A Definition of Digital Media Literacy Competences Required by Workers to Collaborate in Distance Work Environments

• Main Authors: Ligurgo, Valèria, Fastrez, Pierre, Jacques, Jerry, Collard, Anne-Sophie, Philippette, Thibault
• Other Authors: UCL - SSH/ILC/PCOM - Pôle de recherche en communication
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Presses Universitaires de Namur 2019
• Subjects: NWOW; Media Literacy; Digital Work Environments; Competences; DML
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/223556

This chapter is structured as follows. First, we lay out the theoretical framework for our work. We introduce the concept of digital media literacy (DML) and discuss how it positions our object of study beyond a technologically-centered approach, encompasses both basic operational skills and full-fledged competences, and allows us to articulate both functional and critical aspects of these competences. We then specify the relationship between DML and the social practices that actualize them. Finally, we define categories of collaborative work that are essential to our observation of distance collaboration practices. Second, we detail the methods of data collection and analysis we used to infer a map of DML competence from the interview and observational data of sixty workers engaged in distance collaboration in ten public and private Belgian organizations. Third, we present an overview of the results of our analyses, followed by a detailed description of the domains of competence we identified in terms of activities collaborators perform, and dimensions these activities include. Fourth, we offer an alternative, complementary look at our data in the form of aggregated quantitative indicators. Finally, our conclusions are presented based on the discussion of the results.