Generation Blue

Generation Blue was initiated in 2004 and entirely revised in May 2012. The new look, the extended content and the design speak for themselves. Thanks to the design the platform is very clear and can also be used on tablets and mobile phones without any problems. On the newly relaunched website apart from the current water topics also comprehensive collections of knowledge about professions in the field of water management as well as information on drinking water, the natural hazard water, the nature experience water, the element H2O, and water protection  are offered. The platform is permanently growing and is filled again and again with new contents.

wissensflut.tv

is a new knowledge web video format. It shows in a very appealing and new way the topics and imparts thus knowledge.  

These attractive videos already exist for

• Generation Blue
• Danube (German/English)

and new ones are permanently added See.

Generation Blue is part of successful projects:

• Trinkpass (hydration check)
• Danube Challenge
• Die WasserWerkstatt

Innovative youth water project

Dealing with our most important natural resource requires responsibility, protection and sustainability. This is conditional on the presence of understanding, awareness, and knowledge in the young generation. After all, this is the generation that will next determine and shape the future of water in Austria – the generation of our youth.

Generation Blue offers young people innovative projects and means of communication, enabling them to become thoroughly informed on the entire range of water-related subjects. The aim of this educational campaign is to raise sustainably awareness on the no. 1 food "water".

Generation Blue is the logical next step of communicating environmental activities organised by the Ministry with the active participation of teachers and students:

• Relevant and important target group of young people (13-19-yr olds)
• New aspects in public and political discussion
• Contribution to political education
• Achievement of a multiplier effect (teachers, parents...)
• Public participation

Generation Blue is a master project in youth work under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and has even been recognised as a unique platform internationally. There is no project of this kind by a public administration known in any other country. Young people are taken very seriously within the framework of this initiative. A lot of energy and commitment is being invested into the goal of providing young people the most attractive water information in the best possible way.

Elements

Generation blue was launched by the Ministry in 2004. Generation Blue gives young people the opportunity to get informed on water using an attractive web platform and Facebook. Projects like Danube Challenge, Trinkpass, wissensflut.tv, games, news, films, interesting water-related information and many more are provided on the youth site. In the “school service”, teaching aids such as the “WasserWerkstatt” (WaterWorkshop) can be downloaded and thematic information and videos are available on request.

School projects help to additionally motivate the young people to deal with our most vital natural resource actively. For example, every year thousands of students take part in the “Trinkpass-Aktion”, a campaign around a “water ID-card”) and learn in this way more about their water drinking habits, moreover, they can win great prizes by means of creativity with respect to water.
Water and young people – a combination that will co-determine the future of our country. Using all communication channels, "Generation Blue" offers politics and the economy an opportunity to shape reality, and young people an ideal platform to approach and dedicate themselves to the subject.

Target groups

Addressed are young people between 13 and 19 years. The extended target group includes parents, teachers and educators on a separate page.

Educational service

On the internet platform you will find in the “school service” especially dedicated to this topic: Downloads for teaching aids, information on expert meetings and material to order. Special Generation Blue materials designed for young people providing information on the importance of our most vital life element in an emotional, youth-specific manner. The following Generation Blue materials are available at no cost (while supplies last) or for free download.

This download contains:

• WasserWerkstatt" teaching materials on the subject areas "Water Quality", "Water Supply", "Water as Food", "The Blue Planet", “The Element Water” and “Water as a Solvent”  
• Many different teaching materials for download or upon request by mail
• CD Rom "Klare Aussichten" (clear prospects - job profiles for young people in water management)
• Information folder "Generation Blue"
• "Trinkpass" (hydration check)
• playdanube

For information on school projects and to order materials please see e-Mail.

Selected activities in detail

Website

The homepage is the platform’s hub.

The homepage offers basic information (in German and English) on subjects relating to water - in a manner that appeals to a young audience. Furthermore, the website contains topical news, an overview and review of the activities/projects, newsletters, online games, school service, etc.

