Project Designation: Countering Disinformation
Funding Entity: American Corner-US Embassy
Principal Researcher: Cecilia Beecher Martins
Co-responsible: Ana Rita Martins, Jeffrey Childs, Pedro Estácio
Research Unit: ULICES
Partners: American Corner
Duration: 2023-2024
Funding: $4,500
Overall description: The central objective of this initiative was to offer tools to strengthen ongoing initiatives related to the identification, mitigation and countering of disinformation to professional bodies operating in civil society as well as educators. The think tank will build upon the One-day event “Media Literacy: from theory to practice,” held on 11th October 2023.
This initiative had 3 principal objectives:
1) to bring together stakeholders from various sectors of society – students, educators, and library staff– working together to gain an understanding of how issues related to media literacy and countering disinformation influence the working environments and practices of each stakeholder, with a view to generating inclusive conversations that cross disciplines.
2) to promote awareness, at a personal level on the part of the participants, of how disinformation, transmitted through traditional and digital media, can not only destroy the fabric of civil society and perpetrate social injustice, but also impact on their own lives.
3) collectively to adapt/develop tools used “already” in media literacy education for application in Portuguese teaching scenarios and workplaces with a view to fostering inclusive environments.