Cofact

Challenges of digital citizens during the New Normal

By COFACT Thailand

What will the future look like if everything in life is fitted with sensors? It will certainly track misplaced objects more easily. The comfort, on the other hand, can put one’s personal data at risk because technology has positive and negative effects on daily lives.

During the opening remarks of the 14th Year-end Digital Thinkers Forum co-organized by COFACT, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Thailand Institute of Justice and Friedrich Naumann Foundation on 26 November 2020, Ms. Supinya Klangnarong, co-founder of COFACT-Thailand welcomed academics and experts from different fields to a brainstorming meeting under the theme: “Promoting Digital intelligence to deal with cybercrime in the New Normal”.

Intelligence of digital citizens during the New Normal

When the technology evolves rapidly, what follows is humans are struggling to catch up with the status quo, especially the dark side of technology. The rapid change brings up questions about morals and concerns about growing cybercrime that has become part of daily life. For instance, if genetic code can be completely cracked that it allows parents to choose gender, hair color or facial structure for their babies. Children may not be able to grow up because parents control them. Cybercrime can cause an economic downturn. Some jobs like call centers and banks will vanish, but at the same time, new job opportunities will be created, or existing jobs like psychiatrists are growing more important.

Ms. Supinya has urged people to embrace significant changes such as human microchip implant, digital identity, digital wearable devices, autonomous car and artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. The digital transformation will make our lives far easier, but people should embrace and use it wisely, otherwise they will fall into the cybercrime trap.

There’re four elements of being an intelligent digital citizen which consist of

Brain: to have a comprehensive understanding and apply our knowledge wisely
Heart: to integrate thinking into feeling and connect with yourself as well as others
Soul : to be aware of emotion, common goals, trust and goodness that altogether lead to positive change and the creation of public benefits
Body: to cultivate your own healthy lifestyle and those of people around you. For example, kids these days know how to use iPad. Gadget overuse have eventually changed human’s body structure. The spine of humans in the next decade will bent forward

Although technology has progressed this far, humanity still serves as a foundation for social unity even in the digital era.

Smart cyber criminals

Since a Covid-19 lockdown, the world sees a surge in scams on average, especially in Asia – Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world’s population. Types of computer crimes have also increased such as job frauds, fake charity and online gambling. The police are struggling to combat with rapidly increasing cybercrime and track down the so-called “Smart Thieves”. Meanwhile, law enforcement fails to keep up with cybercrime which is now skyrocketing. Working from home is also a factor that leads to a rise in internet banking scam.

Challenge for digital citizens during outbreak is that people feel their freedom to live is being threatened. This feeling occurs because the government tracks the people’s locations and activities as a way to process patients for medical service and bring COVID-19 under control.

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Ms. Supinya stressed that a more balanced digital citizenship remains questionable, bringing up some cases that emerged during lockdown.

“More people worldwide are turning to the popular free porn website, with Thais ranking one of the website’s top countries in terms of traffic. If we choose to focus on the bright side, it helps decrease women’s risk of sexual assaults. But the video clips may contain content from sexually exploited women,” she explained.

Among the key speakers, Lieutenant Colonel Preab-phrom Mekiyanon (พันตำรวจโทหญิง เพรียบพร้อม เมฆิยานนท์) , Acting Inspector, the Thailand Internet Crimes Against Children (TICAC) Task Force under the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) has highlighted that the police can’t keep up with the rising cybercrime, especially the transboundary crimes online.

“During COVID-19, a large number of children are sexually abused. For example, children are being lured into recording a video of masturbating themselves. The price of each video ranges from 5,000 to 50,000 baht. There are cases in which foreigners fool retired people into entering a relationship and steal all hard-earned savings. With technology such as Google Translation, criminals can reach out to victims in a faster and easier way, making it the borderless crime. For instance, about 50,000 – 60,000 images of naked children are sold in Australia. For each case, it takes about one year to track down the criminal and advanced technology makes the hunt even more difficult,” Lieutenant Colonel Preab-phrom said.

