IVERES ‘Identification, Verification and Response. The democratic state facing the challenge of disinterested disinformation’ seeks to develop an information verification system in Spanish that includes, on the one hand, a user interface that naturally collects questions from people who want to verify content and returns a reasoned report that allows them to make decisions. In its experimental development phases, the verification system developed will be available for use by RTVE journalists and is expected to be made available in the future to other professionals from authorised public and private institutions. The duration of the project is 36 months.

The project has the collaboration of other universities such as the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, the Universidad de Granada and the Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña.

The research is led by the RTVE-UAB Chair, directed by Santiago Tejedor, director of the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación, and Pedro Vila Fumas, director of Technology, Innovation and Systems at RTVE.

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CrAL will target young people aged 14-19 to reinterpret and lead the production of audiovisual content. Secondary school teachers and trainers working in non-formal settings will be taught how to educate their students in reading, writing and creative audiovisual production to improve their media literacy and critical thinking skills. Parents and community members will also be involved in the project as active protagonists, in order to maximise the impact of CrAL at local, national and European level.

At UAB, the research is led by Santiago Tejedor, director of the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación. This creative audiovisual laboratory is based on the methodology of creative audiovisual reading and writing, which has already been tested in secondary schools in Italy by the Central Institute of Sound and Audiovisual Assets (ICBSA) of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

The project will benefit from this experience, adapt it and extend it to four other countries: Spain, Greece, Croatia and Lithuania. 

CrAL is a project funded by Erasmus+ EACEA/34/2019: Social inclusion and common values. It will last for three years and, in addition to the UAB, it has the participation of ALL DIGITAL, (Belgium), EGInA (Italy), Istituto Centrale per I Beni Sonori e Audiovisivi (Italy), Hellenic Open University (Greece), Centre of Technical Culture Rijeka (Croatia) and Association Langas į ateitį (Lithuania).

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It is a project that was created with the intention of establishing close ties of cooperation between Spanish university students and students, institutions and the media of the countries to which they travel. In this sense, the participants will be able to get to know other socio-cultural realities, witness the functioning of the media of the country visited, participate in the development of cooperation projects, exchange opinions and concerns, etc.

This is an annual initiative that travels each summer to one or more countries, studying the particularities of the cultural and media scene in each of them.

The project aims to establish a new concept of ‘travel’ which, without eliminating the typical aspects of tourist itineraries (leisure, entertainment, rest, etc.), gives special importance to commitment, understanding and analysis of the country visited.

Throughout the trip, participants will follow an academic programme (prepared in advance with the advice of teachers, journalists and media professionals from the country of destination) that will allow them to get the most out of their trip. The planned activities include: talks and colloquiums on aspects related to current affairs in the country visited, interviews with media professionals, preparation of reports or other types of journalistic products, etc.

The expedition members carry out their work divided into Press (Chronicles and Reports), Television, Radio and Photography work teams (see the ‘Galleries’ section to access different photographic collections of the initiatives promoted).

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Reporter@s de la Ciencia aims to educate, raise knowledge and awareness of science among secondary school students. To do so, it uses pedagogical strategies adapted to the profile of this audience (12 to 16 years old) and to their media usage habits, especially digital platforms such as social networks.

Specifically, the project configures and presents students with a gamified experience based on a series of challenges inspired by the universal history of science from a gender perspective. The young people will have to learn and apply the scientific method, adopting the position of a reporter who investigates, documents, contrasts and elaborates information. This participation can take place independently or in a virtual tournament together with other schools in Spain.

The project is committed to the gender perspective in its different actions. In addition, the initiative stands out for its environmental commitment and uses current global challenges, various international anniversaries and celebrations in the field of science, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a cross-cutting thread.

Santiago Tejedor, director of the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación, is the leader of this initiative. The FECYT supports and finances this proposal as part of the actions for the promotion of scientific, technological and innovation culture 2020, undertaken by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain.

Likewise, Reporter@s de la ciencia has the collaboration of Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), in terms of audiovisual content and dissemination. It also has the support of the Master’s in Environmental Communication and the Master’s in Communication and Education, both from the UAB.

