are the new gold. Private companies mine it to understand their target markets. Governments use it to develop more effective policy. And a host of other actors are also eager to get their hands on it for various reasons.
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[[File:EU ID Partner Logos 2025.09.png|alt=|950x950px|link=]]
Being ‘carefree’ about data can lead to unwanted attention, information overload, invasion of privacy and cyber attacks.
__NOTOC__
 
Privacy is like a seatbelt you click on when cruising digital freeways – or backroads. It protects you from unwanted data collection, use and sharing (collectively called processing) of your personal information. It puts you in the driver’s seat in terms of controlling what YOU SHARE and with whom.{{Boxes Digitalisation (red)
| Type = Act now
| Content = Yconic’s Privacy Policy is your cheat sheet to avoid passive and inadvertent data collection by third parties!
Check out YCONIC’s Terms of Service [https://yconic.energypedia.info/wiki/YCONIC:Terms_of_Service] and Privacy policy to know what you are consenting to.
}}
=== Put your Superpowers into action ===
 
* '''Create strong passwords!''' Always use a mix of letters, numbers and symbols.
[[File:Strong_password.jpg|none|frame|Fig 3: Use combination of alphabets, numbers and special characters]]
* '''Use a nickname.''' Opting for a nickname can be helpful in two ways. Many sites ask you to login with an email address, which is already some personal data. When it is an option, using a nickname (e.g. username or identifier) instead is another way to mask your identity. Once you are registered on a platform (including Yconic), you may also have the option to use a nickname in your personal profile. This allows other users to ‘identify’ your online persona, without actually revealing who ‘you’ are.
[[File:Choosing a safe username.jpg|none|frame|Fig 4: Nickname as username and profile name]]
* '''Choose an Avatar''' to avoid facial recognition. Protect yourself against identity misuse and theft by using comic avatar, initials of your name, etc.
[[File:Hide persona with Avatar.jpg|none|frame|Fig 5: Initials of username as avatar/profile picture]]
* '''Log out of other platforms when on Yconic'''. To avoid the pitfalls of digital trackers, sign out of FaceBook, Youtube, etc. when active and clicking links on Yconic.
* '''Protect your Yconic Watchlist Token'''. Your Yconic Watchlist contains all the articles and pages you have bookmarked. Using Watchlist, you can monitor changes on those pages. If anyone wrongly gains the access to your Watchlist or you accidentally shared the Watchlist token, you can reset it in the preferences section.
[[File:Reset token.png|none|thumb|Fig 6: Resetting Watchlist token|300x300px]]
* '''Become a cookie junkie'''. Cookies are everywhere in the digital world. And every time you ‘Accept’ them, you are giving ‘someone’ the right to place certain digital trackers on your system. Thanks to privacy laws in the EU, you control how much of your story you share. All online players (including Yconic) must give you the choice to accept or reject their trackers – all, some or none. They must also give the option to change your cookies preferences, any time you want.
[[File:Cookie banner.png|none|frame|Fig 7: Choose 'more information' before accepting cookies]]Remember, a privacy cookie a day keeps you digitally safe.
* '''Know your digital rights.''' {{Boxes Digitalisation (red)
| Type = Act now
| Content = Test your cookie skills! Here’s a fun way to see how fast you can navigate a wide range of sneaky cookie traps.
Embed: https://cookieconsentspeed.run/
Now that you’re armed with more information, think back to when you signed on to Yconic. Did you click ‘OK’ without knowing ‘More information’? FYI, Yconic uses ONLY essential cookies, so you shouldn’t need to change anything.
 
The key point is to always be aware of what cookies any site is using to collect data from you.
}}
== How is Yconic upholding privacy and data protection? ==
Globally, governments have gotten VERY serious about their role as digital guardians, acting on behalf of all citizens. Extensive regulations now define how companies – and even governments themselves – need to handle personal data. The strongest and most comprehensive examples include: the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in Europe and the UK; and the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) and the Digital Services Act in the United States.
Yconic adheres to the strict rules of the EU GDPR across three key areas:
 
* '''Collection''': Yconic collects ONLY essential data; it.does not actively collect broader personal data. More importantly, it never shares such data with third parties.
* '''Security''': Yconic uses special coding (encryption) when transferring data among authorised Yconic partners. This keeps data safe from theft or data breach while it’s being transferred. For storage, Yconic uses password-protected devices, folders and cloud systems that only authorised personnel can access.
* '''Safety''': To produce project reports, Yconic will '''pseudonymise and aggregate''' the personal data of all students. As a result, no one – except authorised personnel – can ever identify the individual from ‘whom’ it was collected.{{Boxes Digitalisation (red)
| Type = Word pool
| Content = <b>Aggregation</b>  
 
