by Faebitha Rahiman
The Algowatch project has been funded for two years under the Creative Europe programme. It started in Oct 2023 and will run for two years.
The project aims to educate the general public about the challenges of algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (Algo- and AI-literacy) and to recognise mis and disinformation.
It has two objectives: 1) To shed light on the phenomenon of algorithmic disinformation as a threat to democratic societies and to a healthy inclusive online environment. And 2) To support media literacy professionals (e.g. teachers, librarians, youth workers, journalists) to adapt their practices and change their patterns of use of information and disinformation and those of people around them.
In order to achieve this the project will co-create a number of interactive resources including quizzes, a game and run workshops and an exhibition.
The ALGOWATCH consortium is led by Savoir Devenir (France) and includes Maynooth University (Ireland), Association for Communication and Media Culture -DKMK (Croatia) and Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal).
The Maynooth University team is being led by Prof. Aphra Kerr of the Department of Sociology and the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute, and supported by the Education and Publication Engagement team of the SFI funded ADAPT research centre.
The Maynooth team, which includes Faebitha Rahiman and Jean Finley has been busy talking to young people from the Webwise youth panel, running co-creation sessions in secondary schools and in Foroige youth clubs since the beginning of the project. They have engaged with over 100 young people to date to discuss their media use, their knowledge of AI, algorithms and mis/disinformation. They have also been brainstorming game concepts.
The game is now moving into pre-production and in Sept. 2024 it will be playtested and evaluated with young people and digital literature professionals while an exhibition will be organised in all four partner countries in Spring 2025.
The project was co-funded as part of the CREA-MIL strand of the European Commission’s Creative Europe programme and will run for two years from October 2023.
For more information please contact Prof. Aphra Kerr
See https://www.adaptcentre.ie/public-engagement/
See https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/social-sciences-institute See https://culture.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe
