Digital citizenship can be described as the ability to use responsibly, critically and competently digital technologies to actively participate in society, while respecting human rights and dignity. The Council of Europe defines it as:
The competent and positive engagement with digital technologies (creating, working, sharing, socializing, investigating, playing, communicating and learning); participating actively and responsibly (values, skills, attitudes, knowledge) in communities (local, national, global) at all levels (political, economic, social, cultural and intercultural); being involved in a double process of lifelong learning (in formal, informal and non-formal settings) and continuously defending human dignity.
Digital citizenship education means empowering students with the competences needed for learning and actively participating in the digital world, to prevent any marginalisation and overcome the risk of a “digital gap”. Digital competence is a key-element for lifelong learning, personal development, employability, social inclusion, active participation (European Council, 2018).
Activity: Examine the learning outcomes of this unit
The remainder of this unit will focus on the opportunities to develop active citizenship and participation through the use of open data. After the launch of the European Data Portal, many public datasets have become available, providing citizens with new tools to participate in the design of policies, interact with local governments and protect their needs (European Data Portal, 2019).
Activity: Review the presentation which examines data choices
Presentation: Explorer Level D3 unit 3 
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By developing their digital citizenship skills, young people will gain a clearer understanding of the connection between digital and real life, and thus will be equipped with more opportunities to with political authorities (Troia, et al., 2014).
Activity: Review the presentation which introduces citizen science
Activity: Review the presentation which illustrates the YouthMetre e-tool.
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