E-skills for all generations – intergenerational approach to e-literacy

E-skills are understood as a set of competences and knowledge directly associated with the ability to use information-communication technologies. Development and contemporary soci-political processes have made e-skills in integral part of everyday life in the 21st century, without which cooperation and social inclusion of individuals is severely inhibited. In the first parts of this paper we argue that while e-skills development has been high on the policy agenda both at the national (Slovenian) and supranational (EU) level, the prevailing policy and scientific discourse on eskills predominately focuses on the economic impacts and employability factors of e-skills. Consequently, the levels of digital literacy of one of the most vulnerable social groups in the context of information society, the elderly, remain below satisfactory levels in the broader EU community and in Slovenia in particular. In the second part we argue that although evidence of activity in the field of e-skills training for the elderly exists in Slovenia, the action of stakeholders is defragmented and highly dependent upon private actors, such as multinational vendors and NGOs. We follow by presenting the project Simbioz@ as an alternative initiative in the field, which strives to address the issue of e-skills of the elderly through an intergenerational approach and by connecting different stakeholders in Slovenia. In conclusion we argue that the project brings a fresh, innovative and somewhat optimistic view to the issue of e-skills particularly by addressing the issue at large scale in a target group, which has been until now mostly overlooked in Slovenia.