The 5Ds of privacy literacy: a framework for privacy education
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-02-2022-0022 |
| Published date | 10 June 2022 |
| Date | 10 June 2022 |
| Pages | 445-461 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
| Author | Priya C. Kumar,Virginia L. Byrne |
The 5Ds of privacy literacy: a
framework for privacy education
Priya C. Kumar
College of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, Pennsylvania, USA, and
Virginia L. Byrne
Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership and Policy, School of Education and
Urban Studies, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Existing privacy-relatededucational materials are not situated in privacytheory, making it hard
to understandwhat specifically children learn about privacy. Thisarticle aims to offer learning objectives and
guidancegrounded in theories of privacy and learning to serve as a foundation for privacy literacyefforts.
Design/methodology/approach –This article reviews theories of privacy and literacy as social
practices anduses these insights to contribute a set of learningobjectives for privacy education called the5Ds
of privacy literacy.
Findings –This article connects the 5Ds of privacy literacywith existing curricular standards and offers
guidance for using the 5Ds to create educational efforts for preteens grounded in theories of sociocultural
learning.
Practical implications –Learning scientists, instructionaldesigners and privacy educators can use the
5Ds of privacy literacy to develop educational programs that help children hone their ability to enact
appropriateinformation flows.
Social implications –Current approachesto privacy education treat privacy as somethingpeople need to
protect from the incursions of technology, but the authors believe the 5Ds of privacy literacy can redefine
privacy –forchildren and adults alike –as something people experiencewith the help of technology.
Originality/value –This study uniquely integrates theories of privacy and learninginto an educational
frameworkto guide privacy literacy pedagogy.
Keywords Children, School, Contextual integrity, Preteens, Privacy education, Privacy literacy,
Sociocultural learning
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
As children grow up in a world that is “digital by default”(Stoilova et al.,2020),
policymakers advocate that digital literacy efforts incorporate lessons focused on privacy
(Culver and Grizzle, 2017;Stoilova et al., 2019). Scholars and practitioners are heeding the
call, identifying the content suchlessons should cover (Livingstone et al.,2020) and creating
materials for use in PK12 classrooms (DiFranzo et al., 2019;Fordham University, 2018;
International Computer Science Institute, 2022;James et al.,2021;Maqsood and Chiasson,
2021). These materials vary in scope: some focus entirely on privacy (Fordham University,
2018;InternationalComputer Science Institute, 2022), whereas others embed privacy lessons
The authors thank Erica Van Steenis, PhD, and the anonymous reviewers for their feedback, which
strengthened this work.
5Ds of privacy
literacy
445
Received28 February 2022
Revised23 May 2022
Accepted24 May 2022
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.123 No. 7/8, 2022
pp. 445-461
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-02-2022-0022
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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in a larger digital citizenship curriculum (DiFranzo et al.,2019;James et al., 2021;Maqsood
and Chiasson, 2021). Althoughsome materials are explicitly grounded in theoriesof learning
(DiFranzo et al., 2019;Jameset al., 2021) or game design (Maqsood and Chiasson, 2021), none
are situated in privacy theory. Thismakes it difficult to understand what specifically about
privacy children are learningfrom these lessons.
As privacy is a multi-faceted, contextually driven concept, we believe privacy education
must start by explicitly articulating what approach to privacy it adopts. Prior work has
defined privacy literacy as “the practice of enacting appropriate information flows within
sociotechnical systems”(Kumar et al., 2020, p. 175). When someone is privacy literate, they
disclose informationin a way that aligns with the norms of a given context (i.e. they enact an
appropriate information flow). Briefly, this involves recognizing the role of technology and
information in a specific situation, understanding what is considered appropriate behavior
in that context and determiningwhat course of action best upholds privacy. Privacy literacy
is less about knowing privacy-related facts and more about having the skills to interpret
social situations and act in ways that alignwith privacy. This makes privacy literacy well-
suited for educational efforts grounded in sociocultural learning theory, which approaches
learning as a collaborative,contextually driven process (Kumar, 2022).
Though children of all ages would benefit from privacy education (Culver and Grizzle,
2017;Kumar et al.,2017), we believe it is especially important for preteens (ages 10–13).
Preteens are just beginning to use social media (Rideout and Robb, 2019) and are shifting
from relying on parental guidanceto make sense of online interactions toward making their
own judgments (Kumar et al., 2017;Livingstone, 2014). Furthermore, most privacyresearch
on children focuses on teenagers, suggesting a need for a greater understanding about how
younger children navigateprivacy (Stoilova et al.,2019).
In this article, we contribute a set of learning objectives, the 5Ds of privacy literacy, that
learning scientists, instructional designers and privacy educators can use to develop
educational programs that approachprivacy literacy as the practice of enacting appropriate
information flows (Kumar,2022;Kumar et al.,2020). The 5Ds are grounded in Nissenbaum’s
(2010,2019) conception of privacy as contextual integrity and Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
(Krathwohl, 2002), which are widelyrecognizable theoretical frameworks in privacy studies
and education, respectively.
In this article, we first situate privacyliteracy in theories of privacy and literacy as social
practices, explaining what the theoryof contextual integrity has to offer privacy education.
We then review existing work on how preteens experience privacy. Next, we introduce the
5Ds of privacy literacy and walk through an example information flow to demonstrate how
these learning objectives can help strengthen children’s privacy literacy. The rest of the
article offers recommendationsfor ways to connect the 5Ds of privacy literacy withexisting
curricular standards and to use the 5Ds to create educational efforts for preteens grounded
in theories of sociocultural learning. We conclude by offering directions for future work,
including the development of lesson plans, professional development for educators and
materials for parentalengagement.
Theoretical foundations of privacy literacy
Scholars have defined privacy in variedand sometimes conflicting ways: as a right to which
all people are entitled, a commodity that peoplecan exchange, a state in which people exist
and a boundary people control (Smith et al.,2011). Privacy encompasses “(among other
things), freedom of thought, control over one’s body, solitude in one’s own home, control
over personal information, freedom from surveillance, protection of one’s reputation, and
protection from searches and interrogation”(Solove, 2008, p. 1). Privacy is often conflated
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