Internet skills

The following eight activities comprise internet skills:

• using a search engine to find information;
• sending an email with documents included;
• Leaving messages in chat rooms, news groups or discussion forums;
• using the internet to make phone calls, for instance through Skype;
• designing a web page;
• sharing files to exchange music or films;
• placing texts, games, images, films or music on web sites, for instance on social network pages such as Facebook or Twitter;
• changing security settings of internet browsers.

The following four categories were used to classify the interviewees:

• no skills: carried out none of these activities;
• few skills: carried out one, two or three activities;
• average skill level: carried out four or five activities;
• high skill level: carried out six, seven or eight activities.