Understanding digital citizenship in everyday life: tensions between digital inclusion policies and disadvantaged citizens’ experiences

The emergence of the global digital world has created large-scale transformation in how individuals and societies function. Citizenship in twenty_first century society now includes digital citizenship – which is described in the research as the norms of appropriate, responsible behaviour regarding technology use. The rapid change of digital technologies has generated a need for new ways to develop responsible citizens. Schools are being challenged to address an increasing range of broader societal issues that influence individuals’ responsible citizenship such as cyber bullying and identity theft. The research problem addressed in this thesis concerns how learning communities cultivate responsible citizens. How this issue has been addressed is by school leaders implementing digital citizenship teaching and learning opportunities in the curriculum. The research purpose is to explore how students, teachers and leaders of one secondary school experience a curriculum that integrates digital citizenship. Three specific research questions focus the conduct of this study: How do members of a secondary school community experience a curriculum that integrates digital citizenship? How do members of a secondary school community engage with a curriculum that integrates digital citizenship? How does a curriculum that integrates digital citizenship influence members of the school community? Case study is the methodology adopted for the research. Participants are purposely selected from the student, teacher and leader body of a Catholic secondary college in Queensland. In total, 300 participants are involved. Data are gathered through focus group interviews, individual interviews, online questionnaires and participant observation. For the purpose of the research, the Constant Comparative Method of data analysis is applied. This research generates 10 conclusions: First, Ribble and Bailey’s Nine Elements Framework (2007; updated by Ribble, 2011) offers a productive strategy for school educators to conceptualise the issues concerning digital participation. It provides a defensible framework to prepare curriculum that incorporates digital citizenship themes. Staff and students confirm that a common language for digital citizenship is productive, however the Nine Elements Framework and digital citizenship terminology may be more meaningful for staff than students. Second, it is appropriate for digital citizenship teaching and learning opportunities to be included in school curriculum. Participants consider digital citizenship as a necessary and relevant focus for schools. Third, a curriculum that integrates digital citizenship promotes online behaviour standards in schools. Participants consider the integrated curriculum a relevant educative approach for developing staff and students’ capacities for responsible online participation. Fourth, there is a need for government informed leadership to school systems and schools concerning digital citizenship. Direction on the relationship between digital citizenship and Australian education priorities is required. The deficit of leadership is problematic for school staff striving to facilitate curriculum that integrates digital citizenship. Fifth, schools and families share responsibility for developing students’ digital citizenry. Staff and students consider that digital citizenship is productively developed when parents and teachers cooperatively guide the process. Sixth, there is a deficit in teacher knowledge and confidence in teaching digital citizenship. There is a need for more and improved quality teacher education concerning digital citizenship. Seventh, a curriculum that integrates digital citizenship opportunities is a preferred teaching and learning model for staff and students. Contextualising digital citizenship learning in an established educational program encourages a school-wide digital citizenship focus. The integrated curriculum generates connections for students between online and offline contexts. Eighth, a curriculum that integrates digital citizenship is a productive approach to the enculturation of digital citizenship in a school community. Contextualised teaching of digital citizenship develops five areas of school life: digital citizenship awareness; common language concerning the digital context; professional expectations; staff and student interactions, and practice. Ninth, specialised professional development is critical for all school staff facilitating digital citizenship education. Staff members require initial and ongoing education concerning the digital context and digital citizenship themes. The development should particularly engage with Australian Curriculum digital citizenship requirements and implications; and how students approach, value and relate to digital technologies. Tenth, in a school where digital citizenship is a curriculum priority it is productive for school-based and system accountability processes to include digital citizenship themes.

Governments globally are committed to closing the gap between citizens who are digitally engaged and those who are not. Digital inclusion is a government policy response aimed at addressing factors associated with digital inequities. States across the globe have developed digital inclusion policies and strategies to try to reduce inequalities within their societies but there is little research that conceptualizes digital inclusion policy at an inter-country level. This study examines how digital inclusion is represented within the government policies of five different jurisdictions. The five digital inclusion policies were coded and analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Deductive and inductive coding identified five main areas of concern across the policies: core pillars of digital inclusion; goals of digital inclusion policies; groups targeted by digital inclusion policies; drivers of digital inclusion policies; and responsibility for change. Within these, the evidence suggests that government policies are concerned mainly with access and attitudes and there is an emphasis on skills development in the workplace and throughout the education system. Collaboration and partnerships between governments and commercial partners are positioned as fundamental to achieving change and supporting the digital inclusion of those currently disengaged.

