Abstract
This article discusses the participatory development process behind the application TELL!—a sustainable, non-commercial and self-reflective digital tool designed to help young people reconstruct their personal timelines in a secure and ethically sound context. The TELL! research project aimed to increase self-efficacy among young users (aged 14–21), and, at the developer level, to promote transdisciplinary collaboration between all professions involved (developers, ethical experts, social workers, youth workers and researchers). The results show that young people actively expand their real and imaginary mobility spaces through digital reflection stimuli. Furthermore, they indicate that privacy is a central prerequisite for digital biography work and is consciously demanded by young people. Finally, the study found that openness of interaction and aesthetics are essential for participatory use. When these conditions are met, young people use TELL! as an open space for education and fostering self-efficacy.
Keywords: biography work, digitalization, open youth work, technology development, participatory design, storytelling