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Рy06 June 2018
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This year’s 4th edition of ‘The Fifth Power’ Media Hackathon refocuses our attention on the media literacy. For three days (6-8 July), the teams participating in the contest will develop original ideas that will promote critical thinking among media consumers.
Propaganda, manipulation, fake news or informational wars are not new – these phenomena have existed for centuries. It’s just that the promotion methods and platforms have changed over time. Currently, the Internet and social networks have unlimited opportunities to influence people. This is why media literacy remains a topical subject that provides citizens with the knowledge and tools to critically analyze public information.
The current edition of the hackathon encourages participants to create ‘antidotes’ against media manipulation and develop critical thinking among media consumers.
The event will bring together national and international experts that will guide the teams through developing and finalizing project ideas. They will also make presentations on literacy, helping participants to identify more easily solutions to filter news and find manipulative materials.
This time, the foreign experts come from Germany: Daniel Seitz, media professor, Olga Kisselmann, manager for innovation in Deutsche Welle’s Research and Cooperation Group, and Marcus Bösch, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and co-founder of ‘Vragments’ VR studio. The team will also include the following Moldovan experts and mentors: Ruslan Mihalevschi, editor-in-chief of the independent regional publication ‘SP’ in Balti, Viorica Zaharia, president of the Press Council, Sorina Stefirta, director of the School of Advanced Journalism, Dona Scola, co-founder of the Generator Hub and of the DNT Association, Victor Spanu, co-founder of the Pandametrix and Anabot startups, the winner of the two previous hackathon editions.
The fight against fakes requires effective tools
Moldovan experts and mentors hope that the event will contribute to developing effective tools to fight media fakes.
Ruslan Mihalevschi, editor-in-chief at ‘SP’, is convinced that there is no universal tool to avoid information manipulation of citizen. ‘Only a complex array of methods could work. I mean both media literacy among children and adults, and the continuous disclosing of fakes, promotion of professional and honest journalism, and development of IT tools to stop media fakes. The IT tools should not be at the bottom of this list, since they have already become an effective weapon in the hands of manipulators (for instance the Brexit case or the last US presidential election). I’m pretty sure that those who fight against fakes should have equally effective tools. I hope that the current edition of the hackathon will contribute to their development’, Ruslan Mihalevschi said.
Manipulation often has multiple faces
Viorica Zaharia, president of the Press Council, said that fake news, in particular, and the manipulation of the public opinion, in general, tended to develop like other industries useful to society. ‘Sometimes it seems to me that the trash existing in the press goes one step ahead of the true journalism. Unfortunately, today, journalists have to educate their audience, not just to inform them. In the Republic of Moldova the problem is even more severe than in other states, since our country is bearing the burden of both internal and external propagandas. The audience realizes it’s being fooled, however, it can’t always separate wheat from chaff. Therefore, it should be continuously guided, since manipulation often has multiple faces. It’s a seamless effort’, Viorica Zaharia believes.
In the expert’s take, since it is conducive to disseminating fakes, the online medium should also be the first to lend the audience a helping hand in discovering and denouncing them. ‘The Internet can help us to check a link making certain references, a statement or a translation. Currently, some fakes can be unmasked right away. However, there is more room for improvement: developing apps or functions that would reveal a much larger number of dubious information on the basis of various indicia. This is why we should continue our efforts. Since 2016, some progress has been made in this area. The IT industry has sought solutions and developed some apps. Furthermore, the artificial intelligence has developed steadily, Facebook has also started a fight against fake news, hence, this year’s hackathon edition is already supported by specific inventions. I’m hoping that the hackathon will enable us to come up with interesting proposals to use what has been developed in the world so far in this realm’, Viorica Zaharia said.
Critical thinking is not inherited, it is cultivated day by day
Sorina Stefirta, director of the School of Advanced Journalism, believes that in the situation where manipulation and misinformation are reaching alarming levels and are generating real shock waves in society, ‘The Fifth Power’ Media Hackathon becomes a generator of solutions aiming at reducing the impact of these waves.
‘With the IT development, manipulation takes increasingly subtle forms, and the media consumer is more confused and off the beam, making it increasingly difficult to discern between what is true and false, between information and manipulation, objectivity and propaganda. Critical thinking is a chance not to be manipulated. However, it’s not inherited and it’s not a gift from nature. Critical thinking is cultivated throughout life by reading, and by questioning everything, in particular. In this context, we want the hackathon to be a platform for experimenting and developing innovative ideas that would offer IT solutions and apps to help the individual understand that ‘all that glitters is not gold’. To reach this goal, creativity should be the key word in developing IT tools that would combat media fakes and make the consumer to think critically. It’s a difficult mission, but certainly not an impossible one’, Sorina Stefirta stated.