This paper aimed to analyze digital citizenship in civic education learning, focusing on the practice and implications of digital citizenship in civic education learning. This article provided a systematic review of 41 selected articles from the SCOPUS database of digital citizenship in civic education learning by analyzing content as a methodology for assessing the practice and implications of citizenship in civic education learning. The review identified the practice of digital citizenship in civic education learning from the dimensions of respecting, educating, and appreciating the practice of citizenship. The results of the literature review analysis revealed that the practice of digital citizenship is often used in political participation, democratic participation, citizen involvement, and being a citizen in the digital era. The implications of digital citizenship in civic education learning were still centered on materials such as politics, democracy, and citizen involvement. Another implication was that students, teachers, and curriculum are the most critical aspects of digital citizenship in the future. Some literature tries to carry out this study. Civic education is the central pillar in promoting digital citizenship in schools and the community.

Digital citizenship has emerged as a prominent concept in policy and academic discourse, broadly referring to individuals’ ability to access and use digital tools for public engagement. However, because its meaning varies between actors and across societal contexts, it is still an ambiguous term. This article considers how digital citizenship takes shape in practice by examining the everyday practices of librarians, the key mediators between citizens and the digital welfare state, and analysing how these contrast with conceptualizations of digital citizenship promoted by the Dutch national Digital Inclusion programme. Governments worldwide are adopting “digital‐by‐default” models, emphasizing ICT‐driven public service solutions. While promising greater efficiency and accessibility, this transition exacerbates challenges for individuals lacking access to ICT resources or digital literacy, reinforcing social inequalities. Using the Netherlands as a case study, this research highlights the challenges of digital inclusion in highly digitalized societies. Despite high digitalization rankings, many Dutch citizens face difficulties using digital tools and accessing digital public services. To address this issue, the Dutch government launched the Digital Inclusion programme in 2019, establishing information points and digital skills courses in libraries. Based on ethnographic research in three public libraries, this study reveals a disconnect between policymakers’ conceptualisations of digital citizenship, defining what competencies citizens should possess and what participatory practices are supported, and the lived reality of digital citizenship in public libraries. By highlighting the tensions and misalignments between policy and practice, this article aims to contribute to more inclusive conceptualizations of digital citizenship, to inform digital inclusion initiatives that foster equitable participation in digital societies.

Bu arastirmanin amaci, 6. sinif sosyal bilgiler dersinde dijital vatandasliga dayali olarak gerceklestirilen etkinliklerin, ogrencilerin dijital vatandaslik tutumlarina etkisini belirlemek ve gerceklestirilen etkinliklerin ogrencilerin dijital vatandaslik anlayislarina yansimalarini incelemektir. Arastirmada deneme modellerinden on test-son test ve kontrol gruplu yari deneysel model tercih edilmistir. Ayrica 6. sinif sosyal bilgiler dersinde dijital vatandaslik dayali etkinliklerinin uygulanma surecini betimlerken arastirmanin gecerligini ve inanirligini artirmak amaciyla deneysel desen ile birlikte nitel veriler kullanilmistir. Arastirma sonucunda elde edilen bulgular, dijital vatandasliga dayali etkinliklerin sosyal bilgiler dersinde uygulanmasinin ogrencilerin dijital ortamdaki tutumlarini olumlu yonde etkiledigini gostermektedir.

Este estudo intenta discutir a contribuição do uso das tecnologias digitais para o Ensino como forma de a inclusão digital e social dos alunos. Apoiado em autores como Bonilla (2005); Bonilla e Pretto (2011); Bonilla e Oliveira (2011); Lemos (2007; 2011); Castells (2002; 2003; 2005) e Bittencourt (2011), o texto aborda a necessidade da inserção crítica das tecnologias no Ensino como requisito para que a inclusão digital aconteça. Discorre sobre as diferentes compreensões do termo inclusão digital, a partir de alguns autores e programas governamentais, bem como a relação entre os conceitos de inclusão digital, inclusão social e cidadania, intimamente entrelaçados. A pesquisa, de cunho bibliográfico, busca, por fim, enveredar pela perspectiva cidadã da inclusão digital, posicionando-se pela defesa de uma inclusão digital que possibilite o uso consciente e autoral das tecnologias pelo aluno, tornando o ensino de História mais significativo e condizente com as demandas da era do conhecimento

