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Raul Garcia Hemonnet
Group researchers cyberimaginary have recently presented a manual that analyzes the current state of disinformation, taking into account 6 main elements, including emerging threats, aggravating factors, the tools available to counter hoaxes or the legal context of European countries , among others.
According to Professor Manuel Gertrudix, director of the Ciberimaginario group and principal investigator of DOMINOES At the URJC, "this book, in which we capture what we know, is the first result of the project, but the project also provides for various training actions such as a face-to-face course and a MOOC." Both will begin in the last quarter of the year.
The other members of the DOMINOES consortium are the University of Malta, the National Intelligence Academy of Romania and the New Strategy Center, also Romanian.
The course will have three sessions: in Madrid, in Romania and in Malta. In each of them, 10 students and PDI of the URJC may participate. All the details will be reported on the Ciberimaginario website.
The objective is to train teachers and students. “Teachers have the capacity to intervene in many areas and students are going to occupy the decisive positions in the future”, explains Gertrudix. The course wants to provide its participants with the tools and knowledge to know what to do to counter misinformation, each in their sphere of action.
In addition to the course, a MOOC is planned through the URJCx platform where the contents of the project will be addressed in a dynamic and fully interactive way.
Be alert to hoaxes
2023 is an election year in Spain. Autonomous and Municipal first, and general at the end of the year, will redefine the political map of the country for the next four years.
At a time like this it is essential to “be alert to hoaxes and fake news”, says Manuel Gertrudix, who offers 3 pieces of advice to try to get a critical view of the information that reaches citizens through different channels.
1. “Open up your media diet. Don't eat only hamburgers. Carry out an informative balanced diet and read, see and listen to what you like, what bothers you and compare.
2. “Look in the information for the keys that allow you to understand what they are telling you. Locate the context, who reports and with what approach and check if all the key elements of the information are present”. "Compare if what they are telling you in a news story is relevant to what is important in your life."
3. “Pay close attention to the visual and audiovisual elements. Try to understand if the image is being cut if the footer or the label is trying to direct the gaze in a specific direction.
Practical tips that can help discern what is true and relevant from what is not.