Global Strategies Against Digital Challenges
The current multi-faceted media ecosystem due to digital transformation seeks a matrix of multi-literacies beyond the basic literacy and numeracy, namely: computer literacy, media literacy, information literacy, new media literacy and digital literacy necessary to equip citizens to encourage them to reap the benefits as intended by the government’s inclusion policy.
The European Union (EU) has recognised the challenges associated with citizens’ digital and data literacy education and has invested in research around internet safety, digital well-being, and digital skills aimed at developing citizens’ critical awareness (European Commission, 2019). In January 2018, the EU developed “The Digital Education Action Plan”, which emphasises the risks disinformation poses for educators and students and the urgent need to develop digital skills and competences of all learners, both in formal and non-formal education. The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, developed by the Commission, sets out the wide range of skills needed by all learners, from information and data literacy to digital content creation and online safety and well-being (European Commission, 2018a, p. 12). (2021-2027)
One of the pillars of the European Commission Action Plan against Disinformation (European Commission, 2018b) is raising awareness and improving societal resilience. The EU acknowledges that public awareness is vital for societal resilience against dis-/mis-/mal-information, and this mainly involves improving citizens’ media/digital/data literacies with a particular focus on identifying and combating false news.
Governments have started to recognise the need to address disinformation and have called for research to investigate potential interventions. Belgium, for example, has established an expert group of journalists and scholars since 2018 to find a solution and launched a media literacy campaign to inform people about misinformation.
Canada has launched a Digital Charter, titled ‘Trust in a digital world’, to defend freedom of expression and protect against disinformation aimed at undermining democracy, and proposed investing funding in projects aimed at raising public awareness and digital literacy, particularly in relation to dis- and mis-information.
Nigeria too has developed a media literacy campaign in 2018, which includes a collaboration between digital and traditional media together with the National Orientation Agency to provide Nigerians with the appropriate education to fight dis- and mis-information.
The UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published a report in February 2019 on ‘Disinformation and “false news”’, which highlights the importance of digital and data literacy, arguing that it is hard to differentiate on social media between content that is true, misleading, or false, especially when messages are targeted at an individual level. Children and adults need to be equipped with the necessary information and critical analysis to understand content on social media, to work out what is accurate and trustworthy and what is not. Furthermore, people need to be aware of the rights they have over their own personal data and what they should do when they want their data removed (DCMS, 2019).
Generally speaking digital literacy, information literacy, computer literacy and new media literacy possess overlapping functions: New media literacy (NML) is defined as the ability to use digital and communication technologies to consume and create content, as well as to apply critical thinking (Koc & Barut, 2016).
These purposes include behaviours both consuming and prosuming media content (Koc & Barut, 2016). social media platforms are utilized as sources of information (Cooke, 2017). In other words, people use social media for information-seeking in different fields (Kim, Sin, & Yoo-Lee, 2014). The main challenge in this regard is to decide on the trustworthiness, objectivity, and accuracy of the information (Chiu, Tsai, & Liang, 2015; Reisoglu, Toksoy, & Erenler, 2020)
Misinformation, such as that which spreads during the COVID-19 pandemic (Rovetta & Bhagavathula, 2020), can be addressed through a rational and critical approach to information (Chiu et al., 2015; Warner-Søderholm et al., 2018).