The Toy Brick as a Communicative Device for Amplifying Children’s Voices in Research

Digital technologies now pervade every aspect of modern Australian society. Almost every aspect of how we live, work and play - from getting an education, accessing health care, communicating with friends to getting a job - is influenced by digital technology. In this era of rapid change, the trajectory of economic development, our future prosperity and our ambitions to be a socially inclusive nation will all be influenced by the increasing growth and reliance on digital technologies as a part of everyday life. Digital inclusion (and equality) is increasingly becoming one of the major social justice challenges of our time. Digital inclusion is vital to employment participation, economic development, educational achievement, social and civic inclusion, health and wellbeing. Many people continue to be digitally excluded in Australia and, importantly, as technology changes there is a growing risk of a participation gap in terms of a person's ability to engage with technology. At present, the response to such a major issue in Australia is fragmented and only occasionally addressed holistically. Comprehensive national research on this issue is limited, the longer-term costs of digital exclusion have not been fully explored, nor do we have a national plan to mobilise a whole of community effort that ensures that all Australians have the skills and opportunity to benefit from digital citizenship. The purpose of this paper is to explore the current needs, challenges and benefits of digital inclusion in Australia. It explores how the concept of inclusion is evolving with changes in technology and to social structures. This article is a precis of a White Paper commissioned by Telstra. The aim is to advance our understanding of digital inclusion and introduce a more refined conceptual framework for defining and addressing digital equality.

This chapter reviews the digital inclusion policies and their effects on barriers to accessing healthcare, specifically focusing on digital health interventions and associated policies. The acceleration of technological advancement in the healthcare industry has facilitated considerable progress, including adopting virtual care delivery models such as telehealth and online care management, while exacerbating the inequities. Digital inclusion policies play a crucial role in addressing these inequities. The research questions guiding this study consider significant factors influencing digital healthcare delivery for patients and the impacts of digital health adoption on health equity within the Social Determinants of Health framework. The ethical and privacy challenges of digital health interventions and barriers to digital equity in resource-limited settings are explored. This paper highlights digital health inclusion policies and programs implemented globally by Governments. In conclusion, the chapter provides insights and recommendations for future policymaking.

As China undergoes rapid demographic aging, older Wanghong (influencers over 60) on platforms like Douyin challenge traditional digital inclusion frameworks that conceptualize access as linear progression through motivational, material, skills, and usage dimensions. This study examines how older micro-Wanghong navigate challenges during content creation, revealing critical gaps in existing digital inclusion theory. Drawing on an exploratory qualitative study of 11 micro-Wanghong, we develop the dynamic access concept that reconceptualizes digital inclusion as continuous adaptation across three dimensions: motivational resilience (maintaining creator identity despite platform constraints), adaptive skill development (ongoing competency evolution responding to platform changes), and algorithmic navigation (strategic responses to systematic platform exclusions). Our analysis reveals systematic algorithmic exclusion through temporal marginalization (algorithms favoring high-frequency posting patterns that disadvantage older micro-Wanghong’s rhythms), knowledge domain restrictions (automated content moderation limiting topics relevant to older adults), and culture misalignment (platform architectures optimized for entertainment conflicting with older micro-Wanghong’s knowledge transformation preferences) that create structural barriers independent of individual competencies. Despite these constraints, participants demonstrate sophisticated adaptive strategies enabling sustained creative participation through ongoing platform negotiation rather than static skill application. These findings extend Van Dijk’s digital inclusion theory by demonstrating how platform-mediated content creation collapses traditional access boundaries into ongoing negotiation processes. The dynamic access addresses temporal dimensions which often assumed in digital appropriation or inclusion theories, positioning meaningful participation as requiring continuous adaptive capacity rather than one-time achievement. We argue that digital inclusion policy must evolve beyond basic access provision toward supporting ongoing adaptation to platform evolution.

