Conference Paper

TRADITIONAL MEDIA SKILLS AND DIGITAL MEDIA SKILLS: MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE?

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Abstract

Although traditional and digital media skills contain many similarities, digital media literacy increases the differences observed in traditional literacy. On the one hand computers and the Internet make things easier as they enable systematic information retrieval from innumerable sources simultaneously. At the other hand computers and the Internet make information seeking and improving literacy more difficult as they assume a number of new operational and formal skills to start with. Additionally, they require particular information and strategic skills that partly are different from those required for the use of traditional media. All four skills taken together probably make the gap between people with different educational, occupational and age backgrounds bigger in the new than in the traditional media. Very few operational definitions and measurements of traditional media literacy are available. In this paper a general framework has been proposed to define and measure media literacy that can be applied to both traditional and digital media. The similarities of literacies have been emphasized: they all require operational, formal, information and strategic skills. The differences are caused by the characteristics of the medium under consideration and by the social and usage context that inspire special attention to particular skills.

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... A main challenge in measuring and comparing digital skills between people is the dynamic character of the Internet and its rapid changes, which are reflected in similar changes in users' skillsets [31]. Subsequently, studies that propose a universal scale for Internet skills tend to rely on narrow definitions and focus on basic functions [57]. ...
... The popularity of self-reports stems from their ease of measurement, operation, and analysis. However, their reliability is questionable, and there can be significant gaps between the levels of perceived and actual skills [57]. Moreover, due to respondents' social desirability, there can be significant bias in self-reported literacy [33]. ...
... To overcome the challenges of self-reported data, researchers proposed to measure respondents' performance based on observations [31]. Several studies used a similar methodology, in which participants were asked to perform tasks, during which they were observed by the researchers to assess their digital literacy [16,21,57]. ...
... Surveys and self-reports A significant challenge in assessing and comparing digital competencies among individuals arises from the continuously evolving nature of the Internet and its rapid transformations, accompanied by corresponding shifts in users' skillsets (Litt, 2013). As a result, efforts to establish a comprehensive standard for evaluating Internet skills often tend to adopt narrow definitions, focusing primarily on fundamental functionalities (van Dijk and van Deursen, 2010). ...
... Participants also exhibited a slight improvement in their ability to formulate search queries on Google, echoing previous research on self-reported digital competencies (Livingstone and Helsper, 2007). The training and experience gained during the course appeared to enhance their understanding of website structures, supporting the idea that targeted interventions can improve digital literacy (van Dijk and van Deursen, 2010;European Commission, 2009). ...
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... Assessing digital skills presents a challenge since the dynamic nature of the internet results in constantly changing user skillsets (Litt, 2013). Consequently, many studies have proposed narrow definitions and focused on basic functions (Van Dijk & Van Deursen, 2010). Respondent self-reports, asking users to rate their digital skills on a scale ranging from beginner through average, advanced, or expert (Livingstone & Helsper, 2007), report their level of mastery in using specific tools and performing online activities (Zimic, 2009), or their confidence in their abilities to perform tasks online (Eastin & LaRose, 2000;Spitzberg, 2006), are popular measurement methods but have limited reliability. ...
... To overcome the limitations of self-reports, researchers use observational methods to measure actual user performance (Litt, 2013). In this approach, participants are asked to perform tasks, and researchers observe and assess their digital literacy skills (Alkali & Amichai-Hamburger, 2004;Hargittai, 2002;Van Dijk & Van Deursen, 2010). While this method eliminates self-report bias, and enables in-depth analysis of individual digital literacy, it is limited to small samples, subject to the researcher's subjective interpretation, and requires significant time and resources. ...
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... Literacy research can also be differently approached, depending on whether media literacy is seen as related to a continuous assimilation of media-related technologies or the discontinuous disruption by media-related technologies (Livingstone, Van Couvering, & Thumim, 2005). These conceptualizations have led to the ongoing and unsettled debate about whether media-related technologies require an extension of the old skills with new elements as part of a converging media concept (Livingstone, Van Couvering, & Thumim, 2005) or whether media-related technologies necessitate a reframing of 'new' literacies or 'new' skills resulting in a diverging media concept (Van Dijk & Van Deursen, 2010). ...
... Definitions and citations are remarkably inaccurate. Conceptual disagreements come down to viewing media literacy as an continuously expanding, assimilative concept, absorbing properties and functions of new media and literacy practices (Livingstone, Van Couvering, & Thumim, 2005), or a continuously diverging, discontinuous concept, accommodating itself to new media and literacy practices (Van Dijk & Van Deursen, 2010). Literacy research finally, can be differently framed, depending on whether media literacy is considered an individual or a societal prerequisite (Livingstone, 2012) and whether its gains are associated with benefits either for an individual or for the economy or society (Markauskaite, 2006). ...
... Este nuevo paradigma, marcado por la hipercomunicación y la presencia de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC), requiere que los docentes desarrollen destrezas relacionadas con el uso y gestión de dichos recursos técnicos. A este respecto, cabe mencionar que los medios digitales no son como los medios tradicionales, puesto que necesitan de un continuo aprendizaje que involucra nuevas capacidades para su dominio (Dijk y Deursen, 2010). ...
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... For some it includes the 'competence' aspect, i.e. the ability to make effective use of information, as this term has gained leverage in education (Ala-Mutka, 2011). Framing literacy as competence, may give the impression of a new perspective on media literacy, that is 'new literacy', as media literacy pertains to new media and not old media (Van Dijk & Van Deursen, 2010). Following the EU's point of view that media literacy relates to all media (2007), and the use of this extended literacy concept in large surveys (Fraillon, Schulz, & Ainley, 2013), we propose an extended concept which presupposes a convergence of old and new media (Jenkins, 2006). ...
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