Table 4.
Conceptual model of digital literacy from Eshet-Alkalai (2004) Digital skills Definition
Photo-visual Ability to work effectively with digital environments that use visual representations, such as interfaces; being able to read and
understand instructions and messages represented visually.
Reproduction Capacity to create new meanings or interpretations from existing information in any form (text, graphic or sound). This is essential in writing and visual art.
Branching
Ability to construct knowledge by a nonlinear navigation through knowledge domains. New technologies present information in a non-linear manner and users must be able to navigate through these options for constructing knowledge.
Information Ability to evaluate and assess information properly and identify false, irrelevant or biased information.
Socio-emotional
Ability to communicate effectively in online communication platforms such as discussion groups and chatrooms, to
collaboratively construct knowledge and to be willing to share data and knowledge with others.
Note. Author’s elaboration from Eshet-Alkalai (2004), Eshet-Alkalai and Amichai-Hamburger (2004) and Eshet-Alkalai and Chajut (2009)
In like manner, Area and Pessoa (2012) describe five dimensions that compose digital literacy: instrumental, cognitive-intellectual, socio-communicational, axiological and emotional (see Table 5). This model expands a previous model developed with four dimensions: instrumental, cognitive-intellectual, socio- communicational and axiological (Area et al., 2008). Moreover, it is designed for adults with the aim that they can participate in the digital society as citizens.
Table 5.
Conceptual model of digital literacy of Area and Pessoa (2012) Digital skills Definition
Instrumental Technical mastery of technology; that is to say, knowing how to handle hardware and software (e.g., install software).
Cognitive- intellectual
Knowledge and skills for effective use of information: search, select, analyse, understand and recreate information; being able to communicate with others through digital resources.
Socio-
communicational
Skills for the creation and dissemination of different types of texts (hypertext, audio, iconic, three-dimensional); this also includes a positive attitude towards others: collaborative work, respect and empathy in social networks.
Axiological Development of criteria to critically analyse information; this also includes the acquisition of ethical values for the use of technology and communication.
Emotional In digital environments, affects and emotions arise. We must learn how to control negative emotions through empathy.
Note. Author’s elaboration from Area and Pessoa (2012)
Similarly, Monereo (2005) considers the existence of four basic socio- cognitive skills for the knowledge society that integrate the concept of digital literacy:
information, communication, collaboration and participation in public life (see Table 6). However, a technological or instrumental skill is not included in this model, even though it is a central basis for digital literacy (Ilomäki et al., 2016). Moreover, this model only considers the Internet.
Likewise, Cabero Almenara, Marín Díaz, and Llorente Cejudo (2012) propose a model of digital literacy that is composed of the following eight digital skills:
technical-operative, languages, ideological, digital identity, communicative, aesthetics, economic and security-legislative (see Table 7). Nonetheless, we consider that some of these dimensions are not needed for minors, such as the economic one.
Table 6.
Conceptual model of digital literacy of Monereo (2005) Digital skills Definition
Information Knowing when and why to use a certain search process, to use one or another search engine and to select certain keywords.
Communication Knowing how to use digital communication tools, such as email, chat, videoconferences and forums.
Collaboration Knowing how to use digital collaborative tools.
Participation in
public life Knowing how to protect the digital identity.
Note. Author’s elaboration from Monereo (2005)
Table 7.
Conceptual model of digital literacy of Cabero Almenara et al. (2012) Digital skills Definition
Technological- operative
Instrumental management and technological operation of information technology and communication, regarding both hardware and software.
Languages Being able to use and understand how different types of languages, systems, and symbolic codes converge: static image, multimedia, audio, audio-visual and telematics.
Ideological/political-
axiological Being aware that technology constructs a media reality that determines how we see and understand the world.
Digital identity Being able to create and manage a digital identity.
Communicative Knowing the processes of production and distribution of messages;
differentiating the communicative uses of each technology depending on the purpose; and knowing how to manage and process information.
Aesthetics Being able to recognise the quality and the aesthetic aspects of a technological production.
Economic Knowing the elements that link technology with business development and the market.
Security-legislative Knowing the illegal and criminal actions that are performed through communication networks, such as impersonation.
Note. Author’s elaboration from Cabero Almenara et al. (2012)
On the other hand, if we consider children or adolescents exclusively, there are a few proposed digital literacy models. First, the EU Kids Online project (Sonck et al., 2011) mentions three general types of skills: instrumental (also known as basic or functional skills), informational (understanding, navigation, evaluation) and social (communication, self-disclosure, privacy). The work of this project was continued by the Net Children Go Mobile project (Mascheroni & Ólafsson, 2014). However, in this case a different classification with four digital skills is used: instrumental, critical, safety and communication.
