Case Studies

Initiatives to promote correct information

FACT-CHECKING - OPEN

OPEN's 'FACT-CHECKING' initiative aims to verify the truthfulness of certain news that circulate on the web, especially on social media, through scrupulous verification of facts and sources. The fact-checking of controversial news spread via social media from dubious and uncertain sources is a journalistic practice that is increasingly used to counteract online disinformation and misinformation. In the age of social networks and hyper-connectedness, public opinion is increasingly influenced by what passes online, and true, allegedly true, or outright false information travels and spreads at great speed. In addition, subjects proliferate on social networks who, for various purposes, produce and disseminate news that is topical and relevant to the public debate of the moment. Opinions are perceived and accepted as true on the basis of emotions and feelings, without an analysis of the truthfulness. It is therefore understood that it is increasingly important for all users exposed to online news, especially those circulating within social networks, to have a critical approach and some minimum skills to verify the soundness and assess the reliability of a piece of news. In this sense, OPEN's fact-checking initiative aims not only to carry out a journalistic verification of the news circulating on the web and to give readers an account of it, but also to pass on to the readers themselves the method of verifying the reliability of an online news item when they come across it. Controversial news items to be verified can either be reported by readers themselves or are selected by the OPEN editorial team based on what is covered in the public debate regardless of their importance or ideology. Furthermore, only news items that concern verifiable facts and not opinions are selected. The verified news is then published with a final summary assessment, accompanied by an analysis of the facts and sources. The synthetic evaluation options adopted are: • FALSE for content without any evidence to support the facts; • ALTERED especially for images and videos that are edited to convey a misleading message; • PARTIALLY FALSE for content that presents inaccuracies with a mix of true and false information; • CONTENT MISSING for content that is potentially misleading in the absence of further context; • SATIRE for content that is ironic, exaggerated or absurd for the purpose of satire, but is not recognized as satirical content, sometimes because it is presented without a clear label of the type of content. • TRUE for content that does not include inaccurate and misleading information; OPEN's fact-checking approach clearly aims to be impartial and transparent with respect to verified news. The methodology used for fact-checking is clearly explained on the dedicated page of the website. Furthermore, OPEN is part of the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN), an international body that brings together the global community of fact-checkers to promote fact-based information and combat disinformation. Network members must adopt and adhere to strict ethical and methodological standards in their fact-checking activities. OPEN is also the third-party body appointed by Facebook for Italy to carry out fact-checking activities on news circulating on Facebook, as part of a programme launched to limit the circulation of fake news on the social network.

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GetBadNews

The Bad News game has been developed with the intent of confering resistance against fake online information by putting players in the position of the people who create it. It takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and is suitable for didactic use in class as a form of “media literacy training”. By playing Bad News you take on the role of “fake newsmonger”. The own game guide states “drop all pretense of ethics and choose a path that builds your persona as an unscrupulous media magnate. But keep an eye on your ‘followers’ and ‘credibility’ meters” as the main objective of the game is to get as many followers as you can while slowly building up fake credibility as a news site. Finally it states “but watch out: you lose if you tell obvious lies or disappoint your supporters”. During the game, players are exposed to “weakened doses” of six common misinformation techniques; e.g. “how to use emotional buzzwords like ‘horrific’ or ‘terrifying’ to increase the viral potential of their content”. In fact, rather than telling people what to believe, those kind games equip people with the skills necessary to identify, prevent and argue against harmful misinformation from going viral.

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Junior Report

The organization designs informative channels, workshops and didactic resources to bring current affairs closer to first-time readers and to work on current affairs in the classroom. They create languages and projects to explain complex topics in a simple way. They encourage the critical spirit of young people. They create a global news item every day, explained in a didactic and contextualized way, to encourage reading the press and work on the information in class. They also offer an educational platform under subscription for academic centres, with materials and pedagogical resources to work on current affairs in the classroom. It includes slides and exercises that complement The Daily News and a catalogue of Didactic Units with activities to read, discuss and give opinions in class. Junior Report's classroom workshops encourage critical reading of the media, teach how to identify fake news and promote the responsible use of news content. The Revista Escolar Digital (RED) project is a network of school newspapers managed, directed and edited by primary, secondary and high school students with the support of professional journalists. Students participating in the RED project report on current events in their environment and learn to identify 'fake news' based on a Work Plan and a virtual Activity Plan. In addition, the best content is published in the collaborative journal RED Report. The organization also develops workshops on media education with materials created by teachers and journalists, adapted to different educational levels. They accompany the material with teacher guides that include criteria for evaluating the news and links to external resources. Some of the workshops are: Journalism and Gender Equality. Journalism and refugees. Journalism and fake news.

