Digital Literacy Hub · VU Amsterdam

Empowering digital citizenship through research, design, and dialogue

Research hub advancing digital literacy through evidence-based insights on social media, privacy, and AI ethics

4 competencies

7 domains

Technical

Information

Interaction

Creation

Computer & Internet

Privacy

News & Misinformation

Advertising

Generative AI

Algorithms

Digital Well-Being

Hover or tap a cell to see a statement from that field

Learn more about the model →

01Our Mission

Empowering digital citizenship through research and collaboration

At the Digital Literacy Hub, we explore how people navigate, resist, and reshape the digital world. Our mission is to empower individuals and communities through research and tailored interventions that help them engage with digital life critically, confidently, and responsibly. We believe digital literacy is an evolving capacity that has to develop alongside rapidly shifting technologies, platforms, and societal norms.

02Tools

Try our research yourself

Two free tools built on our 2026 survey of 2,372 people in Germany and the Netherlands.

Example result

Proficient Digital Citizen

Especially strong in Privacy & Data Protection.

Rate 28 short statements, one for each combination of four competencies and seven domains, and get a personal profile compared with the people in our survey.

Guess first

In which area do people feel least skilled?

Explore the anonymised answers of all 2,372 respondents yourself. No coding needed.

Both tools are based on the Digital Literacy Survey 2026, a representative survey of 2,372 adults in Germany and the Netherlands. Read the reports: Germany (in German) · Netherlands (in Dutch)

03Our Team

Meet the researchers of the Digital Literacy Hub

Philipp K. Masur

Douglas Parry

Jolanda Veldhuis

Tilo Hartmann

04Events

Bringing the digital literacy community together

Symposium

First Symposium of the VU Amsterdam Digital Literacy Hub

28–29 October 2026

Café Living, VU Amsterdam

Digital literacy is one of the most policy-relevant yet conceptually fragmented fields in communication science. Across Europe, researchers are advancing specific domains (advertising literacy, privacy literacy, AI literacy, news literacy), yet these communities rarely talk to one another. The first symposium of the VU Amsterdam Digital Literacy Hub sets out to close that gap.