Thus, being an intelligent digital citizen is a must choice in order to deal with threats which are no longer far-fetched. People can’t wait for the authorities to track down the cyber criminals because it is becoming more difficult. The best way is to protect our rights because no one is going to care for you for 24 hours, she added.

Build smart digital citizens

During a brainstorming session, many experts have discussed ways to build smart digital citizens. Among them is Dr. Napat Ruangnapakul, Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Information and Communication, Maejo University, who shed light on digital literacy among children at schools. She gave an example, saying in Australia, digital literacy has been integrated into the curriculum from kindergarten to secondary school in order to provide students with a better understanding of digital technologies. She believed Australia has set a good example that Thailand should follow.

“At present, 10 generic competences of digital literacy are being taught for students from kindergarten level onward. The subject gets more difficult as the grade rises. The topics also include cyberbullying to protect children from negative posts online. As of now, 13 schools focus on digital citizenship courses. Children are urged to change passwords regularly because hacking the passwords will be much easier in the near future. Digital intelligence and digital citizen will drive the economic and improves people’s well-being. ”

While Asst. Prof. Malee Boonsiripun, former dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, Thammasart University has echoed the above sentiments about digital literacy for children, saying young populations should be prepared for the digital transformation as well as threats.

“We must prepare children since their school days, equipped them with digital intelligence and guide them to be a media literate. Curriculum should be designed appropriately for their ages, culture, opportunities and trust. I watched Social Media Dilemma on Netflix. It was wonderful. The documentary shows us that we tend to use more social networks because of algorithms and AI. When we search something on the internet, we use the same keywords which later lead to the one-sided information. This is dangerous because it can divide the society, devalue our thinking and change our behavior unconsciously. We have to talk about this at schools and make the kids realize what dangers that await. The ability to analyze and think critically should exist at schools, so they are aware of what they are absorbing, and which one is real. Memorizing texts doesn’t work anymore. Teachers around the word now act as coaches. Teachers must listen to students and guide them the ways,” said Asst. Prof. Malee.

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“I look forward to tangible recommendations to design the curriculum such as courses on media technology and media literacy. While the media must verify information before reporting. Although news is now being shared online, but people rely more on mainstream media than on social media. Roles of journalists are still important in raising awareness of the dark side of technology,” she suggested.

Another speaker, Ms. Saijai Liangpunsakul, director of Phandeeyar put more emphasis on self-communication during the digital era.

“Today, digital dependency is now threatening ourselves. People rely on technology too much and have lost ability to communicate with each other. People do not have enough time for self-care. Alone time is necessary, and it has the potential to trigger our creativity for innovation. We’ve started losing human connection, but it is the misuse of technology that threatens our society. Mobile technology, for example, is developed to help us contact our loved ones, but today we use it to break up with our partners.

“Let’s become a technology minimalist. For example, do not play with your phone while eating, look at someone in front of you, not your phone screen or focus more on work and stop being distracted by Facebook. If we’re intelligent digital citizens, we should know how to use technology wisely,” said Ms. Saijai.

The panel discussion shows the audience ways to become smarter digital citizens. Curriculum at schools should be designed in such a way that children can deal with accelerated digital changes. Younger generations and kids from kindergarten level onward should be more aware of a digital future, so they do not fall into the technology trap or fall victim to cybercriminals who are so hard to be caught. At the same time, let them be prepared for the next pandemic.

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COVID-19 ‘Missing (you) is missing’: Inequality in the Digital Era
By COFACT Thailand

In light of COVID-19 crisis, access to internet connection becomes “the 5th basic needs” because everyone adheres to social distancing amid the new normal. Internet has become a shared space that connects every of us who stays home. It also serves as the government’s platform for citizens to register and receive financial aid. However, relief schemes remain an obstacle for those who “lack internet access”, especially vulnerable groups who are economically disadvantaged. The digital age, in fact, is leaving them more vulnerable to inequality.