Aggregation refers to the practice of ‘pooling’ collected data such that it hides personal details but can be analysed to find patterns and trends.
On Yconic, each student might be asked to answer, “What is the biggest cause of climate change?”
Using aggregated data, Yconic analysts would be able to report that “40% of students said that deforestation is the biggest cause of climate change.” They would not, however, know which students selected this answer.
}}{{Boxes Digitalisation (red)
| Type = Word pool
| Content = <b>Pseudonymisation vs Anonymisation</b>
}}
{| class="wikitable"
!Pseudonymisation
!Anonymisation
|-
|This refers to the process of converting personal data into non-personal. It can be done by ‘replacing’ personal details with a code or unique identifier.
In the example given above, data analysts would be able to see that ‘User ID002 answered deforestation’.  
 
Authorised personnel would still be able to link the identifier back to a specific user.
|This goes a step further, in that it makes personal data irreversibly non-personal.
It effectively ‘removes’ personal details so that no one can ever link back to a specific user.
 
All anyone accessing the data would ever know is that “User X answered …”
|}
'''And empowers users to exercise their data subject rights'''
 
Under the EU GDPR, Member States are obliged to implement national laws and establish an entity that citizens can contact or submit complaints to. Known collectively as '''data protection authorities (DPAs)''', these entities may have different names from one country to another.
 
* [https://cpdp.bg/%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%86%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%B8-%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%85%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5-%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B8/ Bulgaria]: Commission for protection of personal data
* [https://www.bfdi.bund.de/EN/BfDI/UeberUns/DieBehoerde/diebehoerde_node.html Germany]: Bundesbeauftragter für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit
* [https://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/garante-privacy-en/the-italian-data-protection-authority-who-we-are Italy]: Garante per la protezione dei dati personali
* [https://www.aepd.es/en/areas/innovation-and-technology Spain]: Agencia espanola proteccion datos
 
'''Knowing your rights is the key!''' DPA can help you only when you know what to complain about - what is wrong. Thanks to privacy laws, you have data subject rights.{{Boxes Digitalisation (red)
| Type = Act now
| Content = Head over to the Data Subject’s Rights section in the YCONIC’s privacy policy and learn how you can take control of your privacy.
Yconic has embedded mechanisms that empower all participants to exercise their data subject rights (e.g. by completing and submitting the Data Subject Action Request form) [https://yconic.energypedia.info/wiki/File:YCONIC_Data_Subject_Action_Request_Form.docx].
}}Now that you have all the 'keys' to protect your privacy and data, explore the Yconic platform to learn about Social justice, Energy transition, Climate change, and Digitalisation.
 
== References ==
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Latest revision as of 10:58, 6 July 2026

We make learning Yconic!

Yconic is a dynamic, wiki-based platform that empowers teachers to help youth (ages 12-17) understand and engage with the four big forces shaping the future. Through an inquiry-based learning approach, Yconic prompts students to explore how these global challenges relate to their own local communities. In turn, ‘Yconickers’ become local activists – while engaging with peers from around the World!

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Why join Yconic?

Making complex topics accessible for all young students

Climate change, the energy transition, digitalisation and social justice: individually, all are multifaceted challenges that many youth find difficult to understand. In reality, these four forces influence each other, both locally and globally. They also have direct or indirect impacts on social, environmental, economic and geopolitical systems that underpin daily life for people and the planet.

Using a journalistic style, Yconic offers a series of blogs for each topic, gradually leading students into deeper exploration. To reflect learning goals and capacities across a wide age span (12-17 years), the platform has two versions of each blog:

  • The Basics covers fundamental elements in easy-to-understand language.
  • In Depth integrates more data and content that promotes critical thinking.

All blogs include links to content – videos, podcasts, animations, etc. – developed by others. This serves to meet the learning needs of different Yconickers, introduce credible online sources and demonstrate that complex ideas can be explained in very creative ways. A vital feature of a wiki platform is that students can opt to ‘auto-translate’ into their mother tongue any content created in English.

To make Yconic both interactive and personally relevant, each blog prompts students to do things such as:

  • Do a Data dive to understand how facts and figures support the content.
  • Investigate further, with the aim of learning about local aspects of the global picture.
  • Have your say by sharing thoughts, experiences and questions with peers from around the world.
  • Act now to encourage ideas of how to become changemakers.

