This is the pre-final version. The final paper is available at: Barboutidis, G., E. Stiakakis, F. Kitsios and M. Kamariotou (2018). Proposing a New Dynamic Framework of Digital Skills: A Bottom-Up Approach, 7th International Symposium and 29th National Conference on Operational Research, Chania, Crete, Greece, pp. 111-115. [see: http://eeee2018.maich.gr/uploads/attachments/36/eeee2018_proceeding_v2.pdf]
Proposing a new dynamic framework of digital skills: A bottom-up approach George Barboutidis
Emmanouil Stiakakis
Fotis Kitsios
Maria Kamariotou
PhD Candidate Department of Applied Informatics University of Macedonia Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail:
[email protected]
Associate Professor Department of Applied Informatics University of Macedonia Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail:
[email protected]
Assistant Professor Department of Applied Informatics University of Macedonia Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail:
[email protected]
Department of Applied Informatics University of Macedonia Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract The increasing penetration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), leveraging by the Internet and mobile initiatives, as well as other emerging technologies, formulate a digital environment, where individuals or groups of people interact. Within this context, this work examines the essential digital skills that people need to acquire in order to successful ‘live’ and ‘operate’ in the digital environment, using effectively digital technologies, devices, and media. Most studies so far define those skills following a top-down approach, analyzing cognitive aspects and processes that can be identified in digital environments; however, they do not elaborate the actual digital technologies. Moreover, they assume that the main pillars of first level analysis are predefined and they propose static frameworks, difficult to adjust to technological developments. This work attempts to produce a three-level skills framework, following a bottom-up approach. First, it identifies the main digital technologies (e.g. Internet, Artificial Intelligence), media, including digital platforms (e.g. websites, social media) and digitized content & services (e.g. information, entertainment), and devices (e.g. smartphones, wearables) that shape the digital environment. The major functions are then extracted, based on literature and manuals’ specifications review. Focus is posed on advanced functions, rather than operational tasks, that usually need higher cognitive skills by the users and familiarization to digital environments. Those functions, which dynamically can be adjusted to technological developments, are then correlated to skills, using guidelines and models of existing skills categorization, such as soft skills guides, producing a list of ‘digital skills’. This represents the third level of the analysis. Skills are grouped in broader sub-categories, using factor analysis to extract the second level of the framework. The findings of the study feed a qualitative research through experts’ consultation, to formulate the first level of the digital skills framework. The proposed dynamic framework is discussed in conjunction to existing ones. KEYWORDS Digital skills framework, digital devices, digital media
1. INTRODUCTION During the last decades, there has been a massive explosion in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Moreover, the advent of the Internet facilitated a broader diffusion of ICTs. The Internet-based technologies, in conjunction with the emerging and forthcoming ones, shape a new digital world, transforming traditional processes and activities. Within this context, a question arises concerning the essential skills that people need to acquire in order to successful ‘live’ and ‘operate’ in the digital environment, using effectively devices and media. Within 2006, the European Union (EU) Recommendation on Key Competences acknowledges digital competence as one of the eight key competences for lifelong learning. The importance of digital competence is highlighted in the flagships of the Europe 2020 strategy. Except EU, there are several researchers that work on this theme. Most studies, so far, define those skills following a top-down approach, analyzing cognitive aspects and processes that can be identified in digital environments. Moreover, they assume that the main pillars of first level analysis are predefined and they propose static frameworks, difficult to adjust to technological developments. To address this gap, this work attempts to produce a dynamic three-level skillset framework, proposing a bottom-up approach.
This is the pre-final version. The final paper is available at: Barboutidis, G., E. Stiakakis, F. Kitsios and M. Kamariotou (2018). Proposing a New Dynamic Framework of Digital Skills: A Bottom-Up Approach, 7th International Symposium and 29th National Conference on Operational Research, Chania, Crete, Greece, pp. 111-115. [see: http://eeee2018.maich.gr/uploads/attachments/36/eeee2018_proceeding_v2.pdf] The structure of the rest of this paper, which is part of a work in progress, is as follows: Section entitled ‘Digital Skills Frameworks’ discusses the main findings from the literature review on existing research on digital skills and frameworks. Section 3 describes the proposed methodology. Section 4, that follows, presents the findings from a pilot implementation of methodology. The final Section comments on the approach, discusses the limitations of the study, and makes recommendations for further research.
