From digital skills to digital repertoires: towards conceptualisation of technology use

Abstract

"Current literature on digital society often refers to digital skills as key in creating advantages and opportunities – or, conversely, disadvantages and inequalities (Hüsing et al. 2015; Kiss 2017). The concept of a ‘digital divide’ has been built on the idea that there are differences in usage and skills between certain groups of people, with those more affected by related vulnerability being women, older people and those with lower levels of education and/or lower incomes (van eursen & van Dijk 2010; 2011). In such rhetoric, older people are normally portrayed as lacking digital skills or access to the latest communication technologies (see Ivan and Loos 2023). To offer a deeper analysis of the ‘digital skills’ concept in the context of digitalisation today, this chapter argues instead for use of the term ‘digital repertoire’. This concept, which describes the everyday practices of technology use, is more inclusive and brings nuance to the understanding of the way in which different social groups form part of the technological ecology (Edgerly et al. 2018; Peters et al. 2022). This in turn expands on the analysis offered by the dominant ‘digital skills’ concept by describing the relation between people and technology, predominant in today’s global context of competition, fluid labour markets and digital transformations. The Covid-19 pandemic has also accentuated the prominence of the concept of ‘digital skills’ and blocked. Subsequently, the chapter draws attention to how the concept of digital skills has been measured. Traditionally self-assessment and performance tests, a metric that evaluates people’s readiness for the future labour market, have been used. In this way, the term raises serious concerns about the normativity and linearity of the ‘digital skills’ concept, as well as its potential to reinforce a range of prejudices, including ageism, in describing the digital competencies of older adults. Furthermore, the concept of twenty-first-century digital skills is presented in the chapter as a non-linear and less reductionist way of measuring people’s digital skills. It includes a broader perspective of the role of digital transformations in people’s lives. Finally, this chapter departs from a behaviourist approach (‘more is better’) to a functionalist perspective (based on the role played by different technologies in people’s lives) by discussing the value of using ‘digital repertoires’. As noted above, this concept serves to reveal the ways in which people navigate digital realities today, including the norms and conventions of digital interactions. The concept of digital repertoires allows not only for the investigation of individual digital use, but also for the co-use, supported use, non-use and discontinued use of digital technologies. Investigating digital repertoires through ethnographic and narrative research (Hänninen et al. 2021a), as well as the use of longitudinal and cross-cultural data (see Ivan and Nimrod 2021), offers a focus on digital practices. This chapter also puts forward the argument that repertoires evolve through time, place and available technologies. It concludes by considering the role of digital repertoires for policy-making, providing an in-depth exploration of current digital realities"