Communication Sciences

Research that considers Internet skills often lacks theoretical justifications and does not go beyond basic button knowledge. There is a strong need for a measurement framework that can guide future research. In this article, operational definitions for measuring Internet skills are proposed, applied in two large-scale performance tests, and tested for reliability and validity. The framework consists of four Internet skills: operational, formal, information, and strategic Internet skills. The framework proves to be a powerful means for understanding the complexity of the Internet skills that people employ when they use the Internet. The reliability of the framework is supported by obtaining similar results from two studies focusing on different contexts. The validity of the framework is investigated by comparing the results with external standards that also provide an indication of Internet skill levels.

In most countries, the maturity of eService delivery is measured by the supply of electronic service delivery. However, in many countries there is a gap between the supply and demand of eServices. We studied the actual use of eServices and the potential use of eServices in the Netherlands. We found a gap between the actual and potential use of eServices. Main explanations for this gap are the lack of knowledge about the availability of eServices, the media use characteristics and the social characteristics of the (non)users. Conclusions of our study are that the potential usage is high and second, simply putting services online is not enough. People have to get to know the services and need the skills to use them. Implications for future research are that we need a deeper understanding of factors that underlie the use of eServices, since supply alone will not lead to use of eServices.

In order to utilize the possibilities of information and communication technology within the public domain and thereby further develop the electronic government, it is necessary that civil servants possess sufficient levels of Internet skills. Higher levels of these skills among professionals in the public sphere might result in better Internet usage, thus improving both productivity and efficiency. Based on results of this research, we can conclude that the levels of operational and formal Internet skills are higher than the levels of information and strategic Internet skills. A main finding is that civil servants do not perform well on higher Internet skills involving information and strategic tasks. The implications of the results are discussed and several policy recommendations to improve digital skill levels of civil servants are given.

Most of the EU-15 countries illustrate a gap between potential usage and actual usage of electronic public services. Using a model of four successive kinds of access to digital technologies a number of explanations are sought. They are tested in the case of current Dutch electronic governmental service usage. Motivational access indicates that there is a part of the Dutch population that doesn’t have sufficient motivation for using computers and the Internet. It also appears that even in the Netherlands, a top country regarding Internet and broadband connections, physical access cannot be taken for granted. Insufficient digital skills produce serious problems as well. But the most striking facts are found in the context of usage access. Here we have observed a lack of user orientation in Dutch e-government services. It appears that the Dutch government doesn’t know what citizens want, how they use ICT en what the consequences for citizens are.

It is important to take digital inequality research in consideration when focusing on electronic public service delivery. From this point of view, this paper considers four digital skills that citizens need when using online public services. Measurements of these skills in the Netherlands indicate that on average 80% of the operational skill Internet assignments, 72% of formal Internet skills assignments, 62% of the information Internet skills assignments and 25% of strategic Internet skills assignments have been successfully completed. Performances are significantly different for people with high, medium and low level of education attained and in some cases for people with different age. The Dutch government’s expectation that every citizen with an Internet connection is able to complete the assignments clearly is not justified.

Although the electronic government is under heavy development, a clear vision doesn’t seem to exist. In this study 20 interviews among leaders in the field of e-government in the Netherlands resulted in different perspectives on the future of electronic public service delivery. The interviews revealed different objectives and interpretations of the presuppositions regarding citizens’ desires. Opinions about channel approaches and ‘trigger services’ appeared to vary. Furthermore, the respondents didn’t agree on the number of contact moments between citizen and government, had different opinions about digital skills, pled for various designs of the electronic government and placed the responsibility for electronic service delivery in different hands. Conclusion is that there is a lack of concepts on how to do things. Everybody talks about eGovernment, but all have different interpretations.