2. DIGITAL SKILLS FRAMEWORKS The adoption of ICTs, which was enhanced due to emerging digital technologies, posed difficulties in distinguishing the boundaries between real and virtual world. The Internet-based technologies, cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and virtual and augmented reality among others, alter traditional business/economy models setting the scene of the 4th industrial revolution, known as ‘industry 4.0’ (Delloite, 2015). In addition, massive production of ‘smart’ devices, high penetration of mobile phones, widespread use of cloud computing, sensors’ monitoring, and big data analysis consist some of the main drivers of the digital transformation. Ubiquitous computing and connectivity are the principal characteristics of these technologies, reshaping the world from ‘physical’ to ‘digital’. Within this context, the challenge is to identify the essential skills that people need to acquire in order to successful ‘live’ and ‘operate’, using effectively digital devices and media. Various terms and frameworks have been used to describe those skills, such as ‘digital skills’, ‘digital competence’, ‘digital literacy’ etc., often used as synonyms. The common view in all definitions though is that this type of competence has become a crucial theme of discussion for people’s participation in the knowledge society (Ilomäki, Kantosalo, and Lakkala, 2011). There is no one widely accepted framework of skills; however, the frameworks developed by Eshet, van Deursen and van Dijk, and the EU, can be viewed as highly important. Eshet (2004) uses the term ‘digital literacy’ to describe the skills needed to effectively perform tasks and solve problems in digital environments. He proposes an updated framework (2012) consisting of: ‘photo-visual skills’ (understanding messages from graphical displays), ‘reproduction skills’ (utilizing digital reproduction means to create new, meaningful material from preexisting ones), ‘branching skills’ (constructing knowledge from non-linear, hypertextual navigation), ‘information skills’ (critically evaluating the quality and validity of information), ‘socio-emotional skills’ (understanding the ‘rules’ that prevail in the cyberspace and applying this understanding in virtual communication), and ‘real-time thinking’ (the ability to process large volumes of stimuli at the same time, as in video games or in online learning). The author performed a task-based research in different aged groups of participants, to investigate the application of the above skills framework over time. Van Deursen and van Dijk (2008) argue that the approach to decrease the digital divide, representing the difference between ‘have’ and ‘have-nots’, should be focused on the digital skills needed, and therefore they should be defined thoroughly. They propose a framework of four ‘digital skills’ types: operational, formal, information, and strategic. The framework has been tested using performance test assignments among participants from Netherlands and UK, focused on differential activities, i.e. public information and services (van Deursen and Van Dijk, 2008). The researchers adopted the term ‘Internet’ skills instead of ‘digital’ to stress the focus on the Internet penetration impact to digital divide. Their framework further enhanced (2014) as: ‘operational skills’ (the skills to operate digital media), ‘formal skills’ (the skills to handle the special structures of digital media, such as menus and hyperlinks), ‘information skills’ (the skills to search, select, and evaluate information in digital media), ‘communication skills’ (the ability to encode and decode messages to construct, understand, and exchange meaning with other humans), ‘content creation skills’ (the skills to create content of acceptable quality to be published on the Internet), and ‘strategic skills’ (the skills to employ the information contained in digital media as a means to reach a particular personal or professional goal). The two first are characterized as ‘medium related’, while the rest as ‘content related’. Van Deursen, Helsper, and Eynon (2016), also investigated the embracement of an adequate category, named ‘mobile skills’. The EU launched in 2011 a project called ‘DigComp’, aiming to better understanding the development of digital competence. Ferrari (2013), published DigComp’s first version, identifying five areas of competences: ‘information’ (identify, locate, retrieve, store, organize, and analyze digital information, judging its relevance and purpose), ‘communication’ (communicate in digital environments, share resources through online tools, link with others and collaborate through digital tools, interact with and participate in communities and networks, cross-cultural awareness), ‘content creation’ (create and edit new content;