The success of Generation Blue is clearly recognizable.

Generation Blue

• has more than 2,000 direct contacts with youngsters
• reaches more than 2,000 young people in their leisure time activities
• reaches on Facebook in the first instance 3,200 Facebook users
• is with more than 130,000 accesses and about 15,000 visitors on the website the water portal for young people in Austria
• has monthly more than 1,000 mobile accesses
• creates with more than 1,000 accesses to the teaching documents (water workshop) a remarkable working base for educators.

Facebook:

"Social Media" is a catch phrase which is understood to mean social networks and net communities serving as platforms for the mutual exchange of opinions, impressions, and experiences. Generation Blue has had a fan page of its own on Facebook since 2009 and has a fan count of more than 3,200 so far.

The aim of its presence on Facebook is to call attention to the many Generation Blue activities and to post information, tips, photos, and videos regularly that are of interest to young people. This allows very popular, rapid, contemporary ongoing communication.

Youtube:

Generation Blue is also linked with YouTube. The wissensflut TV videos are offered via youtube and have already had more than 845 views.

Trinkpass (hydration check)

On the one hand, the Trinkpass campaign calls upon school students to observe their water drinking behaviour over a period of 14 days and, on the other, to submit an annually changing creative entry to the competition. In the meantime more than 30,000 Trinkpässe (drinking passes) are requested. This action ranks thus among the most successful ones in Austria. High participation is evidence of this as well as of the significance and recognition of water as food no. 1, even among our young people.

The Trinkpass campaign is conducted in cooperation with Römerquelle.

School decree

Generation Blue is supported by a decree of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture for all schools in Austria. This does not only improve contact quality, but promotes also active participation in campaigns. The decree of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture recommends participation in Generation Blue as an additional contribution to implementing teaching principles related to environmental education and health promotion.

Wasserwerkstatt (Water Workshop)

"Wasserwerkstatt" provides ideal water-related teaching materials. The theme series "Water Supply", "Water Quality", "Water as Food", "The Blue Planet", “The Element Water" and “Water as a Solvent” which WasserWerkstatt offers as teaching materials, is clearly structured and designed to excite students. The aim is to provide specific information on water supply and our drinking water in a manner that can be easily integrated into classroom work at schools.

Wasserwerkstatt can be requested in print or downloaded from the homepage.

The "Wasserwerkstatt" campaign is conducted in cooperation with the Austrian Association for Gas and Water (OVGW).

On-site activities

Generation Blue supports and provides guidance to regional river projects, such as at the Inn River:

• Guided and assisted excursion to a river
• Project work in class
• School competition
• Danube Challenge
• Danube Day

The aim of these projects is to make engineering measures in our rivers tangible and experienceable for young people from the region. Generation Blue is all game when it comes to environmentally-themed youth events, such as the Green Days.

Danube Art Master

Danube Art Master is a Danube-wide competition, hosted by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), which calls upon children and young people from all Danube countries to create works of art made from Danube debris and objects found on the river banks. In Austria, Danube Art Master is conducted by Generation Blue.

Support of the Danube Challenge

The "Danube Challenge" is a sustainable youth water project (since 2007) in which school students from all of Austria are familiarised with issues relating to water and rivers via experience and knowledge stations in various competitions – also referred to as "Challenges". This is a cooperation project with Coca-Cola Hellenic. Its aim is to increase awareness of the significance of the Danube River with its tributaries as Austria's lifeline. In this way, the sustainable use of our rivers and streams is firmly ingrained into the minds of the next generation. School students were selected in the context of the Generation Blue Trinkpass campaign to provide reports of the Danube Challenge hosted by Generation Blue. 1,500 young people from all across Austria participate in the annual Danube Challenges.

The Generation Blue Folder can be ordered free of charge.

Jump in Generation Blue
 

Contact person at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management for this platform:
Susanne Brandstetter.