by Marta Achler, University of Florence, Italy.
Misinformation, disinformation, mal-information, and media literacy were at the heart of the EMIF funded project “Infolead: Media Literacy Programme for Judges and Policymakers”. The goal of the project was to bring together judges, lawyers, legislators, members of civil society and representatives of platforms on the complexities that new media and technologies have bought to each of their fields. The advantages, the trappings and the challenges. The deliverables were curated around this idea and catered to this audience.
The project was implemented by the University of Florence, the University of Oxford and the University of Helsinki. The team started out with a survey sent to potential participants of two training sessions held in Oxford and a final closing seminar held in Florence. The University of Oxford and the University of Florence were responsible for delivering two one-week interactive lectures, where participants of various backgrounds discussed information disorder, the effect of that misinformation of co-ordinated foreign attacks had on elections, on NGOs and the fundamental rights of ordinary citizens. Participants, depending on their expertise, were invited to contribute to each session, sparking discussion and an exchange from various viewpoints. The discussion was guided by experts and expert Professors in the field. A mock case study also took place and real life experiences were shared by participants show-casing the effect that misinformation, also in the form of generative AI or in the form of bots, could shape the political landscape.
The project ended also with a number of deliverables, which are a full toolkit of information to anyone wishing to repeat the course, including up-to-date information on legal and social developments, powerpoint presentations and tens of long and short case studies that a trainer could use with participants to conduct break-out sessions and delve deeper into certain aspects of what is a very broad topic.
The University of Helsinki, was responsible for a deliverable which can be used to show the complexities of the issue from the perspective of platform providers, platform users and legislators, through the use of a game. The game is called Infodemic and while it is focused on platform providers – it gives an excellent insight into the world that they must navigate to adhere to evolving regulations in this field and the goals of their company.
Finallly, the entire package of deliverables should be available soon, so that persons who wish to run such a course or believe that one would be needed for their NGO, legislators, judges, lawyers or other academics – can freely do so exploring the concepts which while changing rapidly, have a common denominator and that is the effect of information disorder in each State but moreso, globally. The project highlights the need for an interdisciplinary approach to discussions and shaping of regulations in the future in this field.
The team from University of Florence, University of Oxford and University of Helsinki are ready to provide guidance to whomever may wish to use these tools and are happy to know that throughout the duration of the project a network of people has evolved who can exchange ideas, questions and expertise in their fields.
A great thanks to EMIF for allowing for the project to be brought to life.
Author
Dr Marta Achler collaborates as an research associate with the Centre for Judicial Cooperation, EUI, Italy. She previously served as Deputy Head of the Democratization Department of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). She defended her PhD at the EUI in the field of human rights of assembly and association and new technologies.