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Specifically, the research aims to build a theoretical framework on AI applied to local journalism, create a directory of national and international experts, create a map of cases of good practices and successful experiences, produce a collection of interviews with specialists in the field, prepare a diagnostic report, and publish a white paper with recommendations, guidelines and proposals for the inclusion of artificial intelligence in local journalism.

The research is led by Santiago Tejedor, director of the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación. He is accompanied by Cristina Pulido, Diana Sanjinés, Laura Cervi, Sally Tayie and Judith Martínez. 

Proximity journalism in the face of the challenge of artificial intelligence has been awarded the Regional Press University Research Prize, promoted by the Catalan Association of the Regional Press (ACPC), the Vives University Network and sponsored by CaixaBank.

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The book, divided into three parts: (I) MIL Augmenting Information Freedom and Knowledge Status, (II) MIL and the Different Actors and Situations of Learning and (III) MIL Providing New Opportunities, compiles a series of articles on fake news, hate speech, intercultural dialogue, education, gender equality and media literacy.

“During the second decade of the 21st century, humanity has experienced a remarkable shift in the cognitive paradigm. The state of information and knowledge has changed. Until now, information and knowledge were personal and individual matters. They depended on personal skills, individual possibilities to access information and the ability to criticise, process and memorise it. It is true that the so-called knowledge institutions (schools, universities, publishing and media systems, etc.) contributed to providing a concrete environment for people, improving the conditions of information and knowledge. But today, the state of information and knowledge remains unequal, as well as social, collective and global. This is increasingly dependent on computers, robots and complex knowledge production systems; which, in turn, are increasingly automated and autonomous”, introduces José Manuel Pérez Tornero, Director of the UNESCO Chair in Media and Information Literacy for Quality Journalism, in the first part of the book. 

In this first part, José Manuel Pérez Tornero, Santiago Tejedor, Sally Tayie and Cristina Pulido from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain); Juan Sakamoto from Hosei University (Japan); Darwin Franco Migues from the University of Guadalajara (Mexico); Alton Grizzle, UNESCO Programme Specialist in Media and Information Literacy; Sumeer Gul, Saba Ali and Aadil Bashir from Kashmir University, Srinagar (India); Sheikh Shueb from the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora (India); Aabid Hussain from the Department of Information, Srinagar (India); and Tariq Ahmad Shah from Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal (India).

The second chapter of the book focuses on various actors and learning situations in the framework of media literacy. “Real learning processes always need imagination, commitment and respect among the actors involved, motivation and shared interest in the object to be learned, pedagogical strategies, curiosity, communication and analysis, among other things. But learning also needs a situation in which to develop and be meaningful; a situation in which dialogue between learners flourishes and facilitates understanding of each other’s ideas, positions, expectations and judgements. How to develop productive media and information literacy learning situations in different educational settings is the central purpose of the experiences collected in this section”, says Guillermo Orozco, professor at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, in the introduction to the chapter.

This block contains articles by Spencer Brayton of Waubonsee Community College, Illinois (USA); Natasha Casey and Laura Wiedlocher of Blackburn College, Illinois (USA); Conceicao Costa and Carla Sousa of the CICANT-Lusófona University (Portugal); Kathryn R. Martin Fingar of the University of California Los Angeles (USA); Tessa Jolls of the Center for Media Literacy, Consortium for Media Literacy, Los Angeles (USA); Olunifesi Adekunle Suraj of the University of Lagos (Nigeria); Minna Koponen and Mari Pienimaki of the University of Tampere (Finland); Alexandra Bujokas de Siqueira of the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (Brazil); and Danilo Rothberg of the São Paulo State University (Brazil).

