Two types of citizens live in the “global digital village”: digital natives, those born in the internet age, and digital migrants, those born before the internet became so central to our lives. These digital migrants are the so-called "silver surfers".
Digital migrants and digital natives often share the same house, the same office space and same public places. Yet, digital exclusion is preventing digital migrants from fully taking advantage of digital tools. We need to nurture digital inclusion, digital literacy and digital skills for all the silver surfers living in the digital global village.
Without these, digital migrants cannot carry out even the most basic of daily digital tasks. To overcome this barrier, we need to give them access to digital skills. This is the only way to fully benefit from participation and knowledge from all citizens.
The session on Don’t forget silver surfers – Digital inclusion and Literacy today at EuroDig 2018 on WAs all about making the internet more “inclusive”.
Discussions focussed on potential models for digital friendly citizenship and helping to build bridges across generations.
It also looked at how digital literacy and skills may contribute to the process of lifelong learning for digital migrants.
The session was also a chance to learn about best practices in a European context, taking into consideration local developments in Georgia and the Caucasus Region.
EuroDig 2018 - European Dialogue on Internet Governance, 5-6 June with prequel sessions on 4 June,
