Digital citizen  someone who, through the development of a broad range of competences, is able to actively, positively and responsibly engage in both on- and offline communities, whether local, national or global
Digital Citizenship involves a wide range of activities, from creating, consuming, sharing, playing and socialising, to investigating, communicating, learning and working in digital environments

Source: ESCO – Classification of Skills & Competences, Engaging in Citizenship trough digital technologies

Participation in digital societies manifests in the following:

1.    Safe use of online technologies
2.    Digital literacy
3.    Active & Responsible digital life
4.    Digital skills for employability and life (basic and advanced)

Safe use of digital technologies is a broad concept that implies one’s capacity to promote, trough his / her behaviour and attitudes, a digital environment free from:

•    Hateful speech
•    Promotion of disinformation / misinformation
•    Content that may harm peoples sensibility
•    Barriers to inclusive and equal ecosystems

Digital Literacy is a broad concept that implies one’s capacity to understand:

	1.    How the internet works – which threats exists in the digital environment, and which potentials the World Wide Web has
	2.    Evaluate and discern content
	3.    How to protects and safeguard privacy and data Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication to protect your accounts. Keep your software up-to-date to avoid security vulnerabilities. Be cautious when opening emails or clicking on links from unknown sources. Use antivirus software to protect your devices from malware and viruses. Be mindful of your privacy settings on social media platforms and other websites. Use encryption tools to protect your sensitive data. Use parental controls to protect children from inappropriate content online.

Active and Responsible digital life is a broad concept that implies one’s capacity to:

1.    Acknowledge the digital divide of people and foster support means for all
2.    Practice digital wellness and remain aware of the impact that digital content might in real-life scenarios
3.    Engage with & promote useful content

Digital skills for employability and life is a broad concept that implies one’s capacity to:

1.    Interact with digital public administration portals
2.    Manage digital services (i.e., checking the bank account, paying bills, etc.)
3.    Find a new job opportunity in the digital job market
4.    Find and capitalise on digital opportunities for professionalisation, education, training and self-empowerment

In other to better help readers in better understanding what might be a suitable base of reference for this new empowerment journey, we recommend them to look into the Competence Framework for Democratic Culture from the Council of Europe.

This competence framework provides for a solid, robust and reliable roadmap of the coordinates that lead to better informed and engaged e-citizens.

In a digital setting, this competence framework is break-down into 10 digital competences in total, distributed across three education domains.

AREA 1 – BEING ONLINE

AREA 2 – WELL-BEING ONLINE

AREA 3 – RIGHTS ONLINE
 

Access & Inclusion

•    Overcoming possible form of barriers preventing you and your peers to access online digital content – this relates also to infrastructures and hardware (stable and reliable internet connection) •    Get to know the basics of browsing and evaluation digital content

Learning & Creativity

•    Using digital technologies to consolidate, empower and foster your forms of expressions (i.e., music, writing, etc.) •    Find through digital technologies sources and references to embark in a lifelong e-learning programme strengthening critical thinking and creativity •    Promote e-learning content and foster creative culture

Media & IT literacy

•    Navigating the digital ecosystem while maintaining the ability to critically evaluate content, filter what is true from what is false, what is objectives from what is pushed by an agenda •    Recognize and deal with the many biases that are on the Web •    Understand where this biases might come from and how to isolate them

Ethics & Empathy

•    In most of cases, digital communication means prevents people from having a comprehensive outlook over the non-verbal and paraverbal dimension of communication. This might wide margins for confusion and misunderstandings: in online environments it is too easy to come to hasty conclusions and have a biased opinion on certain things •    Train you patience, moderate your tones more than you would usually do in traditional F2F conversations •    Monitor you attitudes and behavior and try to evaluate your demeanor from a third person perspective (i.e., do you like what you see?)

Health & Well-being

•    Be aware of the long-term impact that the exposure to IT environments might have on your and your peers’ physical and mental health (perception of isolation, solitude, etc.) •    The more you are exposed to certain things, the higher the risk of auto-generating and self-consolidating biases more or less explicit •    Rationalize that what happens in digital environments has strong and evident repercussion on real-life (i.e., cyberbullying) •    Put in check your emotion and remain vigilant of toxic digital environments

e-Reputation & Digital Communication

•    Build, strengthen and participate in proactive and fulfilling discussions •    Avoid toxic environments and people that you don’t wish to be associated with •    Maintain and promote a positive and perception of yourself

Active Participation

•    Your full understanding of the context & content of the digital setting you’re in, so as to make thoughtful, meaningful and considerate contributions •    Informed and unbiased decision-making – the information on which you based you action is reliable, fact-checked, and provided in the right context •    The information that you share with others is meant to bring benefits

Rights & Responsibilities

Rights
•    Use electronic devices •    Access and use digital content  •    Create and share media •    Privacy •    Expression •    Monitor and report to authorities questionable content / behaviors
Responsibilities
•    Appropriate digital behavior (netiquette) •    Respect others’ opinion and ideas •    Compliance with intellectual property lay •    Follows code of conducts expressed by websites and online communities

Privacy & Security

•    Preventing, tackling and addressing threats coming from the online environment, and strategize safeguarding measures accordingly •    Be very careful of what you say, how you say it and to whom •    Store safely critical personal and sensitive data (i.e., information that you don’t want to be public)

Consumer Awareness

•    Be aware that when you consume digital content, when you browse, search and evaluate digital data, your are contributing yourself to generate data that will be used by other parties (i.e., advertisers) •    Visit reputable websites only and be very suspicious of promotions, pop-up communications •    Understand what cookies are and what is the extent of their action •    Synchronize your online payments with safety and alert measures provided by your e-banking service