Finally, the MILID Yearbook 2018/2019 culminates with a chapter that looks to the future and innovation from the new opportunities provided by media literacy. “This third part of the book highlights cases involving formal and informal education, policy-oriented training projects, independent or informal platforms, television content and other powerful MIL studies or projects. The first subsection brings three articles focused on the incorporation of MIL in education policy”, notes Esther Hamburger, professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Marlene D. Hines, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (Jamaica); Sonia Livingstone, Patrick Burton, Patricio Cabello, Ellen Helsper, Petar Kanchev, Daniel Kardefelt-Winther, Jelena Perovic, Mariya Stoilova, and Ssu-Han Yu of the Global Kids Online (GKO) project; Moira Toledo Cirello from the University of São Paulo (Brazil); Mami Komaya from Jissen Women’s University (Japan); I V Malhan and Archna Katoch from the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (India); Emelina Galarza Fernández from the University of Málaga (Spain); Rodrigo Gonzalez-Reyes, José Manuel Corona and Guillermo Orozco from the University of Guadalajara (Mexico); Sherri Hope Culver from Temple University (USA); Ana Pérez-Escoda from Nebrija University (Spain); Rosa García-Ruiz from the University of Cantabria (Spain); Ignacio Aguaded from the University of Huelva (Spain); Vedabhyas Kundu from the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi (India).

The main objectives of the UNITWIN network are to foster collaboration between member universities, to build capacity in each country to empower them to promote media and information literacy and intercultural dialogue, and to support freedom of expression, freedom of information and the free flow of ideas and knowledge.

Specific objectives include acting as an observatory of the role of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in promoting civic participation, democracy and development, as well as enhancing intercultural and cooperative research on MIL. The programme also aims to promote global actions related to MIL and intercultural dialogue. In this context, each MILID Yearbook represents an important initiative to promote and advance these objectives.

Consult the MILID Yearbook 2018/2019 here.

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This first seminar is also part of the work of the UNESCO MILID network to develop a Global MIL Research Agenda (MIL Research Agenda) 2024-2028. This agenda is an initiative of the “UNITWIN Cooperation Programme on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue” of UNESCO, together with the MIL Alliance and the many UNESCO Chairs, as well as entities and projects working in the sector in relation to the Organization; and its mission is to become a vector that facilitates the connection between the field of research and the field of social and political action in media literacy. In this sense, it is emerging as a conceptual framework of reference that will allow researchers, public policy makers and other actors in the sector to share experiences and knowledge and to make concrete efforts.

The UAB’s Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación is also working along the same lines, and many of its initiatives aim to offer resources for raising awareness and promoting media literacy in a wide variety of journalistic and non-journalistic scenarios. Initiatives such as the project “CrAL – Creative Audiovisual Lab for the promotion of critical thinking and media literacy”, which, together with five European institutions, strives to provide the educational community with the necessary tools to combat insufficient media literacy, cultivate students’ critical thinking and help them understand the responsibility and power of their voice.

The initial meeting in Bellaterra served, then, to elaborate this first research agenda for Spain and its results will contribute to the elaboration of the subsequent global agenda. The ten research challenges identified by the experts during the meeting were the following:

• The impact of the media environment on children and youth: benefits, risks and MIL policies.

• MFA and public space, the future of democracy.

• Equality, equity and social inclusion in the new media environment.

• MIL information and quality content.

• Education, training and MIL policies.

• The impact of AI.

• The need to update the conceptual framework of MIL.

• MIL as a driver of a new intercultural dialogue.

• Governance and transparency and the development of media technology.

• The need to develop a new system for transferring MIL research to society.

In this sense, José Manuel Pérez Tornero, Professor of Journalism and Director of the UNESCO Chair in Media and Information Literacy and Quality Journalism, urged to continue working to ‘refound’ the framework of media and information literacy. “The last decades have seen decisive changes in the media environment that we have not yet been able to assimilate: the digital transformation, the irruption of the Internet and the web, artificial intelligence, the successive crises of capitalism, climate change, the transformation of production, etc. Therefore, the object of research, theoretical approaches, concepts and working methods have to be renewed and adapted to the challenges of this new situation. If we work together, we will succeed. The Global MIL Research Agenda is the best way to achieve this”, said Tornero.

José Miguel Túñez López, professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, highlighted the transdisciplinary nature of the meeting, as well as the need to include the entire population in the objectives of the proposed initiatives: “MIL is a necessity in all social strata and needs a progressive knowledge that raises it from a necessity to a preferential focus of action in the design and execution of public policies that allow the projection of more egalitarian societies and help to re-understand the emerging values that support the concept of public value”.