Observational studies prove to be very suitable to provide a realistic view of people’s Internet skills. However, their cost and time are a strong limitation for large-scale data gathering. A useful addition to the measurement of Internet skills would be the development of survey questions for measuring Internet skills. In this contribution, potential survey measures for operational, formal, information, and strategic Internet skills were analyzed. Three steps were followed to obtain valid items; coherences between, on one hand, frequency and agreement scales and, on the other hand, the results of two large-scale performance tests (assignment completion and time spent) are measured, the Fornell and Larcker discriminant validity criterion was used to test discriminant validity of these Internet skills items, and the items are analyzed using a first-order confirmatory factor analysis. The items that resulted from the three steps might be used in future survey measures.

There are recent indications regarding the use of online public services that force the government to focus on the more refined conceptualizations digital divide research has produced. This paper addresses one of the factors that appears to be important in several conceptualizations of how to approach the digital divide; the differential possession of so-called digital skills. The problem of being short of skills becomes urgent when governments suppose that citizens are able to complete about every task on the Internet. Operational definitions for operational, formal, information and strategic skills are used to measure the Internet skills of the Dutch population at large, by giving 109 subjects nine government related assignments to be accomplished on the Internet. Subjects were recruited following a two step approach; randomly select a sample from the book/list of fixed telephony subscribers, followed by drawing a selective quota sample for the strata of gender, age and educational level. The results indicate that on average 80% of the operational skill Internet tasks, 72% of formal Internet skills tasks, 62% of the information Internet skills tasks and 22% of strategic Internet skills tasks assigned have been successfully completed. The Dutch government's expectation that every citizen with an Internet connection is able to complete the assignments following tasks the government thinks every Internet user can perform, clearly is not justified. The article provides two types of policy recommendations to change this state of affairs. Recommendations for improving government websites and for improving the skill levels of Dutch citizens are suggested.

This study extends the conventional and superficial notion of measuring digital skills by proposing definitions for operational, formal, information and strategic skills. The main purpose was to identify individual skill related problems that users experience when navigating the Internet. In particular, lower levels of education and aging seem to contribute to the amount of experienced operational and formal skill related problems. With respect to information skills, higher levels of education seem to perform best. Age did not seem to contribute to information skill related problems. Results did reveal that age had a negative effect on selecting irrelevant search results. Individual strategic Internet skill related problems occurred often, with the exception of subjects with higher levels of education. Younger subjects experienced far less operational and formal skill related problems, but there was no difference regarding information and strategic skill related problems.

This paper focuses on one of the factors that appears to be important in several conceptualizations of how to approach the digital divide: the differential possession of so-called Internet skills. Three largescale performance tests are conducted to reveal the contributions of gender, age, educational level of attainment, Internet experience, and amount of Internet use on both medium- and content-related Internet skills. Age appears to have a negative influence on medium-related skills. However, there is a positive contribution to the level of content-related skills, meaning that older generations perform better than the younger. Unfortunately, they are impeded by their low level of medium-related skills in such a way that the actual result is negative. This noteworthy conclusion, to our knowledge, has hardly received any attention in digital divide research. Educational attainment appears significant for both medium- and content-related Internet skills. This conclusion contrasts somewhat with other research that claims that people learn digital skills more in practice than in formal educational settings. Internet experience only contributes to medium-related skills. It appears that content-related skills do not grow with years of Internet experience and the number of hours spent online weekly. The latter only has some effect on medium-related skills.

In this study, the information and strategic Internet skills of Dutch secondary students were measured in a performance test. Participating students were asked to complete assignments on the Internet. The findings reveal that the levels of both information and strategic Internet skills have much room for improvement. Of the variables that influenced these skills, the level of education was most important, whereas the years of Internet experience and the number of hours spent online weekly did not have any effect. Among the most important specific information and skills related to problems the secondary students experienced were defining proper search queries, evaluating the information found, maintaining focus, or taking the appropriate steps to reach the final goal. Overall, the secondary students’ performance calls into question whether they possess a sufficient level of information and strategic skills for using the Internet for homework or school projects.

Purpose: Despite the amount of health information available online, there are several barriers that limit the Internet from being adopted as a source of health information. The purpose of this study was to identify individual skill-related problems that users experience when accessing the Internet for health information and services.

