We ended the first article in our Digital Skills series with a question.
We asked: "We now need to be ready to be competent and effective in the digital world. So which core digital skills should we develop first? Where should the story begin?"
In this article, we focus on the core digital skills we absolutely need to have and look at each of them in detail. Happy reading.
1) What Are the Most Fundamental Digital Skills We Need?
International sources refer to the areas below, each briefly described, as Core Digital Skills. We see some of them as truly fundamental skills (Digital Literacy, Digital Identity, Digital Communication, Digital Usage, Digital EQ), while others are more accurately described as a main dimension, or core component, of the field rather than a skill. That is how we see areas such as Digital Safety, Digital Security and Digital Rights, but here we can treat them all as the ABCs of the subject.
Digital Literacy: Defined as the set of skills for finding, understanding, analyzing and sharing information in digital environments. In our view, it is the first skill we absolutely need, which is why it is central to our approach. Finding and extracting information that is accurate, useful and actually needed in digital environments flooded with "information pollution" is no longer as easy as people think. In fact, it is getting harder and harder. Yes, we now have access to an incredible amount of resources and there is a vast amount of information in digital environments — but which of it do we actually need? We have to analyze this very carefully. We would even argue that this analysis counts as a skill in its own right.
Digital Identity: You could call this the most personal skill. Think of it as your national ID number in the digital world. It is unique to you: everyone designs it in their own way, builds it differently from others and, more importantly, manages it. Driven above all by the growing role of social media in our lives, building a digital identity is, at its core, the answer to the question "Who are you in the digital world? What kind of identity do you have?" This skill matters as much for companies as it does for individuals. Corporations in particular can address different target audiences with different identities across different social media channels. Likewise, individuals may choose to manage their digital identities in different ways. In this sense, we are talking about a concept that needs to be managed well and is unique to its owner (a person or a company).
Digital Communication: Very broadly, this refers to the full range of online, two-way communication and interaction carried out using digital technologies via communication devices (smartphones, computers and so on). But it should not be confused with Digital Marketing. Digital Marketing certainly uses communication, but not every digital communication activity is for marketing purposes. This distinction deserves particular attention.
Digital Usage: This skill reflects how often, how intensively and how effectively digital technologies and services are used. It sometimes appears in the workplace as a key performance indicator (KPI) in the form of a Digital Usage Rate.
Digital Emotional Intelligence: Digital EQ is a skill related to the relational side of digital environments. What kind of profile do we have in digital environments, how do we behave, how do we approach people and how good are we at empathizing? Can we build safe and healthy relationships with others? These are among the topics covered by this skill.
Digital Safety: This mainly concerns digital content that could be described as malicious or harmful. Extremist comments, harassment, sexual abuse, all kinds of violent content and so on fall within the scope of digital safety. We can think of it as a skill area that addresses the risks, dangers and threats involved. Some unfortunate incidents on social media in recent months have shown us all once again just how important digital safety is.
Digital Security: Digital security covers all threats related to cyberattacks, hacking, viruses and the protection of personal data. It is a skill that includes both precautions taken before a threat and solutions applied after it, as well as the practical ability to put them into action.
Digital Rights: These rights have come to the fore as social media law has become increasingly important in recent years. We can't list them all, but since the topic has come up, here are a few of the digital rights we consider most important: the right of access, the right to privacy, freedom of expression online, the privacy of private life, the protection of personal data, the right to personal security, the right to obtain information, the right of access to information, freedom of religion and belief online, and the protection of one's virtual persona.
2) What Are the Core Components of Digital Skills?
There are 5 main dimensions here. Since this may be of more interest to professionals working on the technical side, it gets a little detailed, but we still wanted to share it.
1. Information and Data Literacy
This consists of searching, browsing, filtering, analyzing, evaluating and managing information and data.
2. Communication and Collaboration
Communication, interaction and sharing through all digital technologies fall into this area. Building a digital identity and managing it, digital citizenship and what we call Netiquette — "internet ethics and etiquette" — come under this heading.
3. Digital Content Creation
This is one of the most important areas, and it will become even more important in the years ahead. This dimension covers creating and developing all kinds of digital content (written, visual, video and so on), reworking existing content, and keeping different pieces of content consistent with one another. Copyright and licensing also belong to this area.
4. Safety
The protection and security of personal data, privacy, health, the environment and similar matters fall within this scope.
5. Problem Solving
This is defined as solving technical problems and identifying technology needs in advance.
While we're on the subject of core components, one more point is worth underlining. To put digital skills into practice quickly — that is, to be able to "use them as effectively as possible in the shortest possible time" — we also need some key abilities.
The first of these is foreign language skills, whose necessity and importance are of course no longer up for debate. Beyond that, research and analysis skills are also highly valuable today. They become especially important when it comes to finding and extracting the information you need from the mass of information in digital environments. In addition, analytical intelligence, the ability to learn, openness to multidisciplinary work and learning, and the ability to master more than one discipline and switch between them quickly are just a few of the skills that will strengthen our hand and help us stand out in the digital age.
With these last two articles, our aim was to raise knowledge and awareness of digital skills and to talk about their growing importance. As we close, we hope we all keep developing our digital skills, make the most of them and always say #öncedijital ("digital first").
Until the next article,
