Educating in platform societies: from Digital Citizenship to public values in a connected world

Abstract

Digital Citizenship Education has become an increasingly relevant topic in recent years for governments and institutions around the world. DCE is presented in most cases as a new dimension of citizenship education that focuses on teaching students to live critically and safely in digital environments. The topic is closely related to those of media literacy, information literacy and education through digital technologies. Traditional Media Education tools have been updated over time to respond to far-reaching changes in media ecosystems and networked environments. This this did not result in a drastic overcoming of Media Literacy but rather an incorporation of new concepts that arise from the added dimension of networked interactivity. Ultimately, what emerges as prevalent from the analysis of the main discourses on “digital” societies and the need for “digital” citizenship education is that the overuse of the term “digital” leads to various misunderstandings and holds back the development of more adequate and epistemologically founded conceptual frameworks. With regard to citizenship education, the most important aspects to focus on are not about digitization itself but about public values in a connective world: networked life, the non-separability of offline and online, and the platformization of our societies and lives.

Keywords

• Digital Citizenship
• Education
• Media
• Networks
• Platformization