top of page
_edi.jpg)
Page Title
SMIDGE MOOC Platform
The SMIDGE MOOC Platform offers journalists, security analysts and any other interested professionals an advanced training experience on media literacy, disinformation, and the social impact of digital narratives, with particular focus on middle-aged citizens. Through interactive modules, it explores topics such as news manipulation, online extremism, media ecosystems, and strategic storytelling. Designed for diverse learners, the platform equips users with critical thinking skills, fact-checking tools, and ethical insights to navigate today’s complex media landscape in a view to counteract online extremisms in middle aged.
UNIT 1 - BASICS OF MEDIA LITERACY
This unit explores the essential role of media literacy in today’s complex information landscape. It enables media professionals to critically assess content, recognize manipulation techniques, verify sources, and uphold ethical standards. Key concepts, practical tools, and ethical responsibilities are addressed to support accurate, transparent, and responsible communication that serves the public interest.
UNIT 2 - NEWS HIJACKING AND DISINFORMATION DISORDERS
This unit explores the concept of information disorders and their impact on public discourse, trust in democratic institutions, and social cohesion. It outlines the definitions, types, causes, and consequences of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, while also examining strategies to counter these threats through critical thinking, media literacy, regulation, and responsible technological use.
UNIT 3 - EXTREMISM AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Online radicalization occurs through ideological hybridization, conspiracy theories, and HYPE spaces, where ambiguous content, memes, and influencers normalize extremism and misinformation within everyday media environments and mainstream social platforms.
UNIT 4 - MEDIA ECO-SYSTEMS
The concept of media systems, rooted in interdisciplinary theory, captures the evolving relationship between media, politics, and society. Hallin and Mancini’s influential typology—Polarized Pluralist, Democratic Corporatist, and Liberal—offers a framework to compare Western democracies. However, today’s digital transformations, platform logics, and hybrid communication forms challenge the original models, demanding an updated understanding of the media ecosystem as a dynamic, participatory, and increasingly fragmented public sphere.
UNIT 5 - ARCHITECTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
This unit explores social media architecture and its impact on news production and consumption. It contrasts traditional, centralized platforms like Facebook with alternative models such as federated (e.g., Mastodon) and distributed (e.g., Nostr) systems. The text also discusses critical aspects of social media architecture design, including data collection methods, privacy considerations, and the importance of legal compliance with regulations like GDPR and the CCPA.
UNIT 6 - COGNITIVE BIASES AND NEWS
This unit explores the influence of cognitive biases on the perception of misinformation. Biases, such as my-side bias, distort our judgment, leading us to favor information that confirms our beliefs. Studies like the SMIDGE project highlight the importance of reasoning skills and epistemic beliefs in identifying fake news, suggesting that developing these skills could reduce the impact of cognitive biases and improve resilience against conspiracy theories.
UNIT 7 - ACTIVE JOURNALISM: A DISCUSSION ON WORK ETHICS AND DEONTOLOGY
This unit introduces "active journalism," which goes beyond reporting facts and focuses on moral imperatives and social change. It discusses journalistic ethics (deontology), emphasizing principles like truth, independence, fairness, humanity, and accountability. This unit also explores the challenges faced by journalists, including media ownership, political pressure, commercialization, and mental burnout. Additionally, it touches on alternative journalism and its role in social change, highlighting the ethical responsibility of journalists when addressing issues like conspiracy theories and extremism.
UNIT 8 - POLITICS AND ECONOMICS OF DIS/MISINFORMATION
The phenomenon of disinformation is rapidly growing, fueled by business models that monetize false content through platforms like Google AdSense. These financial mechanisms, along with the spread of "click farms" and unfair competition with quality journalism, undermine trust in the media landscape and harm brands and democracy. This unit explores how disinformation is spreading and what possible solutions exist to protect the integrity of information.
UNIT 9 - EVALUATING ONLINE INFORMATION
This lesson focuses on evaluating the trustworthiness of online information sources and strategies for identifying credible content. Drawing insights from the SMIDGE project, it discusses common challenges, such as misinformation on social media, and presents practical solutions for assessing source credibility. It emphasizes the importance of transparency, expertise, and critical thinking while also highlighting how argument-based interventions can improve evidence-based reasoning and help combat misinformation.
UNIT 10 - STRATEGIC STORYTELLING FOR COUNTERING EXTREMISM
This unit focuses on the use of "Strategic Storytelling" to counter extremism. It explores the key principles of this technique, such as creating relatable characters, engaging plots, and well-crafted dialogue. The methods for developing effective narratives are also discussed, emphasizing the importance of avoiding preaching and fostering empathy. The approach aims to subtly engage the audience with respect, avoiding stereotypes and promoting positive behavior change.
UNIT 11 - TOOLS AND STRATEGIES FOR STORYTELLERS
This unit explores various tools and techniques for fact-checking and debunking misinformation. It focuses on OSINT (Open Source Intelligence), using public sources such as social media, news, and satellite imagery to verify claims. The unit also covers mastering search engines, understanding SOCMINT (Social Media Intelligence), and detecting deepfakes. Through these methods, fact-checkers can track the origins of content, uncover hidden details, and ensure the information is credible and accurate.
UNIT 12 - DATA JOURNALISM FOR NEWS VERIFICATION
This unit explores the field of data journalism, which goes beyond simple use of numbers to offer a distinct approach to storytelling through data analysis. It discusses its differences from traditional journalism and how it has gained significance in today’s media landscape. This unit also covers the workflow of data journalism, key roles involved, challenges faced when working with data, and ethical considerations when presenting data-driven narratives.
bottom of page