Methods: Between November 2009 and February 2010, 88 subjects participated in a performance test in which participants had to complete health-related assignments on the Internet. Subjects were randomly selected from a telephone book. A selective quota sample was used and was divided over equal subsamples of gender, age, and education. Each subject was required to complete nine assignments on the Internet.
Results: The general population experiences many Internet skill-related problems, especially those related to information and strategic Internet skills. Aging and lower levels of education seemed to contribute to the amount of operational and formal skill-related problems experienced. Saving files, bookmarking websites, and using search engines were troublesome for these groups of people. With respect to information skills, the higher the level of educational attainment, the less problems the participants experienced. Although younger subjects experienced far less operational and formal skill-related problems, it was revealed
that older subjects were less likely to select and use irrelevant search results and unreliable sources. Concerning the strategic Internet skills it was revealed that older subjects were less likely to make inappropriate decisions based on information gathered.
Conclusions: The amount of online health-related information and services is consistently growing; however, it appears that the general population experiences many skill-related problems, particularly those  elated to information and strategic Internet skills, and they become very important when it comes to health. These skills are also problematic for younger generations who are often seen as skilled Internet users. The results of the study call for policies that account for low levels of Internet skills.

Because of the growing amount of information on the internet and people’s increasing dependence on information, internet skills should be considered as a vital resource in contemporary society. This article focuses on the differential possession of internet skills among the Dutch population. In two studies, an in-depth range of internet skills are measured by charging subjects assignments to be accomplished on the internet. Subjects were recruited by applying a random stratified sampling method over gender, age, and education. While the level of operational and formal internet skills appeared quite high, the level of information and strategic internet skills is questionable. Whereas education appeared an important contributor to all skill levels, age only appeared a significant contributor to operational and formal skills. The results strengthen the findings that the original digital divide of physical internet access has evolved into a divide that includes differences in skills to use the internet.

Background: Despite the amount of online health information, there are several barriers that limit the Internet’s adoption as a source of health information. One of these barriers is highlighted in conceptualizations of the digital divide which include the differential possession of Internet skills, or “eHealth literacy”. Most measures of Internet skills among populations at large use self-assessments. The research discussed here applies a multifaceted definition of Internet skills and uses actual performance tests.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess how ready a sample of the general population is for eHealth. More specifically, four types of Internet skills were measured in a performance test in which subjects had to complete health-related assignments on the Internet.
Methods: From November 1, 2009, through February 28, 2010, 88 subjects participated in the study. Subjects were randomly selected from a telephone directory. A selective quota sample was used divided over equal subsamples of gender, age, and education. Each subject had to accomplish assignments on the Internet. The Internet skills accounted for were categorized as operational (basic skills to use the Internet), formal (navigation and orientation), information (finding information), and strategic (using the information for personal benefits). The tests took approximately 1.5 hours and were conducted in a University office, making the setting equally new for all. Successful completion and time spent on the assignments—the two main outcomes—were directly measured by the test leader.
Results: The subjects successfully completed an average of 73% (5.8/8) of the operational Internet skill tasks and an average of 73% (2.9/4) of the formal Internet skill tasks. Of the information Internet skills tasks, an average of 50% (1.5/3) was completed successfully and, of the strategic Internet skills tasks, 35% (0.7/2). Only 28% (25/88) of the subjects were able to successfully complete all operational skills tasks, 39% (34/88) all formal skills tasks, 13% (11/88) all information skills tasks, and 20% (18/88) both the strategic skill tasks. The time spent on the assignments varied substantially. Age and education were  he most important contributors to the operational and formal Internet skills. Regarding the formal Internet skills, years of Internet experience also had some influence. Educational level of attainment was the most important contributor to the information and strategic Internet skills.
Conclusions: Although the amount of online health-related information and services is consistently growing, it appears that the general population lacks the skills to keep up. Most problematic appear to be the lack of information and strategic Internet skills, which, in the context of health, are very important. The lack of these skills is also problematic for members of younger generations, who are often considered skilled Internet users. This primarily seems to account for the operational and formal Internet skills. The results of the study strongly call for policies to increase the level of Internet skills.

