DGB 3: Publishing and Protecting Information

← Digital Literacy – Year 3

Information can create value when it is shared, but not every piece of information belongs in public. Responsible communication distinguishes public, internal, private, confidential and secret information and chooses the audience, channel and protection level accordingly.

Curriculum reference

Area	Classification
Competence area	Communication
Perspectives	G, I
Focus	Publishing information and protecting it through confidentiality and security
Competence	Describe and justify a balance between publishing, confidentiality and information security and make appropriate decisions about audiences and access rights.

Learning objectives

Students can:

explain why information may be published or deliberately restricted;
distinguish public, private, confidential and secret information;
identify personal data in everyday communication;
choose suitable audiences and access rights;
weigh transparency against privacy and security;
recognise risks of publishing too much or protecting too much;
apply practical measures such as restricted links, groups, passwords and role-based access;
revise a publication when it reveals unnecessary information;
justify decisions from more than one perspective.

Learning content

Why information is published

Publishing can inform, coordinate, document achievement, support participation or make knowledge reusable. The intended purpose should determine what is shared and with whom.

Why information is kept confidential

Privacy, safety, legal duties, personal dignity and organisational interests can require information to be restricted. Confidentiality should be purposeful rather than simply hiding everything.

The balance between openness and protection

A useful decision asks what the minimum necessary audience is and what harm could arise from disclosure or from excessive secrecy. The balance may change over time.

Public information and personal data

Names, photos, contact details, location, health information and account data can require special care. A public school announcement and a private student record have very different protection needs.

Examples from school and everyday life

Class photos, group chats, shared documents, event lists and project websites require decisions about consent, audience and access. 'Everyone with the link' is not the same as truly private.

Examples from work and society

Organisations combine public information, internal documents and protected records. Transparency may be important for accountability, while personal and security-sensitive information must remain protected.

Protection measures and graduated access

Access groups, passwords, restricted links, encryption and role-based permissions can create different levels of access. The measure should match the sensitivity of the information.

Risks of too much openness or too much secrecy

Over-sharing can cause privacy or security harm; excessive secrecy can reduce trust, participation and accountability. Responsible decisions make the reason for restriction understandable.

Making responsible decisions

Before sharing, consider purpose, audience, sensitivity, duration, further forwarding and whether the same goal can be achieved with less information.

Classroom activities

Classify information types

Sort examples into public, internal, private, confidential or secret and justify borderline cases.

Expected outcome: A classification table.

Evaluate publication cases

Decide whether prepared examples should be public, limited or not shared.

Expected outcome: A reasoned decision list.

Improve a publication

Remove or replace unnecessary personal information in a fictional announcement or post.

Expected outcome: A safer version.

Plan audiences and permissions

Assign view, comment and edit rights for a group project.

Expected outcome: An access-control plan.

Discuss public interest and private rights

Debate a case where transparency and privacy pull in different directions.

Expected outcome: A balanced discussion.

Analyse an information incident

Identify what was shared, who received it and how the problem could have been prevented.

Expected outcome: An incident analysis.

Take different perspectives

Evaluate one case as student, parent, teacher, organisation and public audience.

Expected outcome: A perspective map.

Develop rules for group communication

Create practical rules for screenshots, forwarding, files and sensitive information.

Expected outcome: A group-communication guide.

Create public and protected versions

Prepare a public summary and a more detailed internal version of the same project.

Expected outcome: Two audience-appropriate versions.

Reflect on reversibility

Explain why deleting a publication may not remove all copies once it has been forwarded.

Expected outcome: A short reflection.

Self-check

I can distinguish levels of information sensitivity.
I can choose a suitable audience and access level.
I understand that public links and private sharing are different.
I can weigh transparency against privacy and security.
I can remove unnecessary personal information before publishing.
I can justify my sharing decision.