Features of Digital Literacy Measurement in Russia

The first part of the article revises existing approaches to theoretical understanding of digital literacy in order to provide a conceptual basis for the new Eurostat methodology for assessing digital literacy level. Four types of theoretical approaches are distinguished in the text: technical, cognitive, social and synthetic. On their basis, an extended understanding of digital literacy is constructed as a set of applied competencies to handle computer/smartphone software (including specific skills) substantiated by previous experience which allow an individual, group or community to solve emerging problems based on critical search, analysis as well as subsequent synthesis of network placed data. The second part of the article is devoted to approbation of the new Eurostat methodology for evaluating digital literacy on a Russian sample. The conclusion is made that the updated Eurostat approach does not quite adequately describe the level of Russians' digital literacy due to the specific realities in Russia: a special structure of the labor market and distinctive “market” of digital threats.

digital literacy, digital skills, digital gap, monitoring, Eurostat