Almost six months ago the first case of new Covid-19 was reported in Wuhan, the most populous city in Central China and since that day the world was no longer the same. Italy, all Europe and the rest of the world (261 countries) have been affected significantly with a high numbers of infected (5.267.419) and victims (341.554) at the time of this writing.
In this dark season the spreading of disinformation has become an evil enemy feasting on fear and pain.
Education and increased awareness are the crucial keys for stemming panic and hatred fostered by false news. To enhance social resilience ALETHEIA Center of Excellence against Disinformation at Luiss Data Lab with partners of SOMA DICI COSA E’, organized on May 21st 2020 the second workshop of e-literacy against disinformation on Covid-19 in Europe https://www.disinfobservatory.org/truth-is-the-first-vaccination-workshop-of-e-literacy-against-disinformation-about-covid-19-in-europe/.
Over 3,500 people, students, journalists. scholars, managers enrolled and follow us via social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Webex.
The event was hosted by Gianni Riotta, Director of Luiss Data Lab, ALETHEIA, Dean of Master in Journalism and digital communication at University Luiss Guido Carli and Visiting Professor at Princeton University.
International professors, researchers, professionals, politicians, managers, military officers participated to the workshop focusing on the growing “infodemic”.
Among them:
-Anna Ascani, Italian Deputy Minister of Education and Congresswoman interviewed by Luiss Master of Journalism’s student, Angelica Migliorisi, on the role played by schools and education in recognizing the truth and the quality of information and the importance of investing in the digital transformation in the very next months and years.
-Professor of Public Health Walter Ricciardi, Advisory to the Italian Government for Covid19 who gave us a remarkable contribution by speaking on the importance of reading correctly data during the outbreak and investing in Data management a complex skill needed to save lives;
– Alessandro Vespignani, Director and Sternberg Family Distinguished Professor Physics: Bouve College Health Sciences; Khoury College of Computer Sciences – Health Sciences; Khoury interviewed by Jacopo Vergari, Luiss Master of Journalism’s student, on the role of real-time epidemic modeling and the mathematical representation of the ongoing epidemic that are developed and used in combination with available epidemic data in order to produce estimates of key epidemic features and the epidemic trajectory;
-Domenico Siniscalco, Vice Chairman Morgan Stanley and Former Minister of Treasury with a speech on the impact of fake news in financial markets and the make it power of social networking;
-Yevgeniy Golovchenko, Research Fellow, University of Copenhagen, department of Political Science; Member of Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science Yevgeniy interviewed by Luiss Master in Journalism trainee Mattia Giusto, on the impact of disinformation during political campaigns and warfare.
–Simona Panseri, Senior Director Communications and Public Affairs Google together with Angelo Mazzetti, Public Policy Manager Facebook and Giovanni Zagni, Director Pagella Politica, joined a panel on fact-checking and the role of social platforms in spreading globally and instantly disinformation or curbing them. Thus they shared an overview about platforms are planning to do to prevent this scourge.
-Andrea Montanari, Director of Rai Research Institute with Stefano Marroni, Deputy Editor at TG2 Rai, and General Giuseppe Governale, Director of DIA( Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate in Italy) had a debate on the role played by the public sector and public information in containing disinformation.
–Francesco Nespoli, Research Fellow ADAPT and Silvia Merler, Head of Research Algebris Policy & Research Forum, who discussed about the impact of the combination of false news and the outbreaks on the economic crisis;
The workshop has been also a precious occasion for presented new tools and research results:
-Data Analysts Luca Tacchetti and Alice Andreuzzi from Luiss Data Lab presented the new Soma Tool Box DisinfoNet created to support the SOMA community to understand the dynamics of false news dissemination on social networks;
And
– Simona De Rosa, Co-Founder of T6 Ecosystem and Stefano Guarino, Research Fellow Luiss Data Lab and CNR presented results on their investigation and research on “Online information flows and impact of the Covid-19 on people behaviors in news consumption”.
The Workshop’s conclusion led by Paolo Cesarini, Director of Media Convergence & Social Media, European Commission, who participated with a speech on the role of data and data driven in the outbreak, both tools that can contribute to put together steadier recovery plans.
You can still watch the Webinar HERE