After this review, it is worth noting that the problem of some of these classifications is that they only consider the Internet and not the rest of the digital environment. Digital society is much more than the Internet, so limiting things only to the Internet ignores an important part of human actions in electronic space (Sevillano, 2009). Moreover, these classifications usually refer to the general public or adults. However, our target population is adolescents.
On the basis of the above, we define digital literacy as a set of necessary skills to make effective, critical, conscious and safe use of digital technology for communication, learning, work and entertainment purposes. Consequently, in addition to a technological skill, which basically allows the use of technology, other skills would be necessary to confirm that this use is effective, critical, conscientious and safe. Accordingly, considering previous studies, and taking into account the needs of minors, we propose a model with five different skills that are considered as being part of the broader concept of digital literacy, similar to previous research (Bunz, 2004;
Helsper & Eynon, 2013; S.-J. Lee & Chae, 2012; Sonck & de Haan, 2014; Zhang & Zhu, 2016):
1. Technological or instrumental skill: ability to effectively use digital technologies; access to digital technology and knowledge about hardware and software components; familiarity with technology terms and competence to
solve everyday technical problems. Therefore, this skill includes possessing technical and operational skills to use digital technology in minors’ daily lives (Ng, 2012). Through this skill, the user can operate different software and hardware and is capable of adapting to innovations without problems. This dimension includes, for example, the handling capacity for technological innovations or the ability to distinguish which software is best suited for a purpose. In short, this skill implies an instrumental knowledge of digital tools, how to use them and for what purposes (Cabero Almenara et al., 2012; Iste, 2007; Riel et al., 2012). This skill basically allows minors to autonomously use technology on a daily basis. Moreover, it is an essential skill within digital literacy, since it is a pre-requisite skill for making critical or safe use of digital technology.
2. Communication skill: ability to communicate through digital technologies; knowing how to interact with other people on social media sites and how to adapt the message to a specific context, medium and purpose;
knowledge about the different communicative tools, such as emoji and their communicative potential (Area & Guarro, 2012; Cabero Almenara et al., 2012;
Ferrari, 2012; Iste, 2007). According to Bakke (2010), it would also include the ability to tailor the message to the recipient. This skill also refers to the ability to read and understand an email or to being able to judge the intention of the communicator.
3. Information skill: in short, this refers to the ability to find information, obtain it, and evaluate its relevance in the digital environment. It also connects with the ability to classify, organise, process, obtain, evaluate and use information. This would include the use of search techniques, the evaluation of information, the organisation of this information through digital tools and the identification of authorship (Cabero Almenara et al., 2012;
Ferrari, 2013; Iste, 2007; Monereo, 2005; Riel et al., 2012). Through this skill,
we intend to deal with the information overload that occurs in the digital environment. There is so much information that it is difficult to discern what is important and what is not. As such, we can have problems understanding an issue or making decisions. Therefore, users should have the competence to find, select, analyse, compare, contrast, understand, summarise, and retrieve information. This is a very important skill since we use information in daily life.
4. Critical skill: ability to critically analyse the information obtained. Thus, the user is able, for example, to discover the truth or falsity of the information contained in an email. Through this skill, the individual also knows how to identify and avoid harmful content and contacts (Area Moreira & Pessoa, 2012;
Cabero Almenara et al., 2012; Ferrés & Piscitelli, 2012; Ktoridou et al., 2012).
Finally, the user reflects on the veracity and validity of the information that they are receiving.
5. Security skill: ability to use interactive communication without risks and danger. This skill includes, for example, knowing how to manage a digital reputation or how to protect the privacy of personal information that is available online. In this sense, sometimes young users do not realise that their social media profile is public and can put a large amount of personal information online. This information can be accessible to many users, among which can be found predators, paedophiles, or malicious people in general.
For this reason, is important that minors know how to control the privacy of their information and what kind of information they can put online.
Moreover, this skill also includes individuals understanding the impact of their actions, such as impersonation or illegal downloading of content.
Finally, it also includes knowing and using protective software, such as antivirus packages (Cabero Almenara et al., 2012; Ferrari, 2013; Ferrari, Punie,
& Redecker, 2012; Iste, 2007; Riel et al., 2012). Therefore, this skill refers to the safe, legal and responsible use of digital technology.
In Table 8 we present a summary of our conceptual model of digital literacy with five digital skills.
Table 8.
Conceptual model of digital literacy for the present study Digital skills Definition
Technological Ability to effectively use digital technologies Communication Ability to communicate through digital technologies
Information Ability to find information, obtain it, and evaluate its relevance in the digital environment.
Critical Ability to critically analyse the information obtained Security Ability to use digital technology without risks and dangers