Basic Digital Literacy – Requirements and Elements

Participation in society requires not only literary and mathematical basic education but also basic digital literacy (COULDRY BMBF BUDDEBERG, 2019). 6.2 million adults with low literality live in Germany (GROTLÜSCHEN et al., 2019). These people may be able to write and understand words or simple sentences when reading, but neither longer sentences nor coherent texts. However, this results in a considerable risk of exclusion from participation in various areas of life (work, finance, housing, informed decision) (BUDDEBERG, 2019). Due to technological developments, people with a low level of digital literacy are systematically (partially) excluded from participation in society in most parts of the world. This leads to the question of what it is that defines digital literacy in order not to be excluded from society because of low digital literacy. In this article we discuss what digital literacy is - including the concept of competence - and what elements basic digital literacy encompasses.