Mr. Sunit Shrestha, Managing Director of the ChangeFusion Institute presented a paper titled: “COVID-19 ‘Missing (you) is missing’: Inequality in the Digital Era” to academics and experts convened at the 14th Year-end Digital Thinkers Forum co-organized by COFACT, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Thailand Institute of Justice and Friedrich Naumann Foundation on 26 November 2020.

Mr. Sunit has summarized four dimensions of digital inequality which are shown below:

Dimension 1: inequality of internet access

Data about access to internet collected by state agencies are different. Lack of internet access can be assessed and according to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), at least 10 million Thai people still lack access to internet in 2019. Thailand’s population stands at 66.5 million, of whom 50.1 million have access to the internet. 16 million still lack internet access. The NBTC wrote on its webpage saying, the statistics doesn’t cover over 20 million people who are under the Pracharat Internet project (Government Nation-wide internet project). Meanwhile, according to statistics from the National Statistical Office (NSO) in 2018, the pool was conducted using a simple random sampling method on people aged over 6 who use digital tools, the survey found that 40% of them have never used the internet.

Lack of internet access has prevented vulnerable groups from receiving financial aid from the state. For example, Rao Mai Thing Kan (or “Nobody will be left behind” in Thai) that aims to allocate 5,000 baht per month for three months between April and June 2019. During the registration period, a large number of people had failed to register online. Dimension 2: Lack of internet access put people’s lives at risk During the first wave of COVID-19 swept across Thailand, lack of internet access put people’s lives at risk because they have no clue about preventive measures and the COVID-19 situation at different areas. A vast group of people don’t receive Covid-19 financial aid, vulnerable groups in particular.

If people can’t access website or Facebook Page of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), they have to rely on news broadcast on mainstream media such as radio, television and newspaper that doesn’t come in real time.
Mr. Sunit said, “Information about COVID-19 is constantly changing because this is an emerging infectious disease. We still don’t know a lot of things. We don’t even know symptoms. Information about the disease keeps changing, for instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) spoke about wearing or not wearing a mask. During a fresh round of Covid-19 infections, the WHO recommended the global population not to wear a mask because the virus wasn’t dangerous and didn’t spread easily, but later urged people to wear it due to a change in information.”

This example reflects lack of internet access among people that later led to higher risk of infection. They also lack access to financial aid or donation because they don’t know types of aid and sources. Furthermore, vulnerable people tend to be at a higher risk of being tricked by the criminals like the case in which chao guay (grass jelly) seller (or shall we use street vendor?) had no idea about the amount of a crash handout and didn’t know how to withdraw money from an ATM. Some of his money were taken by the thief.

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Dimension 3: Digital skills and fact-checking

Mr. Sunit stressed that lack of digital skills is reflected in fake news getting shared. Fortunately, no one in Thailand was dead because of coronavirus-related misinformation. Although digital tools are used in constructive ways, for example, running a page to promote local job vacancies or teach selling products online, it a causes higher possibility of sex trade and online gambling.

Dimension 4: Digital citizens and reduced inequality

Another inequality-related issue that increased during the COVID-19 outbreak during the past year is the government appears reluctant to share its information. For example, several inventors in Thailand developed mobile applications that are able to track the location of stores selling face masks, but due to lack of support from the government, the apps provided inaccurate information. Unlike Taiwan, the government fully supports the development of the application that can accurately track the stores’ locations and the amount of face masks available at each shop. Thus, having digital citizens in decision-making circle is necessary to help fix social problems and also allow public access to information as well as aids through different tools.

Ways to reduce inequality of the Thai government Another speaker is Mr. Tippatrai Saelawong, researcher at Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) who highlighted responses from Thai people to the coronavirus has been remarkably divisive.