This study critically examines South Korea’s 2022 national curriculum reform and digital transformation policies through the lens of algorithmic governmentality. Drawing on policy documents and curriculum materials, this study analyses how the digitalization of education constructs new forms of educational subjectivity and reconfigures educational expertise. The study reveals three key findings. First, data-driven decision-making and algorithmic management fundamentally reshape educational judgment and professional expertise. Second, the formation of ‘digital citizens’ through curriculum reform normalizes specific forms of subjectivity while producing new hierarchies of cultural capital. Third, digital inclusion policies, paradoxically, generate sophisticated exclusion and differentiation mechanisms. These findings demonstrate that digital education reform transcends technological innovation, representing a political project that reconstitutes the nature of education itself. This analysis contributes to understanding how algorithmic governmentality operates in educational settings and its implications for educational equity and democratic values.

A new type of social inequality has arisen in the information society – the digital divide. The current understanding of this phenomenon is not so much connected with the problem of Internet access, but rather with the ability of users to employ digital technologies to improve their lives. Digital inequality creates new “social elevators” – the level of IT skills becomes the most important differentiating factor which sets a new framework for socialization system. A way to overcome the digital divide is to develop and implement a digital inclusion policy. Digital inclusion is a type of social inclusion in a digital society, aimed at overcoming inequality, digital isolation of citizens. It focuses on the social implications of differences in the use of IT by groups or individuals. Ultimately, the digital inclusion policy does not focus on the development of digital infrastructure or skills, but on ensuring the emergence of “visible” social results of online interaction among citizens (increment of economic, cultural and other forms of capital) due to the use of web resources. Based on comparative analysis, the manifestations of the digital divide in foreign countries and Russia are shown, the main types of digital inclusion policies and the agencies for their implementation are identified. The priorities of digital inclusion policy and the structure of its management depend on socio-political realities in each particular country. Overcoming regional and generational aspects of the digital divide is a priority for Russia. The European digital inclusion strategy is to provide digital benefits to all citizens, regardless of gender, age, education, income, geography. Mastering digital skills is shown as a fundamental indicator of digital inclusion in the modern sense. The key agencies of digital inclusion policy are nation-state and education system, however, the role of intersectoral interaction, NGOs, local communities, libraries in the development of digital skills among various population groups is significant. The monitoring system for digital inclusion policies is briefly described.

Digital technologies now pervade every aspect of modern Australian society. Almost every aspect of how we live, work and play – from getting an education, accessing health care, communicating with friends to getting a job – is influenced by digital technology. In this era of rapid change, the trajectory of economic development, our future prosperity and our ambitions to be a socially inclusive nation will all be influenced by the increasing growth and reliance on digital technologies as a part of everyday life. Digital inclusion (and equality) is increasingly becoming one of the major social justice challenges of our time. Digital inclusion is vital to employment participation, economic development, educational achievement, social and civic inclusion, health and wellbeing.
 Many people continue to be digitally excluded in Australia and, importantly, as technology changes there is a growing risk of a participation gap in terms of a person’s ability to engage with technology. At present, the response to such a major issue in Australia is fragmented and only occasionally addressed holistically. Comprehensive national research on this issue is limited, the longer-term costs of digital exclusion have not been fully explored, nor do we have a national plan to mobilise a whole of community effort that ensures that all Australians have the skills and opportunity to benefit from digital citizenship.
 The purpose of this paper is to explore the current needs, challenges and benefits of digital inclusion in Australia. It explores how the concept of inclusion is evolving with changes in technology and to social structures. This article is a précis of a White Paper commissioned by Telstra. The aim is to advance our understanding of digital inclusion and introduce a more refined conceptual framework for defining and addressing digital equality.

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In the process of financial development, the high threshold and credit asymmetry not only increase the difficulty and cost of financing in rural agriculture, but also hinder the upgrading of agricultural industrial structure and delay the development of agricultural modernization. With the development of information technology and the wide application of big data, digital inclusive finance has become an important path and inevitable choice to promote the upgrading and modernization of China's agricultural industrial structure. The project intends to use the entropy method to measure the development level of agricultural modernization; Based on the two-way fixed effect model, the paper explores the effect of digital inclusive finance on agricultural modernization. With the help of the intermediary effect model, this paper explores the internal mechanism of the influence of the digital inclusive financial policy on the development of rural modernization from the level of "the upgrading of agricultural industrial structure". Based on the empirical results, this paper analyzes the heterogeneity of the effects of digital financial inclusion policies from the two dimensions of rural location and rural characteristics, and explores an effective path to promote digital financial inclusion and industrial upgrading in rural areas with prominent internal differences, with a view to providing reference and basis for the formulation and implementation of future digital financial inclusion and agricultural modernization development policies.