On March 23, the TASS Press Center hosted a news conference on the start of the largest Russian event that tests internet technology knowledge — Digital Dictation 2021. It will be held online on April 9 ̶ 24 on the website, цифровойдиктант.рф. Digital Dictation is being conducted by RAEC, ROCIT, the RPF, and Microsoft with support from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ.
Digital Dictation is an annual event to determine the level of digital literacy among children, young people and adults. It allows them to evaluate their skills on computers and other digital devices, and includes knowledge on the rules of security and civilized communication on the internet, plus information on artificial intelligence. Children 7 ̶ 13 years old, teenagers 14 ̶ 17 and adults can take part. In 2020, the number of participants increased by eight times (330,148 participants in 2020 versus 39,398 in 2019). To encourage interest, this year the organizers developed a special interactive format test for children 7 ̶ 13 and a special version for internet users over 60.
Participants in the news conference explained how Digital Dictation 2021 will be conducted. Anyone who wants to be tested on the project’s website and take part in the various events can do so between April 9 and 24. The ability to review and correct mistakes will be available on their personal account page on April 25.
“We are supporting Digital Dictation for the third year. Everyone uses the internet and I think that the audience of the Digital Dictation is bigger than that of any other dictation. This project allows us to learn what users know about the domain name system. We adjust our questions as we come to understand user’s gaps. Thus, this year, emphasis will be made on domain-related information security,” said Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center, at the news conference.
He noted that the list of topics to be included in Digital Dictation and the range of digital literacy lessons at schools are being expanded every year. “Maybe we should start talking about the ABCs of internet security in kindergarten. After all, even toddlers use smartphones and iPads, and must learn to do so safely. Our participation in Digital Dictation is aimed at developing this knowledge base and these skills and habits, to ensure correct decision making and the safe use of devices and the internet in the future,” Mr. Vorobyev said.
Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, IT and Communications Alexander Khinshtein emphasized that participation in Digital Dictation is useful for everyone — it increases internet competence and helps users counter fraud on the network. He talked about preparations for introducing digital security classes at schools and urged the audience to consider involving more elderly people in Digital Dictation and developing special sets of questions for them.
“We are happy to see that national Digital Dictation embraces more people every year. In 2020, participation increased eight-fold to 330,000. The events of 2020 were an additional catalyst for developing digital competencies among users: e-commerce, remote education and online communication have become routine, and this motivated many users to upgrade their digital literacy. We hope in 2021 this event will beat the previous record and will show whether the pandemic and related digitalization and remote work have helped users develop their digital skills,” said Sergey Grebennikov, the head of the Digital Dictation project.
Anyone interested can take part in Digital Dictation 2021 and follow related news on its website and on social media.
