How Do People Consume, participate and Create On the Internet

The majority of people (who have reached the basic levels of needs identified earlier) use ICT to CONSUME information and content found online. To do this effectively they need to be able to find the most appropriate content for their specific needs. This might be for entertainment, learning or work. They may also use ICT to store or curate the information they find.

Many people now use ICT to PARTICIPATE with others. This may just be connecting with family and friends or could mean collaborating with others in different countries. It might be attending virtual meetings with work colleagues or connecting with communities of people with a similar disability. ICT facilitates sharing of information, supporting others and can be used to mobilise communities to take action.

Some people use ICT to CREATE, store and share their own content. This might be in a work capacity where a teacher will create some teaching materials and share them online or in a personal blog where people share their own experiences. People can create and share a wide range of formats such as videos, images, text, graphics, and audio files.

If you play a game on your computer you could be described as CONSUMING something that has been created by others.
If you play in a multi-player environment, share audio with other players during gameplay or contribute to a game discussion forum then you could be described as PARTICIPATING.
If you make videos or walkthroughs of your gameplay, build items in-game, produce and share tutorials, or make content to sell to other gamers you could be described as CREATING.

To some extent, focusing on affordances assumes that a technology will be used in the same way by all people. However, while affordances are objective qualities of a particular technology, new users may not be aware of the full range of affordances any specific technology possesses; likewise, users who are beginning to develop their digital literacy may find previously inaccessible affordances as their proficiency develops.

Creating content

What Does Acting Digital Mean