Education about misinformation is crucial for all age groups, but the most important time to start is with children and youth.
This was the central idea for the collaboration between Društvo Pina, the Central Library of Srečko Vilhar and the fact-checking organisation Oštro. The product is a deck of playing cards that can be used to play the popular game Uno, but with a twist.
Each of the playing cards contains an example of actual misinformation shared in media and social media across Slovenia. Many of these examples are well-known and shared between young and old, and it was for that reason that Manca Šetinc Vernik, one of the project leaders from Oštro, decided to use the opportunity to spread awareness: “We wanted an innovative way of sharing our knowledge with the younger generation.”
Using the cards as a didactic tool allows educators at Pina to tackle the problematic use of stereotypes, clickbait strategies and sensationalist headlines that are present in the everyday life of most (young) people. What happens when a viral social media post everybody in class has seen is revealed as an AI-generated image? This is a learning moment valuable to every educator: Why did someone post this? What was their intent? What steps should I take to not get fooled again?
The first event the cards were presented at was the annual Infoverzum, a national gathering organized by the Central Library of Srečko Vilhar, dedicated to the promotion of media and information literacy. Due to an overwhelming response, the cards were sent out to many libraries in Slovenia. Public and school librarians were also trained in how to use the cards in a workshop for their users, with prerecorded videos readily available for all interested parties.
The small-scale national project has by now been featured in many articles related to media and information literacy across the country. “One of the biggest impacts a project can have,” reports Vid Sever, a trainer working at Pina, “is the fact that many workshop participants say that they’ve seen and played with Fulfejk cards even before the workshop properly begins. They can’t wait to tell us their own experiences with misinformation, and the ways they are protecting themselves from it, with many fruitful discussions and strategies on how to safely scroll beginning in the best way, by simply playing a game of cards.”