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IB DP: Digital Society: Contexts

4.1 Cultural

The cultural context includes ways that people and communities express themselves as well as how they live, travel and associate together in a digital society.

  • 4.1A Arts, entertainment and popular culture ~ (a) Genres, techniques and forms, (b) Ways to experience art and entertainment, such as online galleries and exhibitions, streaming platforms, and (c) Memes, online forums, internet celebrities and influencers

  • 4.1B Home, leisure and tourism ~ (a) Home appliances, services and technologies, (b) Sports, gaming and hobbies and (c) Travel, sharing platforms and tourism

  • 4.1C Heritage, customs and celebrations ~ (a) Rites of passage and (b) Expression and preservation of cultural heritage, customs and celebrations

  • 4.1D Subcultures ~ (a) Youth cultures and (b) Online communities and forums

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4.2 Economic

The economic context includes ways that people and communities work as well as how they exchange goods and services in a digital society.

  • 4.2A Business ~ (a) Operation and organization of businesses and (b) Diversity in businesses and corporations

  • 4.2B Employment and labour ~ (a) Working practices, for example, office design, remote working, digital nomadism and employee organizations, (b) Crowd work, microwork and gig economies and (c) Automation and employment

  • 4.2C Goods, services and currencies ~ (a) E-commerce, e-trading and online marketplaces, (b) Personalized and targeted marketing, (c) Cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cashless society and micro-transactions and (d) Additive manufacturing

  • 4.2D Globalization ~ (a) Borderless selling and global sourcing and (b) Offshoring, outsourcing, reshoring, inshoring, and insourcing

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4.3 Environmental

The environmental context includes ways that people and communities interact with the natural and built worlds around them in a digital society.

  • 4.3A Natural resources and ecosystems ~ (a) Use and distribution of natural resources, including in digital systems and devices, (b) Protection and threats to ecosystems and biodiversity and (c) Natural events and disasters

  • 4.3B Pollution and waste ~ (a) Recycling and waste management, (b) Types of pollution, including air, water, solid, noise and light pollution and (c) Green computing, e-waste, planned obsolescence

  • 4.3C Cities, infrastructures and built environments ~ (a) Design and use of urban spaces and cities, (b) Local and regional infrastructures, and (c) Transportation and wayfinding, maps, global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS)

  • 4.3D Agriculture ~ Agricultural production and distribution

 

4.4 Health

The health context encompasses the physical and mental health of people and communities as well as changing understandings of the human body in a digital society.

  • 4.4A Medicine and health ~ (a) Approaches to the design and delivery of medical diagnostics and care, (b) Medical research and development and (c) Health and wellness records, monitoring and tracking

  • 4.4B The human body ~ (a) Human enhancement, bio-hacking, implanted technology, exoskeletons and organ printing, (b) Accessibility approaches for differently abled people and communities and (c) Ergonomic design

  • 4.4C Mental health ~ (a) Approaches to understanding and ensuring mental health, and (b) Intersections of digital systems and mental health, for example, attention, addiction and anxiety

 

4.5 Human knowledge

The human knowledge context encompasses ways that people and communities learn and create new knowledge in a digital society.

  • 4.5A Learning and education ~ (a) Design and delivery of formal education, for example, in schools and remote learning, (b) Approaches to non-formal and post-formal education, for example, skill training, competency development and self-directed learning, and (c) Digital pedagogies

  • 4.5B Science and technology innovation ~ Approaches to scientific and technology research and development

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4.6 Political

The political context encompasses ways that people and communities operate, organize and govern themselves politically in a digital society.

  • 4.6A Political processes ~ (a) Voting and campaigning, (b) Formal and informal forms of political participation, such as lobbying, political movements and activism, and (c) Political advertising and propaganda

  • 4.6B Governing bodies ~ (a) Organization and role of local, regional, national and global governing institutions, (b) Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and (c) Non-state political actors

  • 4.6C Conflicts and war ~ Warfare and terrorism

  • 4.6D Laws, regulations and policies ~ (a) Crime and lawbreaking, (b) Surveillance and monitoring, and (c) Public and private policy, including professional codes, rules and regulations

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4.7 Social

The social context encompasses ways that people and communities are grouped as well as how they understand and form relationships with others in a digital society.

  • 4.7A Social components of identity ~ (a) Aspects related to international-mindedness and/or common humanity, (b) Age and demographic components, (c) Gender, gender expression and sexuality, (d) Race and ethnicity, (e) Ability status, and (e) Religious beliefs and practices

  • 4.7B Social class ~ (a) Organization, role and impacts of social class and (b) Intersection of social class in major areas of life, such as employment, education, health and illness, housing

  • 4.7C Families and relationships ~ (a) Ways of understanding, forming and connecting families, (b) Friendship, companionship and personal relationships, and (c) Online relationships and group memberships

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