As part of the series organized within the scope of the project “Utilizing Digital Technology for Social Cohesion, Positive Messaging and Peace by Boosting Collaboration, Exchange and Solidarity”, the fourth workshop “Check It: Essential Digital Verification Skills” took place on Thursday, May 4, 2023. The workshop was held at the Hrant Dink Foundation by Dan Evon from News Literacy Project with 13 participants aged between 14-21.

The workshop started with the discussion about why participants were interested in fact-checking. Dan, introduced the critical observation concept which makes individuals slow down to think about the information they come across and to think about how much information out there. Then, he mentioned five factors; truth, source, proof, content and reason to be protected from false claims. By sharing different examples, Dan led participants to search for clues, look for details and differentiate which examples are fake.

Following this exercise, Dan mentioned that critical observations are not enough, they are not a replacement for evidence. As he explained people can monetize misinformation and it spreads more quickly then true claims. According to the types of misinformation which are satire, false content, imposter content, fabricated content, and manipulated content, different techniques can be useful to evaluate the credibility of sources. Later, he asked the question why do we fall for misinformation and participants by mentioning suspicious parts of various posts practiced different fact-checking techniques.

This project is financed by the European Union.