Digital citizen

A digital citizen commonly refers to a person that participates in society using a certain amount of information technology (IT). To qualify for the unofficial title of digital citizen a person must have the skill and knowledge to interact with private and government organizations through means of "digital" tools such as computers or mobile phones, along with access to these devices.

People characterizing themselves as digital citizens often use IT extensively, creating blogs, use social networking and other means of modern communication. Digital citizenship begins the first time any child, teen, and/or adult signs up for an email address, posts pictures online, uses e-commerce to buy merchandise online, and/or participates in any electronic function that is B2C or B2B.

In highly developed nations, governments are digital with functions such as electronic benefits transfer and are therefore called e-Governments. Lack of digital citizenship can be a serious drawback, since many elementary procedures such as tax reports filing, birth registration use of Web sites to support candidates in political campaigns (e-Democracy) etc. have been transferred to only be available via the internet. Furthermore, many cultural and commercial entities only publicize information on web pages. Non-digital citizens will not be able to retrieve this information and this may lead to social isolation or economic stagnation. The gap between digital citizens and non-digital citizens is often referred to as the digital divide.

In developing countries digital citizens would be the forerunners of development using technology to overcome the obstacles of living in a developing country. One example is the use of mobile phones in Africa where landlines are very rare.

Digital Citizen Participation

The development of digital citizen participation can be divided into two main stages:

• Information Dissemination

Static Static information Dissemination is based on read-only web sites including Information Portal Sites and Links to Related Web Sites.

Dynamic As dynamic information dissemination means active Two-way communication and consultant services it includes the acquisition of information by E-Mail requests (question-answer dialogue), Newsletters or Newsgroups and E-mail lists.

• Citizen Deliberation

Static Usually, Static Deliberation includes the following kinds of participation Online Poll, Bulletin Board (for both complaints and recommendations).

Dynamic Dynamic Deliberation takes place in the public sphere for example Digital Forums, Online Voting with Deliberation.

Mike Ribble is considered a guru when it comes to digital citizenship. He suggests that there are nine elements of digital citizenship, which are digital: access, commerce, communication, literacy, etiquette, law, rights and responsibilities, health and wellness, and security (http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Home_Page.html).

Engagement of Youth as Digital Citizens

A recent survey revealed that teenager and young adults spend more time during the week on the internet than watching TV. Digital youth, often referred to as the test market of next generation’s digital content and services, are considered to be the driver of today’s technology development^{By Who?}. Huge amounts of money are spent to research this demographic group by hiring psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists in order to discover habits, values and fields of interest. The critical time when young people are developing their civic identities is between the ages 15-22. During this time they develop the three attributes civic literacy, civic skills and civic attachment that describe civic engagement taking them into adult life.