This is the pre-final version. The final paper is available at: Barboutidis, G., E. Stiakakis, F. Kitsios and M. Kamariotou (2018). Proposing a New Dynamic Framework of Digital Skills: A Bottom-Up Approach, 7th International Symposium and 29th National Conference on Operational Research, Chania, Crete, Greece, pp. 111-115. [see: http://eeee2018.maich.gr/uploads/attachments/36/eeee2018_proceeding_v2.pdf] integrate and re-elaborate previous knowledge and content; produce creative expressions, media outputs and programming; deal with and apply intellectual property rights and licenses), ‘safety’ (personal protection, data protection, digital identity protection, security measures, safe and sustainable use), and ‘problem solving’ (identify digital needs and resources, make informed decisions on most appropriate digital tools according to the purpose or need, solve conceptual problems through digital means, creatively use technologies, solve technical problems, update own and other’s competence). Vuorikari et al. (2016) updated the conceptual DigComp framework’s pillars, as follows: ‘information and data literacy’, ‘communication and collaboration’, ‘digital content creation’, ‘safety’, and ‘problem solving’. The three series of studies presented define skills, either mentioned as ‘digital’/’Internet’ or ‘literacy’/‘competence’, following a top-down approach, analyzing cognitive aspects and processes that can be identified in digital environments; however, they do not elaborate the actual digital technologies. Eshet (2004, 2012), based on cognitive aspects, such as how perception affects the relationship between screen design and memory, and cognition, proposes a one-level framework. His focus is on the type of ‘literacy’ needed beyond operational tasks, which embraces cognitive, motoric, sociological, and emotional skills. Van Deursen and Van Dijk (2008, 2014) focus on the skills needed in order to overcome the ‘digital divide’ caused by the differential possession of digital skills to use ICTs. By the time, they shift their research focus on ‘Internet’ skills, stressing the importance and impact of the Internet as a driving and dominate force of the digital environment. Finally, DigComp is a consistent framework, embracing most of the available frameworks, aiming to guide the identification of a limited set of indicators for the purposes of crosscountry measurement of digital competence.
3. A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH FOR DIGITAL SKILLS The methodology that is adopted to address the identified gap is a bottom-up approach to produce a three-level skills framework. For the purpose of this work, the term ‘digital skills’ is adopted, as we consider ‘digital’ more appropriate to correlate to ‘digital environment’, while ‘skills’ are more suitable to represent the meaning of using the functions. First, it identifies the main digital devices and media (including digital platforms, digitized content and services) used in the digital environment. The major functions are then extracted, based on literature, personal use and users’ opinion. Focus is posed on advanced functions, rather than operational tasks, that usually need higher cognitive skills by the users and familiarization to digital environments. Those functions, which dynamically can be adjusted to technological developments, are then correlated to skills, using guidelines and models of existing skills categorization, such as soft skills guides, producing a list of ‘digital skills’. This represents the third level of the analysis. Skills are grouped in broader sub-categories, using factor analysis to extract the second level of the framework. The findings of the study feed a qualitative research through experts’ consultation, to formulate the first level digital skills framework. The proposed dynamic framework is discussed in conjunction to existing ones. The study specifically examines two digital devices and two media, in order to test the methodology and serves as a pilot for further and more comprehensive research. The focus group (user profile) is an everyday user of technology (non-specialist), who uses devices and media for work (non-specialist), leisure, learning, and communication. The devices to be examined are: a) smartphones (mid-range and higher), as they represent a very high percentage of usage, have wide and increasing penetration among population, ubiquitousness of use, and embrace a wide range of technologies, functions, and applications, and b) PC (desktop/laptop), that represent a basic and main digital device, constantly updated. Concerning media, two software applications are chosen: a) Facebook, as being the most well known and usable social medium, and b) Google, as a major software application (search engine). This paper, as part of an ongoing study, presents the initial findings from the implementation of the proposed methodology to smartphones.
4. FINDINGS Figure 1 depicts graphically the methodology that was implemented in smartphones, while Table 1 presents the results.
