The results of the latest annual survey on digital uses and skills in Germany are somewhat disappointing. According to the survey, which was conducted by the D21 Foundation among 1,900 people over the age of 14, the indicators of the "digital development of the digital society" in Germany show a slight increase from 51.2 in 2013, to 51.3 in 2014 and 51.6 in 2015.
Thus the indicator measuring digital access increased by 1.8 points (out of 100) between 2013 and 2015. The indicators relating to the diversity of uses, digital skills and the openness of citizens to digital technology recorded a decline between 2013 and 2015. While the authors speak of stagnation in the index, 3 of the 4 thematic indicators that make up the overall index are down. This raises questions about the survey methodology: is the dynamics of digital usage in Germany at a standstill? Or is it the methodology (the questions, the construction of the indicators, the weighting of the indicators) that fails to capture the permanent reconfiguration of uses?
The D21 initiative was set up in 1999 to measure digital usage in Germany. This consortium brings together ministries (Economy, Research, Interior, Family), several Länder and 100 companies including Capgemini, Deutsche Telekom, Intel Fondation Bertelsmann Stiftung, Fiducia & GAD IT AG, Händlerbund eV. The consortium conducts a large-scale annual survey of 30,000 people ((N)onliner Atlas) on Internet and broadband usage to assess the share of users and non-users. The sample size allows the results to be broken down to the state-region level.
In 2013, the D21 Consortium undertook to "monitor the progress of the development of the digital society in Germany over time" through a survey of 1902 people. The survey is based on a typology of users and the construction of four indicators, aggregated in a summary index, the D21 Digital Index.
The typology of German users is based on equipment, type of services used, frequency of internet use, but also access modes, skills and openness to digital. In the 2013 survey, 6 categories of users emerged: the "skeptical outsider", the "occasional user", the "cautious pragmatist", the "thoughtful pro", the "passionate internet user" and the "savvy mobilist". The first three categories include the people who are the most distant from digital technology and the last three are those who feel the most concerned by digital development.
The relative weight of each of the six categories has changed little from 2013 to 2015: the proportion of those most "far away" from digital "goes from 66.3% to 64%, while the proportion of those most involved increases in two years from 33.6% to 36%.
The D21 Digital Index is based on 200 data items divided into 4 thematic families of indicators, themselves documented by a limited set of questions.
- Openness: acceptance and interest in innovation, benefits and relevance of the Internet, fears and concerns
- Access: use of the Internet at work and in a private setting, use of broadband, equipment, Internet connectivity of devices used
- Diversity and intensity of use: digital applications used on a regular basis, average duration of internet use
- Digital skills: knowledge of digital subjects, skills related to uses
This weighting is justified by the authors of the report: " Digital media skills was assessed as a central component, and therefore given a weighting of 40% by the experts, followed by the "access" component at 30% as it is a prerequisite for any digital action. Attitude, which is described as "openness", is also a determining factor and weighs 20% of the index. A final dimension, central but with less weight, is the diversity of uses. Thus, the different possibilities and intensity of uses are integrated into the index. The lower weighting ensures that a person who browses the Internet with a wide variety of uses without considering the security aspects of his or her data does not obtain an index value that is too high.
The 2015 edition of the survey shows a great deal of stability: the D21 index goes from 51.2 out of 100 in 2013 to 51.6 in 2015. The authors of the report suggest that stagnation is likely.
The indicator relating to digital access has increased in two years, by 4.5 points, while the indicators relating to uses (intensity and diversity), skills and the openness of citizens to digital technology have all three fallen (-2.2 points, -1.4 points and -0.7 points respectively). Thus stability is guaranteed by the themes with a higher weighting: access, which is increasing due to the deployment of infrastructure and the increasing equipment of households with devices to connect, and skills, which decreased from 2013 to 2014, then increased slightly from 2014 to 2015. Skills are directly related to rapid technological change: this dynamic requires citizens to continuously adapt their knowledge. Since the questionnaire regarding skills is updated to keep up with technological progress, this explains the relative stagnation of this thematic index.
The drop in indices linked to openness and diversity of use is also explained by the fact that rapid innovation cycles generate a form of resistance to change, or moderate enthusiasm (smart home, e-health, collaborative economy). It is also worth noting that 20% of respondents would like to reduce or even eliminate expenses related to their Internet use, and 25% feel that they are limited by their digital skills in order to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technology (social relationships, professional flexibility, access to information, etc.).
Références :
The annual survey is carried out by telephone among 1,900 people over the age of 14 and according to the criteria of representativeness of the German population (70.3 million people).
With respect to skills, the D21 survey uses a limited set of questions to identify skills.
- Write using a word processor
- Perform simple calculations (spreadsheet)
- Install devices such as a printer or scanner
- Transfer documents online
- Use web applications (sites, wiki, blogs)
- Setting content (preferences) in a social network