Additionally, each blog ends with a quiz to assess comprehension and encourage self-expression.

Building communications skills

Yconic is designed to take youth from ‘learning’ to ‘telling’ and/or ‘doing’. Together, blogs and Lesson Plans prompt students to create content to tell their own stories, report on local problems or solutions, or develop an advocacy campaign. In the platform’s ‘Creative Zone’, Yconickers can access training content that will help them apply skills in storytelling, writing, journalism, or photography and video.

Additional content explains how to plan and execute an advocacy campaign for change and examines how the combination of policy, law and regulation shape societies.

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What is Advocacy?

Yconickers leading local change

In 2024/25, students from pilot schools in Bulgaria, Italy and Spain created outstanding content across all four themes, investigating local aspects of global challenges and featuring effective solutions.

Yconickers at Institut Montgros (Spain) led a particularly notable action in the spring of 2025. To boost social cohesion in the surrounding neighbourhood, they organised a community dinner – which was attended by more than 200 people!

Youth voices at the New European Bauhaus Festival

In spring 2026, Yconickers investigated how policy, law and regulation (PL&R) interact to shape the daily lives of citizens.They learned how high-level policy -- such as the EU Directive on Single-use Plastics -- obliges Member States to implement legislation and regulations that prompt other actors to adopt more sustainable behaviours. Importantly, they were also exposed to how past PL&R creates systemic social injustices.

For 32 students from Bulgaria, Italy and Spain, the learning included a field trip to Brussels to learn how the European Parliament functions, understand how advocacy groups influence PL&R, and practice the EU principle of cross-border collaboration. Using 'personas', Yconickers had to consider how problems related to housing, energy and digitalisation leave millions of EU citizens at serious disadvantages.

In turn, Yconic was thrilled to be selected to host a Satellite Event within the New European Bauhaus Festival! With additional research and dedicated preparation, Yconickers delivered an impressive webinar, full of ideas of how everyone can contribute to a more socially just future. Click here to view: Efficient, Affordable Housing as a Core Element of Social Justice.

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Efficient, Affordable Housing as a Core Element of Social Justice

Teachers feel empowered

Yconic was inspired, in part, by studies showing that many teachers feel they lack knowledge of these four subject areas, particularly as online resources often present conflicting ideas. Lesson Plans in the Teacher Zone provide links to relevant Yconic blogs and to additional background material, as well as definitions of unfamiliar terms. In turn, they suggest questions for in-class discussions and activities, or assignments for group or individual work. To date, Yconic is being used across diverse subject areas: geography, science, civic studies, science, mathematics, languages, etc.

Ms. Asya Bogoeva, a geography teacher at 138 High School for Western and Eastern Languages "Prof. Vasil Zlatarski" (Sofia, Bulgaria), describes how the Yconic platform prepares teachers and engages youth.

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Teacher Feedback on Yconic, Asya Bogeva, Bulgaria

Mining Yconic data to analyse learning

During the pilot phase (2024-26), Yconic is analysing how students use, learn from and interact on the platform. When first joining, students complete a quiz to assess their baseline knowledge of the four themes. Repeating the quiz later demonstrates the level of knowledge growth.

In turn, their inputs – e.g. quiz responses, forum engagement, recordings of class or group discussions, and content created – become data points for analysis using natural language processing (NLP). A form of artificial intelligence (AI), NLP enables computers to analyse, interpret and make sense of human language. By examining what students write, share and discuss on the platform, NLP helps researchers interpret how what students understand, how they feel and how their thinking evolves

Key achievements to date

Working closely with teachers and students, Yconic has built up an impressive body of content, including a growing archive of works created by students.

  • Five schools participating in Bulgaria, Canada, India, Italy and Spain.
  • >470 students actively involved on the Yconic platform
  • >30 teachers using Yconic in diverse classes and extracurricular activities
  • >15 training videos viewed >500 times

Sample blogs: What is climate change?

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The Basics
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In-depth

Sample student content

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Wildlife
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Loneliness in Milan
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Social and Environmental Justice in Bulgaria

Sample lesson plan

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Interested to learn more?

Hop over to YouTube to watch a webinar in which Yconic partners explain the platform in more detail.

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Ready to register your school or class?

Use this QR code to access information about how to join Yconic!

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Contact

yconic@energypedia.info


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