The lack of media culture nurtures the manipulation
Victor Spanu, member of the winning teams of the 2nd and 3rd edition of ‘The Fifth Power’ Media Hackathon (TROLLESS and NowTime projects), believes that literacy is the ‘antidote’ against propaganda and manipulation. ‘The lack of media literacy and of responsible consumption of information is the main reason why manipulation persists. Pretty late we realized that new technologies should also be studied in order to be used for the benefit of the people. Those who have discovered these vulnerabilities exploit them intensively and for personal, often petty purposes. Information technologies cannot only develop the antidote – they are the only ones up to this task’.
Victor Spanu would like the current edition of the hackathon to be a competition of new, maybe even bizarre ideas. What matters is that the projects could be realized and implemented. ‘The best winning odds has the team that will assess its own resources and will launch a credible project, integrated into our realities’, Victor Spanu mentioned.
Who can participate in the hackathon?
The hackathon is waiting for motivate persons, willing to make a change in society by promoting the critical thinking. The teams should consist of 3-5 members – journalists, IT developers, programmers, designers, bloggers, civic activists, media consumers.
Financial awards
Five winning teams will benefit from grants for the development and subsequent implementation of the ideas. This year, depending on the complexity of the proposed projects, two categories of awards will be offered:
Propaganda, manipulation, fake news or informational wars are not new – these phenomena have existed for centuries. It’s just that the promotion methods and platforms have changed over time. Currently, the Internet and social networks have unlimited opportunities to influence people. This is why media literacy remains a topical subject that provides citizens with the knowledge and tools to critically analyze public information.
The current edition of the hackathon encourages participants to create ‘antidotes’ against media manipulation and develop critical thinking among media consumers.
The event will bring together national and international experts that will guide the teams through developing and finalizing project ideas. They will also make presentations on literacy, helping participants to identify more easily solutions to filter news and find manipulative materials.
This time, the foreign experts come from Germany: Daniel Seitz, media professor, Olga Kisselmann, manager for innovation in Deutsche Welle’s Research and Cooperation Group, and Marcus Bösch, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and co-founder of ‘Vragments’ VR studio. The team will also include the following Moldovan experts and mentors: Ruslan Mihalevschi, editor-in-chief of the independent regional publication ‘SP’ in Balti, Viorica Zaharia, president of the Press Council, Sorina Stefirta, director of the School of Advanced Journalism, Dona Scola, co-founder of the Generator Hub and of the DNT Association, Victor Spanu, co-founder of the Pandametrix and Anabot startups, the winner of the two previous hackathon editions.
The fight against fakes requires effective tools
Moldovan experts and mentors hope that the event will contribute to developing effective tools to fight media fakes.
Ruslan Mihalevschi, editor-in-chief at ‘SP’, is convinced that there is no universal tool to avoid information manipulation of citizen. ‘Only a complex array of methods could work. I mean both media literacy among children and adults, and the continuous disclosing of fakes, promotion of professional and honest journalism, and development of IT tools to stop media fakes. The IT tools should not be at the bottom of this list, since they have already become an effective weapon in the hands of manipulators (for instance the Brexit case or the last US presidential election). I’m pretty sure that those who fight against fakes should have equally effective tools. I hope that the current edition of the hackathon will contribute to their development’, Ruslan Mihalevschi said.
Manipulation often has multiple faces
Viorica Zaharia, president of the Press Council, said that fake news, in particular, and the manipulation of the public opinion, in general, tended to develop like other industries useful to society. ‘Sometimes it seems to me that the trash existing in the press goes one step ahead of the true journalism. Unfortunately, today, journalists have to educate their audience, not just to inform them. In the Republic of Moldova the problem is even more severe than in other states, since our country is bearing the burden of both internal and external propagandas. The audience realizes it’s being fooled, however, it can’t always separate wheat from chaff. Therefore, it should be continuously guided, since manipulation often has multiple faces. It’s a seamless effort’, Viorica Zaharia believes.
