Digital Literacy and Civic Engagement: Interview and Diary Data, 2018

This thesis explores the intersection of digital literacy and civic engagement. To do so, it conceptualizes digital literacy as functional and critical skills and knowledge about the internet that are contextually situated. Drawing on utopian studies and political theory, it conceptualizes critical digital literacy, in particular, as incorporating users’ utopian/dystopian imaginaries of society in the digital age. Such an approach prescribes that critical digital literacy relies on understanding both the potentials and the limitations of the internet for civic life. I argue that applying utopianism/dystopianism to critical digital literacy enables us to disentangle users’ imaginaries of the internet from their imaginaries of civic life, which align with different ideologies. With this novel approach to digital literacy in mind, this study focuses on digital experts (e.g., information, IT and media professionals) and civic advocates (e.g., community councillors, political party candidates, activists) in the United Kingdom to address whether and how civic engagement provides opportunities for learning digital literacy, and whether and how the latter, in turn, facilitates civic engagement. To answer these questions, I employ a mixed qualitative methodology, using semi-structured interviews, enhanced by think aloud and diary methods, followed by thematic analysis, enhanced by elements of critical discourse analysis. While media literacy research has subordinated functional to critical digital literacy, my fieldwork revealed that the latter can only be sophisticated provided it relies on functional digital literacy. Furthermore, this study found that civic engagement, from reading news and discussing politics to campaigning, provides opportunities for learning digital literacy both informally through social interaction, information seeking and experience of using digital technologies, and formally through digital training. In turn, digital literacy facilitates civic engagement in ways that are instrumental, trustful and strategic. More specifically, digital literacy enables both experts and advocates to use digital technologies as practical tools for civic purposes. It enhances their trust in accredited media outlets while overcoming distrust in internet corporations. Finally, it enables them to strategically overcome bias, misinformation and their own privacy concerns as well as to navigate the internet’s civic potentials and limitations. On the basis of how experts and advocates understand the digital environment and engage in civic life, I argue that constructing both utopian and dystopian imaginaries of the internet, but deploying one or the other, makes civic engagement contradictory. By contrast, deploying utopian and dystopian imaginaries is crucial to pursuing civic opportunities online while overcoming the limitations of the digital environment.<p>ESRC-funded PhD work completed at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2020. Based on qualitative data collected from digital experts and civic advocates in the UK, this work explored the intersection of digital literacy and civic engagement.</p>

本论文聚焦数字素养（digital literacy）与公民参与的交叉研究领域。为此，本研究将数字素养界定为根植于特定语境的、有关互联网的功能性与批判性技能及知识体系。本研究借鉴乌托邦研究与政治理论，尤其将批判性数字素养（critical digital literacy）界定为涵盖用户对数字时代社会的乌托邦/反乌托邦想象的概念框架。该研究路径指出，批判性数字素养需建立在理解互联网对公民生活的潜在价值与固有局限的基础之上。本研究提出，将乌托邦/反乌托邦视角引入批判性数字素养研究，可帮助我们厘清用户对互联网的想象与对公民生活的想象——二者分别契合不同的意识形态立场。
基于这一创新的数字素养研究路径，本研究以英国的数字领域从业者（如信息、IT及媒体专业人士）与公民倡导者（如社区议员、政党候选人、活动家）为研究对象，旨在解答两大核心问题：其一，公民参与是否以及如何为数字素养学习提供契机；其二，数字素养又是否以及如何反哺公民参与。
为解答上述问题，本研究采用混合质性研究方法：首先结合有声思维法与日记法开展半结构化访谈，随后辅以批判性话语分析（critical discourse analysis）元素进行主题分析。尽管既往媒介素养研究多将功能性数字素养置于批判性数字素养的从属地位，但本研究的田野调查结果显示，批判性数字素养唯有依托功能性数字素养方能得以深化完善。
此外，本研究发现，从阅读新闻、讨论政治到参与竞选活动，各类公民参与行为均可通过两种路径为数字素养学习提供契机：一是依托社会互动、信息检索与数字技术使用经验的非正式学习，二是通过数字培训开展的正式学习。反之，数字素养也将从工具性、信任构建与策略性三个维度推动公民参与。具体而言，数字素养可帮助从业者与倡导者将数字技术转化为服务于公民事务的实用工具；可提升其对正规媒体机构的信任，同时消解其对互联网企业的不信任感；最终，数字素养可帮助他们策略性地应对偏见、虚假信息与自身的隐私焦虑，并厘清互联网在公民生活中的潜在价值与固有局限。
基于从业者与倡导者对数字环境的认知与公民参与实践，本研究提出：尽管用户会同时构建互联网的乌托邦与反乌托邦想象，但仅择其一进行实践，会导致公民参与陷入矛盾。与之相对，同时运用乌托邦与反乌托邦想象，对于在数字空间中把握公民参与机遇、同时克服数字环境的固有局限而言至关重要。
本研究为2020年于伦敦政治经济学院（London School of Economics and Political Science）完成的英国经济与社会研究理事会（ESRC）资助博士课题。本研究基于英国数字领域从业者与公民倡导者的质性调研数据，探讨了数字素养与公民参与的交叉研究领域。