Dr. Carmen Marta Lazo, Professor of Journalism and Director of the Predepartmental Unit of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the University of Zaragoza, highlighted the growing awareness of the need for media literacy and pointed to the incursion of artificial intelligence, social inequalities and the consequences for mental health as the main challenges to be faced in the coming years. “The digital divide in different typologies (age, territorial and social) makes it difficult for all vulnerable groups to participate in e-administration and in the e-administration and digital culture in a solvent way, which has repercussions on social inequalities”, said Lazo.

Juan Francisco Jiménez Jacinto, Director of the Department of Communication at the Universitat Abad Oliba CEU, insisted on the need for the Academy to serve as a reference and provide solutions to achieve the objectives of the MIL Agenda. “The main contributions should come from research that defines the magnitude of the challenges we face, presenting an accurate map of the reality in order to address targeted solutions’ and added ‘Dissemination is key in the visibility of the advances that the Academy determines so that there is an effective transfer of knowledge to citizens”.

Santiago Tejedor, director of the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación of the UAB, agreed on the importance of forging an alliance between universities, researchers and teachers from all over Spain to “promote work to redefine the strategies that address media literacy”. “The new contexts and new technological developments, led by AI, demand networking, collaboration, horizontal and multidisciplinary work. Added to this is the importance of taking advantage of all the work carried out in previous decades, which is of great value, but which requires new reflections”, added Tejedor at the end of his speech.

In addition to the aforementioned professionals, the meeting was attended by: Andrés Armas from Alfa-Media, Javier Marzal from the University Jaume I of Castellón, Dr. Félix Ortega from the University of Salamanca, Almudena Barrientos from the Complutense University of Madrid, Bella Palomo from the University of Málaga, Simón Peña, Amor Pérez, Rosa Franquet, Juan José Perona, Evaristo González and the researchers of the Gabinete Cristina Pulido and Besanya Santiago.

After the success of this first meeting, the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación, through its projects and initiatives, and the UNESCO MILID Unitwin Cooperation Programme, together with teachers, communicators and journalists from different Spanish organisations, will continue working to strengthen the establishment of media literacy policies and initiatives that help to develop the critical capacity of citizens and respect for democratic values.

The Gabinete de Comunicación y de Educación is a consolidated group specialised in scientific research and dissemination, which belongs to the Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Recognised by AGAUR(Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca) of the Generalitat de Catalunya as a Consolidated Research Group on the basis of its trajectory, projection and development, it develops projects and research in the field of convergence between communication and education. Since its creation, it has developed initiatives aimed at integrating, with awareness and freedom, communication technologies in the so-called global or knowledge society. Under the direction of Santiago Tejedor, the Gabinete organises different Master’s Degrees, such as the Master’s Degree in Travel Journalism (on-site and online), the Master’s Degree in Communication and Education, the Master’s Degree in Environmental Communication and the Master’s Degree in Political and Electoral Communication Management. The group has a wide and varied collection of publications, in the form of scientific articles, books and book chapters, and other works, which is constantly being renewed. It also has a laboratory for teaching innovation projects, transfer and new formats that are conceived and developed from a perspective based on creativity and multidisciplinary work.

The Gabinete organises every year an academic expedition that travels around the world with students from different universities and careers. This is the Tahina-Can Expedition, which has been awarded as the best educational project in Spain. It also has the portal Tu Aventura, the educational platform InfoEDU and the newsgames and science project Reporter@s de la Ciencia.

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The idea that gives life to the project is the conception of the campus as a “planet”, where all points of view and all visions are of great value and importance. In this way, a series of activities and awareness-raising actions are carried out on relevant topics such as the culture of peace, sustainability, the environment, interculturality, change and transformation.

These activities have a multidisciplinary character, which allows the exchange of ideas, debate and reflection among all university actors, with special emphasis on teachers, researchers and students from different subject areas and levels (degrees, masters, doctorates, faculties, etc.).

Planeta UAB is inspired by the elements of nature that many ancient cultures used to explain the world. These are different types of energy that are permanently interacting with each other. Based on them, a communication, training and awareness-raising strategy has been designed based on the following thematic pillars: 

– Water: Symbol of life, calm and well-being, it represents education in values and the culture of peace as a great challenge for our societies.

