DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP – A CONCEPTUAL AND PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP – A CONCEPTUAL AND PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK

Summary/Abstract: The modern global society is marked by the dominant effect of information technologies that produce fundamental changes in all segments of life. The impact of new media and the globalization process lead to changes on such a large scale that it could be said that we are dealing with a new type of society and culture. In the political sphere, as a result of desouvereignization of countries, globalization and informatization processes new forms of citizenship emerge that are grounded in digital identity and new cultural practices. One of the key political actors in this contemporaneity is a digital citizen. The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of a digital citizen in the context of current changes permeating contemporary society and culture. In order to abstract key characteristics of this form of citizenship, it is essential to consider the transformation of the traditional concept of a citizen in digital society and culture, that is, in the new context which offers alternative ways of exercising civil rights and duties. We outlined dominant approaches in conceptualizing digital citizenship in social sciences and particularly pointed to the issue of polarization of normative and radical models of digital citizenship, in addition to the phenomenon of digital democracy. It appears that digital citizenship on the one hand provides an effective alternative to different institutional political processes (e-democracy, e-government or e-voting), while on the other, it offers the potential to practice one’s political activism, to be better informed and to think critically about political issues.

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