24 I V. S H A P I N G D I G I TA L E N V I R O N M E N T S I N S O C I E T Y zzTo become empowered and participate in processes, citizens require equal access to information and services. We therefore demand accessibility in digital media. In addition, we are reviewing the relevant standards in the government sector and continuing to develop these further. In this way, we are enhancing the focus on citizens, quality of service and knowledge networking. 4. Shaping digital environments: supporting family life and equal opportunities Digitisation is already helping us to achieve a more flexible balance between work, family lives and leisure. Technical advances will allow even greater flexibility in this area. The Federal Government wants to ensure that as many people as possible can avail of this flexibility. zzWe are therefore assessing how family support services contracted on the Internet can be better targeted towards helping parents reconcile family and working life on a partnership basis and how, in this process, new and secure family support digital services can be enabled. As part of this examination, we need to establish the extent to which qualifications and quality assurance can help build more trust in the online environment. zzEveryday family life is also facing new opportunities and challenges as a result of the digital transformation. The digital transformation is affecting everything from questions concerning responsibility for education to the everyday organisational issues involved in running a family. Our aim is to support parents in creating a positive family environment in the digital age while encouraging them to be critical and sovereign consumers of what the Internet has to offer. zzThe flexibility of digital environments also offers huge potential in the area of equal opportunities policy. It offers, for example, opportunities for better reconciling family and working lives on a partnership basis, new forms of political participation and fresh opportunities for men and women to enter atypical gender areas of activity and thus break with gender role stereotypes. We want to address this challenge and advance online equality as a topic in its own right. 5. Fostering digital engagement With the Internet becoming ever more important in our daily lives, the focus of civic work and engagement is increasingly shifting online. At the same time, there is a great need for social engagement in the digital space, for example in the areas of youth protection or providing assistance to the elderly. zzWe are fostering existing voluntary work by promoting digital options that can be used to improve the organisation of voluntary work, for example, in recruiting new members or deploying volunteers in the event of a catastrophe. zzWe are expanding digital resources that can be used to take greater advantage of the digital options for providing civic education and raising interest in politics and social engagement. zzWe are strengthening voluntary, intergenerational engagement to promote media skills in the area of the Internet and other new media. We plan to implement a pilot project under the heading of “Digital Voluntary Social Service Year” (FSJ-digital). As part of this project, we wish to gather and summarise best-practice experience about how young people can offer their skills and talent in managing and applying new media to help non-profit organisations.

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