Project CID (Competency Insight Dashboard) is a national initiative to monitor and strengthen the digital competence of people in the Netherlands so they can participate safely and effectively in an increasingly digital society. Building on the validated DigIQ tool, and its extension the DigIQ2.0, measuring eleven key dimensions of digital skills (from online safety and digital health to AI and sustainable technology), Project CID tracks how different groups across the population are coping with rapid technological change, including developments like generative AI. It will do so by conducting six data-collection waves between 2024 and 2027, and all resulting data will be integrated into this dashboard.
With these timely insights, policymakers and practitioners can design targeted workshops and training for different age and education groups, develop accessible programs for vulnerable populations, and launch awareness campaigns on issues such as AI, privacy, and information reliability.
Project CID maps the digital competencies of the Dutch population using a mixed sampling strategy that combines an online panel with a postal address sample. The address sample specifically targets neighborhoods with higher proportions of people with lower educational levels and/or a migration background, ensuring inclusion of groups that are underrepresented in online-only research and of people with lower (digital) literacy. Data are collected via a questionnaire available in Dutch and English, which can be completed online (smartphone, tablet, computer) or on paper. Data collection for Project CID is conducted by the external research company Ipsos I&O, ensuring professional and standardized fieldwork.
Because the resulting sample differed from national benchmarks (MOA Gold Standard 2024) on key demographics, statistical weights were applied so that the results more accurately reflect the Dutch population.
More information on survey development and sampling can be found on: https://osf.io/d5c7n/
Dr. Annemarie van Oosten is a senior researcher, daily project manager, and contact person for the CID project. She is also a university lecturer in communication science at the University of Amsterdam, where she received her PhD in 2015. In addition to her research on digital competence, she investigates the role of (social) media in the sexual and gender attitudes and behaviors of young people.
Roos Korderijnk, MSc. is a junior researcher for the CID project. Roos studied Communication and Information Sciences at Utrecht University and Communication Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Prof. Dr. Jessica Taylor Piotrowski is the principal investigator of the DIGCOM project and the CID project. Jessica is a professor of Digital Society at the University of Amsterdam, director of the Center for research on Children, Adolescents and the Media (CcaM), and director of the Graduate School for Communication. Her research focuses on how the digital society and the development of (young) people influence each other.
Dr. Dian A. de Vries is Associate Professor of Digital Skills at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, at the lectorate Organizations in Digital Transition. Dian received her PhD from the University of Amsterdam (2014) and is co-author of De Schermwijzer: A practical guide for (grand)parents on screen time, social media, gaming, and online safety.
Prof. Dr. Claes H. de Vreese is co-applicant of the DIGCOM project. Claes is a university professor of Artificial Intelligence and Society at the University of Amsterdam. He is also the founder and director of the Digital Democracy Center and cofounder of the AI, Media and Democracy Lab. Claes conducts research into the role of media and artificial intelligence in democracy.
Fabio Votta is a Postdoc at the University of Amsterdam who studies digital political campaigns and the role of ad delivery algorithms. He is particularly interested in how political actors use targeted campaign messages to reach specific voters and how social media platforms enable these practices.
Ernesto de León focuses on political information flows in a digital age and its effects on political attitudes. In these projects, he makes use of computational methodologies to explore web behaviour, use of algorithmic intermediaries to news (such as social media and search engines), and to conduct large-scale automated content analyses through text-as-data approaches.
