The importance of educating young people to combat misinformation

Alba Junquera

The research “Media Literacy for Generation Z from a Local Information Perspective: Innovative Formats through Immersive Communication” has been published in the journal adCommunicates by the members of the URJC research group cyberimaginary Nerea Benitez-Aranda, Alejandro Carbonell-Alcocer and Manuel Gertrudix. Furthermore, the scientific team is already incorporating this type of technology into the Interactive and immersive communication laboratory (XR_COM_LAB) from the university.

Among the results obtained, it is noteworthy that the use of immersive technologies offers agile production when creating immersive products, which contribute to media literacy. This allows students to more easily understand complex concepts such as cognitive biases, encouraging gamification and active user participation. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated how easily young people and teachers can create immersive content to meet the study's objective: to recognize and acquire both skills and knowledge that promote awareness and resilience in the face of misinformation.

To conduct the study, a documentary review was first conducted to analyze local misinformation, using a Design-Based Research approach. Information was gathered on associations and companies dedicated to immersive technologies and volumetric video, and some of them, such as mixONreality and InmersivaXR, were contacted. To focus the research on the main players, Generation Z (people born between 1997 and 2010), influencer profiles were analyzed. “We want to focus on the importance of educating Generation Z because this social group's widespread use of social media, using it as their primary source of information, places them as one of the most vulnerable groups in a context of information overload and the proliferation of misinformation,” explains Nerea Benítez.

As a result of the research, a production plan was first developed, documenting the technical, financial, and creative requirements for the final product. The objective is to define a replicable content creation model that brings immersive technologies to the classroom and enables the development of an agile methodology for producing this content applicable to multidisciplinary educational environments.

On the other hand, this proposal materialized in the development of a immersive educational prototype for training in pre-bunking techniques (a strategy that seeks to anticipate and counter the spread of disinformation before it spreads). It is carried out using a gamified 3D environment with A-frame (an open-source web framework for creating virtual reality experiences), which offers young people and teachers alternative tools to create innovative content that helps them recognize and mitigate the effects of disinformation.

The main technologies used in this work were virtual reality and volumetric video. The latter is a technology that allows the creation of avatars and three-dimensional objects from image recording and captures their movements in real time, allowing the user to interact with different narrative experiences. Other tools were also used in the creation process, such as Sketchfab and BabiaXR, which are libraries with resources for integrating 3D objects; Vidnoz, an AI tool used for creating and integrating audio; and Blender for 3D object modeling and format compatibility.