“The yarning gaps of the so-called “Digital Divide”, which sill left unaddressed, has led to lack of educational and job opportunities. The divisiveness was amplified by the pandemic. For instance, when nationwide lockdown measures were enforced, a large number of people were left unemployed because they couldn’t work from home,” said Mr. Tippatrai.

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“The government hasn’t paid much attention to e-government reforms. For example, policies that aim to help the poor fail to reach out to the target group because the government can’t find out all poor people. However, in every crisis there is opportunity, when the central government showed limits to the pandemic crisis, the local government officials had a chance to show their capacity through roles of village health volunteers and an installation of the “Pantries of Happiness”, known as tu pan sook. The roadside cupboards are seen as new innovation that helps people make ends meet during the pandemic crisis, the government can organize vast database of poor people more systemically. Good governance and database connection will bear fruit for the country.” Problems behind the three causes of inequality include out-of-date regulations, wealth inequality generated by the government itself, for example, power has been given to local authorities, but administration hasn’t really been decentralized. Also, the government ignores safety nets and often hands over financial aid, rather than making Thailand a “welfare state”. Good governance of digital government According to Prof. Surichai Wun’gaeo, professor at the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI), problems regarding inequality and good governance of digital government intensified amid doubts over whether information are stored for whom. Meanwhile, the government can’t yet find out which departments failed to do their jobs since each department kept saying they were facing budget constraints. Over the past years, Prof. Surichai said Thailand has been a highly centralized state. During the pandemic, the state controlled the suspected cases [of Covid-19] with the emergency decree. The country, however, witnessed a change that caused by the strength of civic groups. “The debate scope of digital citizenship must be extended beyond its pros and cons, or its true and false news. Rather than going against it, studies should be conducted on roles of emerging digital citizens. Civil society should be able to keep an eye out for public administration, good governance, treatment of the underprivileged, and other matters that don’t come from the central government’s press conference. Questions remain about how we can make reform of the government and other state agencies, whether by themselves or through cooperation, a national agenda,” he explained. The panel discussion highlighted that public access to information “seem” boundless in digital age, but in fact vulnerable groups of people can’t have internet access “equally”. Inequality manifested itself even before the COVID-19 but was unseen in a digital world. Thus, the only way to reduce inequality among Thai citizens and reach out to them to alleviate their hardship is to think though the inequality in a digital world.

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9 Skills for digital citizens during the New Normal

By COFACT Thailand

    Without realizing it, the new normal speeds up digital transformation. A lockdown forces people to search information on the internet. A phenomenon called “Share Kon Sure”, or sharing before fact checked, has stirred up nationwide panic about information. Some people go to the hospitals unnecessarily or become so afraid to touch any objects. Questions remain about how people can live happily in the new normal and digital era.

    Speaking at the 14^th Year-end Digital Thinkers Forum that was co-organized by COFACT, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Thailand Institute of Justice and Friedrich Naumann Foundation on 26 November 2020, Peerapon Anutarasoat, manager of the Thai News Agency’s (MCOT) Sure Kon Share Center (Sure and Share)  presented a paper titled “Digital citizens and ways to deal with Infodemic”, the term that refers to a wave of fake news and misinformation about the pandemic on social media.

Mr. Peerapon has highlighted nine skills necessary for digital citizenship which are shown below:

    9 skills of digital citizenship

    A digital citizen not only refers to a person having access to internet, but also a set of the right digital skills. The eight competencies are found as follows:

1. Maintaining one’s identity
2. Protecting personal information
3. Analyzing data sources with good judgement 
4. Managing time spent looking at a screen
5. Dealing with cyber threats
6. Managing database online 
7. Securing personal data on the internet
8. Using technology ethically 

However, according to research on problems with digital citizenship during the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Peerapon said one more skill needs to be added to the list which is an ability to differentiate between real life and online world.

“I think we sometimes adopt the online habits – ‘undo’ or ‘reset’ – in real life. But in reality, we can’t turn back time and undo whatever we did. We will fall victim to online scams if we trust people online in the same way we trust people in the real world,” he explained.