– Earth: Conceived as a space of crossing, mixing and interaction, it represents the interculturality that defines our societies and, therefore, our university.

– Air: From its meaning as a current or breeze that cleans places, it represents sustainability as a decisive and urgent challenge for our societies and the planet in general.

– Fire: Understood as the emission of light and heat, it represents the change and transformation that all societies need to advance and improve.

The project has the support of the Fons de Solidaritat of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and is directed by Santiago Tejedor, director of the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación. Cristina Pulido, Laura Cervi and Diana Sanjinés from the UAB Faculty of Communication Sciences; Buenaventura Guamis from the UAB Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; and José Carlos Remotti from the UAB Faculty of Law also collaborated in the project.

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The course will be held on Wednesday, 26 June, and 10, 11 and 12 July at Calatayud Town Hall. In these sessions, participants will be trained in advanced techniques for news verification using artificial intelligence, a key competence to face the growing challenge of fake news and disinformation.

The VerificaRTVE team, together with experts from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Carlos III Universidad de Madrid (UC3M) and the Universidad de Granada (UGR), will be in charge of the workshops. Participants will be able to learn about voice and image authenticity verification and chatbot detection using tools developed specifically for the IVERES project.

In addition to acquiring practical skills, attendees will have the opportunity to make valuable connections with other professionals and experts in digital journalism, thus strengthening their professional networks and contributing to the enrichment of journalism with innovative technologies.

Students will be entitled to a Certificate of Attendance that will accredit their participation in the course provided that they have attended at least 85% of the classroom hours.

The IVERES project, led by Santiago Tejedor, director of the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and Pere Vila, director of technological strategy at RTVE, aims to create a system for verifying information in Spanish against self-interested disinformation.

The Gabinete de Comunicación y de Educación is a consolidated group specialised in scientific research and dissemination, which belongs to the Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the UAB. Recognised by AGAUR (Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca) of the Generalitat de Catalunya as a Consolidated Research Group on the basis of its trajectory, projection and development, it develops projects and research in the field of convergence between communication and education. Since its creation, it has developed initiatives aimed at integrating, with awareness and freedom, communication technologies in the so-called global or knowledge society. Under the direction of Santiago Tejedor, the Gabinete organises several of its own Master’s Degrees, such as the Master’s in Travel Journalism (on-site and online), the Master’s in Communication and Education (on-site, online and in English), the Master’s in Environmental Communication and the Master’s in Political and Electoral Communication Management. The group has a wide and varied collection of publications, in the form of scientific articles, books and book chapters, and other works, which is constantly being renewed. It also has a laboratory for teaching innovation projects, transfer and new formats that are conceived and developed from a perspective based on creativity and multidisciplinary work. Every year, the Gabinete organises an academic expedition that travels worldwide with students from different universities and degrees. This is the Tahina-Can Expedition, which has been awarded as the best educational project in Spain. It also has the Tu Aventura portal, the InfoEDU educational platform and the newsgames and science project Reporter@s de la Ciencia.

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The project was based on raising funds, which resulted in more than 2,400 euros. With the money, the items were bought and given to a school in the Rate Kebele village in the south of the country. In total, there have been more than 600 kg of material. This March, the delivery took place in a ceremony with the participation of Mr. Henok, head of the Omorate district council, and Mr. Tesfayesus, Worda’s education coordinator.

Across Africa has managed the funds raised from Spain through the Migranodearena platform dedicated to solidarity objectives. The members of the Expedition made the first contribution, followed by the agency’s clients and collaborators of the three organisations. Once the money was collected, it was sent to the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. In the country’s main city, books, pencils and pens were purchased. The distance from the capital to Omorate, the region where the school is located, is an estimated 785 kilometres, the same distance that the school materials travelled to reach the children of the Dassanech tribe. The aim is to help them attend school and combat the lack of resources.

This donation has its predecessor in September 2023, when the members of Expedition Tahina-Can made a contribution of economic material to the educational centre. After being thanked by the president of Rate Kebele, Mr. Sela, and the director of Rate primary school, Mr. Teshome, as well as the school community, the idea of continuing with the project was raised.

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