On June 11, 2019, the results of the first national Digital Test educational event were announced at the All-Russia People's Front in Moscow. Held on May 18-24 with support from the Coordination Center .RU/.РФ, this event became Russia’s largest gauge of its citizens’ digital literacy.
The results were announced at a webinar session that involved representatives from 62 Russian regions from the regional offices of the All-Russia People's Front. A panel discussion was attended by Coordination Center Director Andrey Vorobyev, Head of the All-Russia People's Front Expert Department Lyubov Soldatkina, Director of the ROCIT Regional Public Center of Internet Technologies Sergei Grebennikov, Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC) Director Sergei Plugotarenko, Avito press-secretary Kristina Yeremeyeva, and Director for Development and Strategic Communications at the ROCIT Regional Public Center of Internet Technologies Tatyana Golubovskaya.
In his address Andrey Vorobyev noted that the Digital Test was one of the most remarkable events among the celebrations held to mark the 25th anniversary of the .RU domain. “Almost every Russian region participated in the Digital Test, and it is a great result.” “Not only did we get a full picture of the regions’ media literacy, we also attracted internet users to the 25th anniversary of the .RU domain. I’m sure the Digital Test will become a regular event and will encompass even more topics on development and the use of IT.”
ROCIT Director Sergei Grebennikov expanded on the conclusions drawn from the test results: “About 100,000 people showed an interest in the Digital Test; some opened the website, some started taking the test, some chose not to complete it – perhaps, out of fear of getting a low score,” he said. “Almost 40,000 people completed the Digital Test. Our mobile app proved to be very efficient; we will continue to work on it. On the first day, May 18, about 18,000 people took the test. These are numbers we could only have dreamt of.”
The Digital Test encompassed almost every Russian region. The most active regions included Moscow and the Moscow Region (10,408), St. Petersburg (3,265), the Belgorod Region (1,163), the Novosibirsk Region (1,129) and the Sverdlovsk Region (1,004). The top five regions with the highest average digital literacy score include St. Petersburg (7.55), the Altai Republic (7.50), the Kostroma Region (7.49), the Omsk Region (7.45) and the Yaroslavl Region (7.44). Moscow was ranked 21st with an average literacy score of 7.29, while the Nenets Autonomous Area (6.16), the Tyva Republic (5.68) and the Kursk Region (5.61) were at the end of the list.