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InVID Verification Plugin

Quoting: https://www.invid-project.eu/description/ “In video veritas, if we divert the old Latin saying: In video, there is truth!” Breaking news is now available on online video platforms thanks to the digital media revolution and the convergence of social media with broadband wired and wireless connectivity. News organizations that deliver information via Web streams and TV broadcast frequently use user-generated videos of breaking and developing news events shared by social media to illustrate the story. However, there is deception in video as well. Reputable news organizations are forced to thoroughly vet third-party content before publishing it due to easy access to increasingly sophisticated editing and content management tools and the ease with which false information spreads on electronic networks. This limits their ability to break news quickly and raises costs during lean financial times. With the help of this platform, innovative newsroom applications will be made possible for broadcasters, news organizations, journalists, newspapers, and publishers to incorporate social media content into their news output without having to wonder whether they can trust the source or how to get in touch with the user to get permission. Verified and rights-cleared video content will be easily accessible for integration into breaking and developing news reports, thanks to this measure. InVID, which has been verified by actual customer pilots, will assist in defending the news industry against the dissemination of fakes, falsehoods, damage to reputation, and lawsuits.

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Fact bar – Faktabaari in Finnish

Fact bar or Faktabaari is a Finnish fact-checking and digital information literacy service. It has contributed to fact-checking in various projects. It is managed by a registered Finnish-non-profit transparency NGO called Avoin Yhteiskunta ry. Faktabaari has an extensive national and international network and has catalyzed multiple joint actions to tackle information disorders within IFCN, EDMO and it cooperates nationally with many organisations.

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COVID-19 ȘTIRI OFICIALE / COVID-19 OFFICIAL NEWS

A source of correct information, not fed by panic, can help the Romanian population to be vigilant in the way it accesses, assimilates and distributes the bursts of news presented in the media. We live in an unprecedented global reality so accurate information is essential to reach a level of stabilization. Știrioficiale.ro is a project carried out pro-bono by Code for Romania volunteers, an independent non-governmental organization, not politically and apolitically affiliated. The project is carried out within the Code for Romania Task Force in partnership with the Government of Romania through the Authority for the Digitization of Romania and the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU).

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Interland: avventure digitali. In viaggio col nonno alla scoperta del Web [Interland: digital adventures. Travelling with Granpa at the discorvery of the World Wide Web] A sub-product of the Google’ initiative: “Vivi Internet, al meglio!” [experience the internet, at its best]

The manual is very cartoonish in style, in typical google fashion. Nonetheless, very catchy and appealing in graphics, visuals and overall aesthetics. The Journey through the “Interland” of this granpa and his two nephews is a metaphor that symbolize the first Internet experience of someone that never related with the WWW before. Interland includes five main landscapes, one for each of the five key principles for a safe and responsible browsing experience: • Mount Responsible, for the use of common sense • Reality River, for critical thinking and judgement • Gentle Kingdom, for a socially responsible use • Treasure Tower, for open and transparent communication

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Initiatives to promote culture attitude

ESPAÑA ES CULTURA / SPAIN IS CULTURE

"Spain is Culture" is a digital window to Spain's rich and diverse cultural heritage. A space for the online promotion of the country's tourist and cultural attractions, including digitization of works of art, virtual tours of monuments, a calendar of events and cultural festivals and an extensive archive of biographies of authors and artists that highlight one of Spain's main assets: its Culture. Spain is Culture gathers and presents on a website the highlights of the Spanish cultural heritage, a long history of cultural creation and the current offer of all kinds of cultural products. The website presents the varied manifestations and the different samples of this rich and complex cultural heritage and contemplates its moments, styles, authorship and locations, trying to bring it closer to the citizens effectively. Through this website, the visitor will be able to access Spanish Cultural Heritage from three different and complementary points of view: geographical (by Autonomous Communities and localities), temporal (artistic styles) and thematic (looking for the presence and associations of that kind), although other entry and search options are offered, such as type of public or agenda of cultural activities. Another possibility offered is, in addition to the use of the consolidated cultural routes, all of which are available, the autonomous creation of routes by the users of the website. The contents of the Portal are complemented by a wide and varied range of useful tourist information for all citizens who are travelling to enjoy the different cultural assets: accommodation, transport, restaurants, other parallel offers, etc. The Spain is Culture website aims to offer a comprehensive service to guide Spanish and foreign citizens in the vast and fascinating territory of Spanish Cultural Heritage.