Background: The Internet increases the availability of health information, which consequently expands the amount of skills that health care consumers must have to obtain and evaluate health information. Norman and Skinner in 2006 developed an 8-item self-report eHealth literacy scale to measure these skills: the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). This instrument has been available only in English and there are no data on its validity.
Objectives: The objective of our study was to assess the internal consistency and the construct and predictive validity of a Dutch translation of the eHEALS in two populations.
Methods: We examined the translated scale in a sample of patients with rheumatic diseases (n = 189; study 1) and in a stratified sample of the Dutch population (n = 88; study 2). We determined Cronbach alpha coefficients and analyzed the principal components. Convergent validity was determined by studying correlations with age, education, and current (health-related) Internet use. Furthermore, in study 2 we assessed the predictive validity of the instrument by comparing scores on the eHEALS with an actual performance test.
Results: The internal consistency of the scale was sufficient: alpha = .93 in study 1 and alpha = .92 in study 2. In both studies the 8 items loaded on 1 single component (respectively 67% and 63% of variance). Correlations between eHEALS and age and education were not found. Significant, though weak, correlations were found between the eHEALS and quantity of Internet use (r = .24, P = .001 and r = .24, P = .02, respectively). Contrary to expectations, correlations between the eHEALS and successfully completed tasks on a performance test were weak and nonsignificant: r = .18 (P = .09). The t tests showed no significant differences in scores on the eHEALS between participants who scored below and above median scores of the performance test.
Conclusions: The eHEALS was assessed as unidimensional in a principal component analysis and the internal consistency of the scale was high, which makes the reliability adequate. However, findings suggest that the validity of the eHEALS instrument requires further study, since the relationship with Internet use was weak and expected relationships with age, education, and actual performance were not significant. Further research to develop a self-report instrument with high correlations with people’s actual eHealth literacy skills is warranted.

The performance levels of fundamental (i.e., operational and formal) and advanced (i.e., information and strategic) Internet skills and their potential predictors were assessed among a sample of Dutch primary school children. The findings suggest that primary school children possess sufficient levels of fundamental but not advanced Internet skills and, hence, might not be able to make best use of important opportunities the Internet has to offer. Children employed very ineffective and inefficient search strategies and did not combine information to make beneficial decisions . Contrary to previous survey research findings, no performance differences among boys and girls were revealed when using actual performance tests. Training programs to support advanced Internet skills among primary school children should be considered.

This study added communication Internet skills to an existing skill framework of operational, formal, information, and strategic skills. The study investigated how people deal with inadequate skill levels by identifying support sources. Furthermore, we investigated which of the Internet skills actually matter for attaining beneficial Internet outcomes and whether support sources employed moderate these effects. Results of a large-scale survey revealed three support patterns: independents, social support seekers, and formal help seekers. The newly added communication skills prove to be an important addition because they have an independent effect on beneficial Internet use. The group of independent Internet users benefited more from Internet use than formal help seekers and much more than social support seekers. Internet communication skills hold the potential for achieving a high degree of independence in using the Internet by compensating for information skills so as to attain beneficial Internet outcomes.

This article is about an unexplored area of information and communication technology (ICT) use in organizations related to the assumed productivity gains by the use of ICTs. On the one hand, we focus on the losses of labor time that are caused by malfunctioning hardware or non-functional software, and on the other hand, we focus on the labor time losses that are caused by a lack of skills to maximize ICT. To estimate these losses, we conducted a large-scale survey among the Dutch workforce. The respondents were presented scenarios, and then they were asked to assess the loss of labor time. When working with ICTs, malfunctions and skill insufficiencies lead to a loss in labor time of 7.5%. Organizations should account for these losses when calculating ICT expenditures of hardware, software, energy and support. The losses increase with decreasing educational attainment level. However, age does not contribute to the total average losses. In addressing experienced problems, the role of co-workers is more significant than the formally organized means by the organization. In addition, workers highly underestimate the effects of ICT-related training. The results indicate that organizations do not realize that higher levels of productivity gains are attainable.