This is the pre-final version. The final paper is available at: Barboutidis, G., E. Stiakakis, F. Kitsios and M. Kamariotou (2018). Proposing a New Dynamic Framework of Digital Skills: A Bottom-Up Approach, 7th International Symposium and 29th National Conference on Operational Research, Chania, Crete, Greece, pp. 111-115. [see: http://eeee2018.maich.gr/uploads/attachments/36/eeee2018_proceeding_v2.pdf]
Device (smartphone)
Functions
Skills needed
3rd level categorization of skills
Figure 1 Skills extraction approach
Smartphone functions are extracted by the authors, assisting by experts’ consultation, as well as students’ feedback. In order to assign skills to functions, skills descriptions originate from ‘Skills Foundation for the Information Age’ project (SFIA, 2011) and authors interpretation. Table 2 Smartphone’s functions and skills needed FUNCTIONS
SKILLS NEEDED
Data transfer (wireless)
Information management; Information systems co-ordination; information exchange; Information security User experience analysis; Systems integration
Connecting smart devices Voice search Digital assistant
Location tracking Camera Camcorder Infrared (IR) blaster Gaming Multitasking Cloud computing Touch screens Screen customization Applications download/ managing Connecting to the Internet Mobile data connectivity Video calling Hotspot Mobile OS / User interface Notifications Ram/cache management locking settings; screen locking/un-locking Facial recognition gathering biometric data Update software Reading/downloading online news Uploading/sharing selfcreated content
Ergonomic design; Information searching; User experience analysis; User experience analysis; Human factors integration User experience analysis; Information searching; User experience evaluation; Human factors integration; Communication Information exchange; Privacy management Data management; Information management; Information security; User experience analysis Data management; Information management; Information security; User experience analysis Programming the device Data management; User experience; Analytical thinking; Nonlinear navigation; Simultaneous processing of information Data management; Information management; Information security User experience evaluation; Ergonomic design User experience evaluation Data management; Systems installation / decommissioning System security; Simultaneous processing of information System security; Simultaneous processing of information Communication System installation / decommissioning Adjustability
Safety; Security; Privacy; User experience; Ergonomic design Safety; Security; Privacy; User experience; Ergonomic design Privacy; Data management; Information management Updating Information management; Updating; Content evaluation Communication; Content evaluation; Privacy; Understanding Web social rules
LIST OF SKILLS rd (3 level) Adjustability Analytical thinking Communication Content evaluation Data management Ergonomic design Human factors integration Information exchange Information management Information searching Information security Information systems coordination Non-linear navigation Privacy management Programming the device Safety management Security management Simultaneous processing of information Systems installation / decommissioning Systems integration Understanding Web social rules Updating User experience analysis User experience evaluation
This is the pre-final version. The final paper is available at: Barboutidis, G., E. Stiakakis, F. Kitsios and M. Kamariotou (2018). Proposing a New Dynamic Framework of Digital Skills: A Bottom-Up Approach, 7th International Symposium and 29th National Conference on Operational Research, Chania, Crete, Greece, pp. 111-115. [see: http://eeee2018.maich.gr/uploads/attachments/36/eeee2018_proceeding_v2.pdf]
5. CONCLUSIONS The bottom-up approach adopted in this research for shaping a digital skills’ framework is not found in the existing literature, as most studies so far define those skills following a top-down approach, analyzing cognitive aspects and processes that can be identified in digital environments. By doing that, they do not examine the technologies used, and therefore they do not incorporate emerging technologies and the proposed frameworks could be considered static. The methodology proposed in this work attempts to address this issue by integrating skills, based on the technologies embedded in digital devices and media and the functions performed. Emerging and forthcoming technologies can be incorporated to the framework, updating the skills base, thus leading to an adaptive framework. This paper presents an initial part of a work in progress which aims to extract a full, consistent, and adaptable list of skills. Skills will then be categorized and further grouped in pillars using factor analysis and other statistical tools. Initial findings derived from smartphones indicate a broad separation of soft and technical (operational) skills. Moreover, lots of them are related to the ubiquitousness of connectivity to the Internet and its subsequent effect to communication and security/privacy. The table of smartphone skills is under construction and therefore amendments should be expected. This work, as any research work, has limitations. The methodological approach is not fully tested yet and therefore there are issues that need clarification, such as the level of detail in analyzing functions, the consistency in skills description, and the possibility of not spotting some of them. The research will be extended in a wider list of devices and media and additional skills framework will be used to enhance consistency. By extracting a higher number of data, a statistical approach could be applicable to derive second and first level of our framework.
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