• Familiarise with the EU framework for digital skills: In the first training unit, readers will have the opportunity to familiarise with the DigComp framework, the EU official reference model for training and education on IT skills.
• Understand the essentials of cooperation and collaboration in IT environments: The cooperation and collaboration pillar of the Dig Comp frameworks provides for key competences for effective and efficient cooperation dynamics in digital settings.
• Acquire new good practices for team management and stakeholders engagement in virtual contexts: At the end of this module, readers can find for their use consolidated and robust good practices for a trust-based and reliable communication with external parties, stakeholders and tem memebers. 

The following content focuses on Interacting through digital technologies, a training area and competences emerged as particularly critical from the skills-gap and need assessment analysis conducted by partners throughout the first implementation cycle of NICHE.

The World Wide Web is flooded with material on how to be more proficient with digital technologies from an in-remote communication and collaboration perspective. But in the context of this training module, our primary source of reference will be represented by the latest version of the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens published by the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre in 2016.

More specifically, we will look into the competence area no.2 Communication and Collaboration, to which Interacting through digital technologies formally belongs to.

The first DigComp framework came out in 2013. The latest version is the DigComp 2.1 but it will be soon replaced by the DigComp 2.2 (available later in 2022).

The DigComp 2.1 includes 21 digital competences distributed among 5 competence (“training”) areas.

For each specific competence, an 8-layer proficiency model is available that final users/teachers can rely on to track, monitor and progresses in acquiring more robust proficiency with the given competences.

As of today, between the official publication of the DigComp 2.1 and the release of the 2.2’s version, the European Commission extended DigComp’s bibliography with three additional resources:

In Unit 1, we presented readers to the background and general outline of the DigComp framework so as to better introduce them to the content that will come next.

The Communication and collaboration pillar is further broken down into the following competences:   

Source: DigComp 2.1, page 11

As we can see, all six competences listed under the second competence area are closely interrelated each others:

In other words, among these competences there is not a “strict” hierarchal order but rather a mutual-contamination effect, in which strengthening your proficiency with one of them, strengthens your expertise with all the others.

Talking about proficiency, the DigComp 2.1 came with a very clear progression model that helps users in acquiring greater awareness on their expertise and know how.

First and foremost, it is essential to understand and be perfectly aware of who your organisation is interacting with and why…

A data driven interaction implies the competence of decoding digital data and information so as to be better equipped to navigate the digital ecosystem and orientate the strategic long-term vision of the organisation accordingly.

The most critical business functions are now fully data-driven: finance, sales and advertising rely on web-based exchanges of communication, inputs and insights, plus numerous other parameters to assess, monitor and evaluate the performance of the organisation and how its value-equation its perceived among (potential) customers.

For instance, in branding:

About targets…

…we do refer to the general cohort of social and economic actors identified as Group of Interest (aka Stakeholders) that:

Keep track and record the progresses you make in communication and engagement per each of the identified stakeholder category: what is their current (C) level of involvement compered to the desired (D) status? 

About the audience…

About the audience…and consistent means

Internal communication

External communication

Social Media, Internet, Mass Media

Events, conferences and seminars. Specialized media (print)

Training, Direct mailing and targeted communication (newsletter)

Reports

Emails + meetings + telcom.

Personal emails + individual meetings + informal telcom.

In the following paragraphs, we will introduce readers to a good-practice scenario which demonstrates how entrepreneurs and organisations operating in the field of cultural heritage can formulate and design their (online) communication strategies and overall digital identity so as to better valorise their offer and their values – inspired by the promotion and safeguard of intangible cultural heritage.

Farmhouses in Europe represent a vibrant market industry with incredibly high potentials for the mainstreaming and showcases of local cultural heritage and agro-food traditions.

Their (online) communication is typically very appealing to the vast majority of online public and leverages on a sophisticated promotion of “immersive experiences”, rather than goods and/or services…

Lean, simple and user-friendly aesthetics

Madonna degli Angeli’s website fits this exact scope: the overall layout of the webpage welcomes users with an intuitive and warm layout.

From the very first glance, users can gain access to all information they need: form the accommodation facilities, to the environmental surroundings…

Many other organisations and businesses operating in the field of cultural heritage, farmhouses are not limited to the self-perception of holiday resort, but as a suggestive and welcoming environment integrated within the landscape they contribute to define its traditional identity, helping people to rest from the tumultuous life of the cities, mostly spent at frenetic rhythms in indoor environments.

In this case, the (online) communication pillars exploits a sense of peacefulness so desperately sought by the men and women “from the city”, alienated by their daily routines in between traffic, meetings, and work appointments…

In order to obtain positive outcomes in reviews and customer loyalty, the role of cultural mediation played by the owner of the business was of fundamental importance, a person able to empathize with the guests by communicating both the authenticity of the story and the passion of those participating in it. The accommodation phase is always contextualized in reference to the analogous vision of the territory, so as to build a unique “brand” defining them mutually.

Travellers are offered extremely varied, integrated experiential itineraries, providing them an added value that characterizes the stay in the structure, inducing the tourist to stay for several days and not just on weekends.

Last but not least

Is it common for farmhouses, and other business in the sector of ICH to nurture, strengthen and foster a local network of stakeholders and other sector operators that cross-promote their services and overall offer. If the intention (i.e., objective) is to provide clients and customers a comprehensive experience, this must be as inclusive and diverse and possible, rooted in traditions and valorising the best of what the local territory has to offer.

That way, ICH businesses contribute to the generatation of an economic cycle from which they can all benefit from: business, people and local communities.