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arte.tv (Association relative à la télévision européenne -Association relating to European television)

A European public service channel dedicated to culture. Arte was initiated as a symbol of Franco-German friendship and had been championed since 1988 by French President François Mitterand and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. It came to fruition on 2 October 1990. As a French-German international joint venture its programmes focuses on audiences in both countries. 80% of Arte’s programming is provided by its French and German subsidiaries, each making half of the programmes. The remainder is provided by the European subsidiary and the channel’s European partners. Selected programmes are available with English, Spanish, Polish, and Italian subtitles online. The shows on Arte.tv are categorized by genre or theme. Included in them are feature films, documentaries, and documentaries on social issues, the arts, history, nature, and science, as well as television shows, short films, concerts, plays, magazine programs, news reports, and web-based formats.

EU level (Germany-France

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The Finnish Society on Media Education (FSME)

The Finnish Society on Media Education (FSME) is a non-governmental expert organization for media education and a national youth organization that promotes and develops media education in Finland. The goal of our activities is to offer children, youth and also adults the necessary media skills to function in and influence society, and to support their well-being in the everyday media environment. Their activities help improve media literacy and they also engage in a number of cultural projects, such as the Media Bus for schools and media education in libraries. Their website also provides a variety of resources regarding disinformation, fake news, cultural and media sources.

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ITsART

The online platform ITsART was created on the initiative of the Italian Ministry of Culture as a tool to promote and disseminate the excellence of Italian art and culture worldwide. It was realized with 'Next Generation EU' funds and is managed by a company with a public majority. The impulse for the emergence of such a public platform stems from the difficulties in the enjoyment of Italy's cultural heritage that emerged during the pandemic period. The backwardness in digitisation of many cultural institutions and the absence of adequate digital channels of dissemination has in fact often made it impossible for people confined to their homes to enjoy this heritage. The economic damage to the entire cultural and arts sector has been enormous and could have been limited by a higher degree of digitisation of cultural offerings. ITsART's intention is therefore also to respond to this situation by trying to put Italy's cultural heritage online and by facilitating the encounter between producers and users. The name "ITsART" derives from "Italy is Art" to express the international perspective of the initiative and the immense value that art and culture represent for Italy. The platform hosts a catalogue of around 1400 contents available in live streaming and on-demand. The contents are divided into three sections: ● STAGE (music, concerts and dance) ● PLACES (museums, archaeological sites and territories) ● STORIES (films and documentaries) Access to content is possible after free registration on the platform. Content is partly available for free (sometimes with advertisements), and partly available for rent on a pay-per-view basis. Once you have rented a piece of content, you have 28 days to watch the content and 48 hours from the moment you start watching it for the first time. It must be said that the lack of the option for a monthly subscription has generated much criticism and perplexities, as most of the popular streaming platforms allow a large amount of films and series to be enjoyed for a very competitive monthly subscription. This limitation of the ITsART platform therefore risks putting it at a strong competitive disadvantage in the market and reducing its attractiveness. ITsART is available in the 26 EU countries and in the UK and can be accessed on Smart TV, web, smartphones, tablets.

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DIGITAL LIBRARY

In 2008 we started to scan the documents from „G.T.Kirileanu” documentary collection, as a necessity to protect and preserve the most vulnerable ones. Later we followed the idea of digitalizing the documents related to Neamt County and subsequently some other categories. Co-financed by Neamt County Council, there was acquired  in 2022 a scanner Zeutschel OS 12002 C Advanced - a high performance scanner for books, newspapers and large format documents. It has a scan area of 635x460 mm (> DIN A2), a maximum resolution of 600ppi and scan speed 4sec/400ppi. Up to now there are already more than 18.500 pdf documents available, containing more than 512.000 of scanned and edited pages.

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Libraries for digital wellbeing [Le Biblioteche per il welfare digitale e informativo]

As we read from the official manifesto, digital libraries define themselves as “conversations”, meaning: a systemic narration of co-developed experiences expressed in a common language. Indeed, each digital library belongs to a national network of cultural hubs to which everyone can participate and contribute to. The national network of digital libraries includes socio-economic actors of different disciplinary, territorial or institutional nature, and which provides for data and services to users, also favoring the reuse of the same data for the development of third-party services (Open Data). The initiative has been recognized by Repubblica Digitale [Digital Republic, the strategic action promoted by the Ministry of Innovation and digital transition] among the 290 “success” initiatives to operationalize capacity building programmes for digital literacy of citizens.

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