Final examinations of digital citizenship

Mr. Peerapon designed an assessment for digital citizenship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five subjects have been created and served as final examinations to help digital citizens identify underlying problems.

“The first subject is preparing for pandemics. I give an ‘F’ grading for the world’s population who failed to be well prepared for the deadly disease. Bill Gates warned of it in 2015 when an Ebola pandemic broke out saying, ‘we used to be afraid of nuclear bombs wiping out the world, but today we’re so scared of virus instead’. When the first case of the coronavirus disease was detected, we still lacked preparation. We learn how to access the internet and protect ourselves against hackers but haven’t taught people how to deal with pandemics and infodemic,” he said.

“The second subject is dealing with unexpected events. I also give an ‘F’ grading for both Thai and overseas citizens. For example, a Chinese doctor who issued the first warning about the deadly coronavirus outbreak, but state authorities tried to cover up the disease, causing the situation uncontrollable during the first phase. Likewise, in Thailand, right after the pandemic broke out, waves of false news spreading on social media. Misunderstandings arose when an image of a drunk man lying on the pavement was widely shared online with a message saying he died of COVID-19. We were not ready to cope with the pandemic and with unforeseen events, the Covid situation has taken a serious turn for the worse. Widespread misinformation is on the rise and it makes an already-bad situation even worse.”

    “The third subject is to teach students to deal with misinformation. I give a ‘D-’ grading. The new pandemic is a very deadly virus and the only source of information for everyone is the internet. Thus, the users easily fall into victim to false news. Misleading information is disseminated by nearly every sector of the society, including state agencies, significant figures, experts, media/influencers, and product sellers. It’s spreading around the world and swindling people.”

    “The fourth subject is adjustment and adaptability in the time of COVID-19 which gets ‘B’ grade because people adjust and adapt to cope with the changes well. For example, a Tu Pan Sook or ‘Pantries of Happiness’. Both in reality and digital world, several official online channels have been introduced free of charge to people, so they can stay at home happier.” 

    “In the fifth and last subject which is to live with the unpredictable coronavirus, people receive ‘D-’ grade. I think people aren’t doing good enough, for example, fewer and fewer people are scanning a Thai Chana QR code.”

    Prior to the end of panel discussion, Assistant Professor Dr. Uajit Virojtrairatt, General Secretariat, Media Monitor, and advisor to COFACT opined that concrete actions must be taken to deal with the blurred line between reality and the digital world.

    “In my opinion, the third subject which is about how to deal with false news. There should be tangible manners for the public, so they’ve a better understanding of the preparedness. In regard to nine skills of digital citizenship, questions remain about how people can distinguish between the digital world and reality. If clearer instruction [on this matter] can be provided in the future, for instance, bringing more human values in the digital age. Studies suggest that it would be beneficial if people successfully overcome the blurring line [between the digital world and reality],” Dr. Uajit said.

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While Adisak Limparungpatanakij, president of Nation Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) has expressed his views on “getting ripped apart online”.

“I see getting ripped apart online as a pandemic because when one person starts, others will follow suit without verifying the fact. I was bombarded online once, although I didn’t do a lot of things that have been publicly said. But misleading information continued to be widely shared. If people aren’t immune to fake news, they will believe it. I urge people to learn more of infodemic – what characteristics of infodemic are, what kind of society infodemic can bring, or which social media platform shares the most fake news. For instance, what can be done to reduce fake news on LINE, a chat application that uses letter sealing? How can we deal with people who already believe in fake news and what would happen if this problem gets ignored? In some countries, the social media addiction treatment is available, and I think this is an interesting case,” Mr. Adisak said.

    The panel discussion shed light on challenges faced by digital citizens and ways to equip digital citizens with nine necessary skills. In reality, it’s hard to differentiate digital citizenship in the real world. Thus, Thai society needs to develop citizens of both worlds to be healthier, so no one falls victim to the next pandemic which can affect us physically and emotionally.