by Sarah Keane, Communications and Project Officer, Waterford Sustainable Living Initiative
A media literacy conference, entitled ‘Managing the Noise’ was held on 16 October in Waterford City. Organisers included Waterford SLí, the Waterford Youth Information Centre and the Waterford City Libraries and the Europe Direct Centre.
Over 400 young people from local schools joined the conference which was opened by Deputy Mayor Adam Wyse who was followed by the great energy of BEAT 102103’s ‘Digital Media and You’ presentation.
The keynote was delivered by Dr Eileen Culloty, Assistant Professor in the School of Communications and Deputy Director of the DCU Institute for Media, Democracy and Society. There were also inputs from Sinead Beirne from SpunOut who spoke about mental health in an online environment, and Caoilinn Walsh, last year’s winner of the Europe Direct Soapbox competition, who spoke about the perils (and positives) of Artificial Intelligence. Charlotte Dwan and Katie-Ann Joubert, members of Waterford’s Youth Advisory Climate Council, also spoke on the tactics used to spread mis- and disinformation on the climate crisis and how to avoid them.
On the day there were also spoken word performances, music and speeches by young people interested in and impacted by social media including, an input from Comhairle na nÓg who spoke about how algorithms can affect mental health. The programme was rich and diverse with experts in various fields exploring how we can empower ourselves to understand and question media, from algorithm-driven newsfeeds, to deepfake technology, to information and story sources. This conference was the first step towards empowering the young people of Waterford to use the voice they have in an informed and thoughtful way and to use social media to bring people together, not divide them.
This event marked the start of a larger project, funded by Erasmus+ and led by Slí, which will develop a social media awareness campaign about the perils of dis- and misinformation, as well as tools for educators that work with young people to help them navigate the ever-changing world of media and information.
Let’s #DismissTheNoise!
