Check your facts! The power of digital skills, critical thinking and open data

The session will help young people to develop their media and data literacy skills to identify disinformation online and explore open data and how it can help them make informed choices.
An introduction panel will present the main aims of the workshop in the context of the upcoming elections. They will discuss with an online safety expert the importance of media and data literacy and critical thinking to recognise and fight disinformation/misinformation. They will exchange with a data expert from the Publications Office on the usefulness of online open data, how to learn the basics about it and boost digital skills.
The interactive workshop will consist of two parts:
In the first part, participants will engage in interactive activities aimed at developing digital skills in young people (spot the fake news, identify AI-generated photos among a series of photos, compare online search results across different platforms/search engines to highlight the role of algorithms, location, etc.). The session will be led by a BIK Youth Ambassador and an online safety expert that will provide key tips and tricks to be safer online and feel empowered.
In the second part, participants will dive into the basics of open data on data.europa.eu, the official portal for European data. You will see how it can be used in practice for making informed decisions and promoting transparency. And you will explore the data.europa academy, a free learning platform to enhance your skills in the field of data and data visualisation.