STEM women scientists self- assessing digital literacy for science communication to wide audiences

Open Science is increasingly regarded as a viable approach to doing and sharing research. A spectrum of digital genres such as micro-blogging, lay summaries, graphical abstracts, among others, support open science. Recent research has explored the features of such digital genres and tools involved in their production, but little is known about the experience of writing them. Taking an approach to digital genres and digital literacies as social practice (cf. Bhatt 2012; Perez-Llantada 2021), this study aims to map the digital literacy skills scientists require for the effective composition of such types of publications. Since it has been claimed that women scientists are more likely to take the step of sharing research openly online, the participants selected for this study were women scientists engaged in science communication to wide audiences within a Spanish STEMM setting. Data was extracted from three case studies using two instruments designed specifically for this research: a digital literacy self-assessment checklist and a retrospective reflection on composing a digital genre. Results indicate hybrid digital literacy profiles, ranging from intermediate to advanced proficiency levels. With regards to digital tools, data show that the experience of composing online involves a great deal of innovation and acting as a strategic designer instead of adaptation to the constraints of digital technologies for mediating social action. Digital literacy skills for engaging in digital genre composing is operationalized as a composite of skills and knowledge including knowledge of genre ecology (i.e. the other texts with which a genre can form a network), knowledge of tools and platforms for online writing (including awareness of their affordances), and competencies of combining multiple semiotic modes or multimodal resources for meaning-making and engaging audiences online. We end with a pedagogical reflection on how these findings can provide input for digital literacy training targeted at women scientists who wish to engage in disseminating scientific knowledge in the digital environment.