In the expert’s take, since it is conducive to disseminating fakes, the online medium should also be the first to lend the audience a helping hand in discovering and denouncing them. ‘The Internet can help us to check a link making certain references, a statement or a translation. Currently, some fakes can be unmasked right away. However, there is more room for improvement: developing apps or functions that would reveal a much larger number of dubious information on the basis of various indicia. This is why we should continue our efforts. Since 2016, some progress has been made in this area. The IT industry has sought solutions and developed some apps. Furthermore, the artificial intelligence has developed steadily, Facebook has also started a fight against fake news, hence, this year’s hackathon edition is already supported by specific inventions. I’m hoping that the hackathon will enable us to come up with interesting proposals to use what has been developed in the world so far in this realm’, Viorica Zaharia said.
Critical thinking is not inherited, it is cultivated day by day
Sorina Stefirta, director of the School of Advanced Journalism, believes that in the situation where manipulation and misinformation are reaching alarming levels and are generating real shock waves in society, ‘The Fifth Power’ Media Hackathon becomes a generator of solutions aiming at reducing the impact of these waves.
‘With the IT development, manipulation takes increasingly subtle forms, and the media consumer is more confused and off the beam, making it increasingly difficult to discern between what is true and false, between information and manipulation, objectivity and propaganda. Critical thinking is a chance not to be manipulated. However, it’s not inherited and it’s not a gift from nature. Critical thinking is cultivated throughout life by reading, and by questioning everything, in particular. In this context, we want the hackathon to be a platform for experimenting and developing innovative ideas that would offer IT solutions and apps to help the individual understand that ‘all that glitters is not gold’. To reach this goal, creativity should be the key word in developing IT tools that would combat media fakes and make the consumer to think critically. It’s a difficult mission, but certainly not an impossible one’, Sorina Stefirta stated.
The lack of media culture nurtures the manipulation
Victor Spanu, member of the winning teams of the 2nd and 3rd edition of ‘The Fifth Power’ Media Hackathon (TROLLESS and NowTime projects), believes that literacy is the ‘antidote’ against propaganda and manipulation. ‘The lack of media literacy and of responsible consumption of information is the main reason why manipulation persists. Pretty late we realized that new technologies should also be studied in order to be used for the benefit of the people. Those who have discovered these vulnerabilities exploit them intensively and for personal, often petty purposes. Information technologies cannot only develop the antidote – they are the only ones up to this task’.
Victor Spanu would like the current edition of the hackathon to be a competition of new, maybe even bizarre ideas. What matters is that the projects could be realized and implemented. ‘The best winning odds has the team that will assess its own resources and will launch a credible project, integrated into our realities’, Victor Spanu mentioned.
Who can participate in the hackathon?
The hackathon is waiting for motivate persons, willing to make a change in society by promoting the critical thinking. The teams should consist of 3-5 members – journalists, IT developers, programmers, designers, bloggers, civic activists, media consumers.
Financial awards
Five winning teams will benefit from grants for the development and subsequent implementation of the ideas. This year, depending on the complexity of the proposed projects, two categories of awards will be offered:
- 3 grants of EUR 3.000 each – under ‘Strengthening Freedom of Opinion in the Republic of Moldova’ Project, supported by Deutsche Welle Akademie and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany;
- 2 grants of USD 4.000 – under ‘Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M)’ Project, funded by USAID and implemented by Internews.
Examples of projects that can be developed at the hackathon
- smartphone apps and websites linking the civil society, media and media consumers;
- online libraries with useful resources for journalists and media consumers;
- interactive games/apps aimed at increasing media consumer’s interest in the press and promoting critical media consumption;
- other innovative ideas, relevant for the Moldovan media consumer. All the information regarding the agenda and the participation rules can be found on the official website of the event: http://hackathon4.media-azi.md
The registration form must be filled in by 29 June 2018. Details can be found on the Facebook page of the event.
__________________
The fourth edition of ‘The Fifth Power’ Media Hackathon is organized by the Independent Journalism Center under ‘Strengthening Freedom of Opinion in the Republic of Moldova’ Project, supported by the Deutsche Welle Akademie and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, and ‘Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M)’ Project, funded by USAID and implemented by Internews.
__________________
The fourth edition of ‘The Fifth Power’ Media Hackathon is organized by the Independent Journalism Center under ‘Strengthening Freedom of Opinion in the Republic of Moldova’ Project, supported by the Deutsche Welle Akademie and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, and ‘Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M)’ Project, funded by USAID and implemented by Internews.
