What Digital Skills Are Not
In our earlier article "Skills of the Future," I opened a separate parenthesis for "Digital Skills," touched on them only very briefly and said I would write a separate, more detailed article about them. Well, this is that article☺
My aim in starting this article is to explain, even if only in very general terms, what digital skills essentially are, and to say a little about their growing importance in the near future.
We will try to answer the two questions below, each of which could actually be the subject of an article of its own. After this one, there will be another article in which we look at digital skills from a more technical perspective. Enjoy the read☺
1) What Are Digital Skills Not?
Don't be surprised☺ Sometimes the best way to explain what something is, is to explain what it is not. So that is what I did this time.
2) What Will Digital Skills Affect, and in Which Areas Will They Be Decisive? In Short, Why Will They Matter?
1) What Are Digital Skills Not?
Let's start by saying this: there is not yet a clear, stable definition of digital skills that applies to everyone. What we see in all the sources we have reviewed is this: especially in the EU, attempts have been made from time to time since the early 1990s to define them, and certain definitions have been put forward. However, because of the rapid developments in internet and computer technologies over the last 15–20 years in particular, all of these definitions have frequently become outdated and been changed.
That is why I wanted to look at how people define this concept. Before writing this article, I asked 13 people around me (people from the office and from training settings) "What are digital skills?" I'll share the most popular answer I received. A considerable number of people (9) gave answers that I could group under the heading "Using systems." Of the other 4, 3 defined it as "Social media skills," and 1 did not answer.
From then on, I began to think it might be better to approach the topic through "What is it not?" instead of "What is it?" The answers were not entirely wrong, but they reduced the concept of digital skills to a single dimension. Even if we asked a much wider audience, I'm sure we would get similar answers.
Digital skills are a topic that runs through our working lives, our social lives and our private lives alike. That is what makes them hard to define. In working life, digital skills are understood as "using information technology systems," while in our private lives "social media skills" can count as a digital skill. It is a topic with very broad boundaries that can vary and differ depending on the situation and the field. It is difficult, and perhaps not even right, to put limits on it. Seen this way, other questions also come to mind: how will we prepare for such an important topic in the future, and how will we educate our children in this respect?
So How Should We Examine This Concept?
Perhaps the best approach is to go back to the very basics. Let's look at it that way.
At the very heart of digital skills is actually "Information (Knowledge)." We are talking about the process of accessing the right information, at the right time and in the right way, and using that information as well as possible to feed into productivity and creativity. At this point, we are in fact talking about several distinct stages. Let's summarize them briefly.
*1. Accessing Information* Accessing the right information you are looking for at the right time, from the right source and in a reliable way
*2. Using Information* Making the best use of the information you have accessed and using it to carry out other creative and productive processes (communication, learning, training, business development, product development, etc.)
*3. Managing Information* Managing the information obtained and used with a sense of responsibility and within the framework of ethical values
*4. Sharing Information* Making it available through appropriate channels so that other people who need the information can also access it
*5. Creating New Information* At the end of this whole process, the ability to synthesize the experience gained and create new, different information.
If we consider this whole process through which information advances and progresses, "what digital skills are" actually emerges on its own.
What we are describing is a journey that starts with accessing the right information and leads to creating new information. We call the full combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors and, most importantly, awareness that we use while going through these stages "Digital Skills."
Of course, there is also the resource side of the matter. If we ask what resources and systems we use our digital skills on, that is where the answers given to our "What is it?" question actually become correct.
Resources such as Information Technology (IT) Systems, Cloud Systems, Information Systems, Social Media Channels, Communication Technologies, Digital Media and the Internet become important as the platforms on which we use and develop our digital skills.
Now that we have defined what digital skills are and what they are not, we can move on to our second question.
2) What Will Digital Skills Affect, and in Which Areas Will They Be Decisive? In Short, Why Will They Matter?
There is no specific answer to this question. In short, you could say everything. Because not in the distant future, but in just a few years, all the processes and experiences we will have in the business world will be focused on "digital" to a very large extent.
Because we now do all kinds of work and processes over the internet and other technological platforms, and will do so even more in the future, digital skills will become important in every field and every sector.
They will even affect our private lives, regardless of sector. At the most basic level, are you aware that even when using our social media accounts and sharing something, we are doing "Content Management and Sharing"? Please think about it as you read this article. Which of us doesn't try to post things that make us look better, happier, maybe even a little cooler? That, too, is a digital skill, straight from the heart of everyday life☺
Turning to working life, digital skills have so far been treated as more technical and seen as skills needed by, and expected from, technical profiles or teams doing digital work. But this perspective now has to change somewhat. Because a certain team in a company having average digital skills will not be enough for that company to advance digitally. We have already entered a period in which all employees need to be "skilled" in the "digital" sense, and we will feel its effects more and more in our own working lives. It would be wise for all of us to get ready for this as soon as possible.
So at this point, the first question that comes to mind is: we need to be ready, OK. But which basic digital skills should we have first? Where should the story begin?
Next week's article will start right there.
See you in the next article,
