Online event · November 12 2021, 5pm CET
Weaponised Disinformation in Regions of Hot and Cold Conflict
Disruptive Fridays #26
With: Tamar Kintsurashvili (Executive Director of Media Development Foundation, Associate Professor at Ilia State University, GE), Gisela Pérez de Acha (Journalist, Human Rights Lawyer, Researcher and Trainer, MX/US), Guli Bekurishvili (Young European Ambassador, Researcher and Communication Coordinator, GE) and Vasiko Khorava (Student at Tbilisi State University, GE), moderated by Alistair Alexander (Researcher, Trainer and Consultant, IE/DE)
Live from https://www.disruptionlab.org/fridays (12 November, 5pm CET)
In the programme series Facing Disinformation: Media Diversity from Georgia to Germany the Disruption Network Lab cooperates with the Georgian non-profit organization Regional Democratic Hub – Caucasus on encouraging and supporting media pluralism in Georgia, connecting experts such as journalists of traditional and non-traditional media, lawyers and researchers with professionals in Germany through online formats, including specialised online training courses and online conference sessions. Working with experts on disinformation and fake news in Georgia and Germany, the project offers important insights on how to face disinformation in social media and beyond.
In this Disruptive Fridays edition, we are joined by two of the trainers of the online training course ‘FACING DISINFORMATION: Insights and strategies to counter the online information pandemic’, which our project partner RDH-Caucasus is running during November 2021. The course explores in depth where disinformation comes from; how it spreads, who or what is behind it, and some effective strategies that be used to face disinformation down. In a conversation moderated by training lead Alistair Alexander, trainers Tamar Kintsurashvili and Gisela Pérez de Acha will discuss how to deal with weaponised disinformation in regions of hot and cold conflict. We’ll also hear from two training participants, Guli Bekurishvili and Vasiko Khorava, on their experiences.
Speakers
Tamar Kintsurashvili is Executive Director of Media Development Foundation - MDF since 2017. Priory, she served as a chairperson of the MDF’s board. Tamar is an author and co-author of numerous researches and publications on hate speech, disinformation and media literacy. She is an editor-in-chief of www.mythdetector.ge, third-party partner of facebook’s fact-checking program. Tamar is also a member of Deutsche Welle Akademie Media and Information Literacy Experts Network (MILEN) and associate professor at Ilia State University.
Gisela Pérez de Acha reports on extremism and other topics for the Investigative Reporting Program with a focus on digital forensics and network analysis. She is also a human rights lawyer, an open source researcher at Berkeley Law’s Human Rights Center Investigations Lab, and a trainer at Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps, a global network of volunteers who fact-check social media posts about war crimes and human rights violations.
Guli Bekurishvili is a Young European Ambassador, Researcher and Communication Coordinator, and Vasiko Khorava is a Student at Tbilisi State University. They are both currently participating in the online training course FACING DISINFORMATION: Insights and strategies to counter the online information pandemic’, run by the Regional Democratic Hub - Caucasus.
Alistair Alexander is a researcher, trainer and consultant on technology, art, society and ecology. He has worked as a tech journalist, organised direct actions for climate or global justice, as well as tech projects and campaigns with NGOs worldwide. At Tactical Tech, he led the award-winning Glass Room project, displaying immersive art in pop-up spaces to explore data, privacy and misinformation.
The project ‘Facing Disinformation’ is undertaken with the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) as part of the Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia (Eastern Partnership Programme).
