Digital literacies and civic literacies: Theoretical issues, rese arch questions and methodological approaches Giovanna Mascheroni, Universit Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy) Maria Francesca Murru, Universit Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy) Whether seen from a minimalist or a maximalist model of democratic participation, the issue of the role of the internet in facilitating citizens participation in the public sphere has acquired a permanent place in the academic and public debate.

We argue for increased attention to two core determinants of change: (a) the active role of users and media literacy as key factors influencing information behavior and (b) the intentional shaping and design of user behavior through algorithms by ICT companies.

Strategies for approaching these challenges are discussed with reference to an innovative interdisciplinary multi-method study on search engines.

The study combines perspectives from mass communication, law and media literacy research with both traditional qualitative and quantitative methods as well as designs from computational social science.

The results reveal that despite pronounced fears about their privacy, users are still inept in their use of search engines and naive with regard to the politics and economics of information seeking on the net.

Based on these results, we argue for expanding the ambition of audience research.

It must aim to reach beyond its traditional set of questions and methods in order to understand and evaluate the transformation of both audiences and societies.

In this digital environment, children express concerns with peer pressing, abusive images, privacy violation, and nasty comments on themselves publicly disseminated and perpetually accessible for all (Livingstone, Kirwil, Ponte Staksrud, 2013).

In this sense, the precocious digital socialization points to concerns about the blurring boundaries among public, private and intimate experiences and how children manage them in the virtual world.

Van Manen (2010: 1024) alerts that privacy, secrecy, and innerness in young peoples lives play a critical role in the development of self-identity, autonomy, intimacy, and the ability of learning to negotiate closeness and distance in social relations.

Just as r ising complexity and privatization of communication in times of the In ternet make these transformations ha rder to observe, our methods and theories have to expand in order to keep up.

We argue for increased attention to t wo core determinants of chan ge: (a) the active role of users and media literacy as key factors influencing information behavior and (b) the intentional shaping and desig n of user behavior through algorithms by ICT companies.

Strategies for approaching these ch allenges are discussed wit h reference to an innovative interdisciplinary multi-method study on search engines.

The study combines perspectives from mass communicat ion, law and media literacy research with both traditional qualitative and q uantitative methods as well as designs from computational social science.

The results reve al that despite pronounced fears about their privacy, users are still inept in their use of search engines and naive with regard to the politics and e conomics of information seeking on the net.

Building u pon its evaluation of t he complex interaction between users and technology, a review of the legal framework identifies possible approaches to regulation of search engines, particularly neutrality of search results, transparency of ranking criteria and the empowerment of me dia literacy.

Based on these results, we argue for expanding the ambition of au dience research.

It must aim to reach beyond its traditional set of questions and methods in order to u nderstand and evaluate the transformation of both audiences and societies.

Ultimately, it is t he discipline best equipped to critically rethink this era of societal change through communication.

In this digital environment, children express concerns with peer pressing, abusive images, privacy violation, and nasty comments on themselves publicly d isseminated and p erpetually accessible f or all (Livingstone, Kir wil, Ponte Staksrud, 2 013).

In this sense, the precocious digital socialization points to concerns about the blurring boundaries among public, private and intimate experiences and how children manage t hem in the virtual world.

Unique Player And Followers Redux