| Notes |
International recognition
Coalition for Digital Intelligence (CDI)
In September 2018, the Coalition for Digital Intelligence (CDI) – formed by IEEE Standards Association, the DQ Institute and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – institutionalized the DQ framework by DQ Institute as a global framework for digital intelligence which includes a common set of definitions, language, and understanding of comprehensive digital literacy and skills that can be adopted by nations worldwide.[19]
DQ Day
In the effort to coordinate worldwide efforts in setting global standards for DQ, the inaugural DQ Day was launched on 10 October 2019 by DQ Institute and IEEE SA.[22][23] According to Dr Yuhyun Park, setting global standards for digital intelligence ‘is to ensure that everyone around the world, starting with our children, has equal opportunity to thrive in this digital age'[22] IEEE SA adds, ‘a global standard that sets common indicators for more comprehensively and collectively understanding the existing challenges that digital skill-promoting efforts face and a common language is foundational to ensuring that digital literacy and competency efforts are coordinated globally and moving the right direction[22]
IEEE process
The DQ framework was identified as the best practice to be used as a global industry standard for digital skills by the IEEE Digital Literacy Industry Connections program and there is an initiation of preliminary work under IEEE SA to develop an IEEE global standard for Digital Literacy, Skills and Readiness using the DQ framework.[24]
Adoption and implementation
DQ Group story
The DQ Institute was born through a project named Shaping Future Implications of Digital Media for Society in association with the World Economic Forum, having identified the need for improved digital media literacy or “digital intelligence (DQ)” across various demographics and more critically in youth.[25] The Institute is a multi-stakeholder consortium of organizations focused on increasing DQ in youth around the world and has been the driving force in launching the Coalition for Digital Intelligence (CDI).[25]
This community-led initiative is tasked with evangelizing the institute's DQ framework across the public Education and private ICT sectors as the single framework of reference, which is to be used as (i) a common source of definitions around digital skills and literacy, and (ii) a capacity building and DQ measurement platform.[25] The programs based on the DQ framework are poised to be rolled out by DQ Institute to more than 100 countries by 2020.[21] The primary target will be schools and education ministries in countries experiencing rapid digital transformations.[21] The goal is to help governments understand the level of digital citizenship among students and teachers and to help them develop their own DQ curriculum within three years.[21] The DQ Institute has joined forces with some big organizations, including Google, Twitter and the United Nations children's charity UNICEF, and it has received government funding from Singapore and Mexico.[21]
DQ Every Child
DQ Every Child (#DQEveryChild) is a global digital citizenship movement seeking to empower ‘every’ child worldwide with DQ digital citizenship. It makes use of an online gamified platform to educate and assess children with digital citizenship skills based on the DQ framework.[26] #DQEveryChild was created as a research-based social initiative developed in Singapore through a multi-stakeholder collaboration including Nanyang Technological University, Singtel, the Singapore government, and infollutionZERO in Korea.[27] It has since transformed into a global movement – run by the DQ Institute – an international coalition formed through the World Economic Forum[27]
Since then, #DQEveryChild reached numerous countries such as Korea through the support of UNICEF,[21] Nigeria through World Economic Forum,[15] Turkey through Turkcell,[28] Singapore through the Ministry of Education and Singtel,[17] Mexico through the Ministry of Public Education,[27] India[9] and others. As of 2019, the #DQEveryChild initiative has reached more than 700,000 children in 107 countries and has been translated into 21 languages.[29][30][31]
DQ Global Standards
Based on the DQ framework, the DQ Global Standards Report 2019 was launched on 22 March 2019 at the seventh annual Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF).[32][33] The report was spearheaded by Dr Yuhyun Park and co-authored by Professor Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University.[34] It is the world's first attempt to define a global standard for digital literacy, skills and readiness across the education and technology sectors and establish a global, common language and set of norms around the digital competencies.[32][33] The OECD, the Forum, the World Bank, and the United Nations have all identified these digital competencies in the DQ framework as fundamental for future readiness.[32][33]
The DQ Global Standards is the culmination of the successful collaboration across global public, private, and civic education and technology communities that began with the launch of the CDI at the Sustainable Impact Summit, the World Economic Forum in September 2019.[32]
Criticisms
There are concerns over complacency in that if a child is noted to have high DQ, it might be treated as a substitute for parental control[21]
Whitney DeCamp, a sociologist at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, suggests that “the DQ categories are too broad, so less-risky behaviours are lumped into the same category as more-harmful ones.[21]
|