On Wednesday, April 5, 2023, took place the online webinar “faCT or faKE? Disinformation in digital social networks”. This is the first action of the AUTh Citizen Science Hub after its establishment and was organised in collaboration with the Data and Web Science Laboratory (Datalab).

The webinar was attended by approximately 200 participants, among them members of the research and academic community of AUTh, teachers from the Directorates of primary and secondary education of Northern Greece, and other citizens.

The event started with greetings from the Vice-Rector for Research and Lifelong Learning and Professor of the School of Spatial Planning and Development, AUTh, Efstratios Stylianidis, and from the Head of School Activities of Pella Primary Education, Elisavet Fragou. This was followed by the presentation of the AUTh Citizen Science Hub and the Data and Web Science Laboratory by Prof. Athina Vakali, Professor of the Department of Informatics, AUTH, and Director of the Datalab.

Afterward, Datalab’s researchers Maria Michali and Eva Paraschou made a brief reference to the objectives of the pilot activity they are developing within the AUTH CS Hub, to the problem of disinformation, as it appears in digital social networks, to the role of education in combating the problem, and to the social network Twitter. They then presented 2 tools created by Datalab researchers: Bot-detective and Citizen Science Toolkit, as possible ways to detect and analyse disinformation content on Twitter. Finally, they referred to examples of disinformation with an emphasis on Greek current affairs.

Throughout the webinar, there was intense audience interaction and open discussion. In the end, a short presentation was made of the next action of the AUTh Hub in collaboration with Datalab, for which a relevant announcement will be issued within the next weeks.

Learn more about the activities of AUTH Citizen Science Hub by visiting its website.

Co-organisers: Directorates of primary education in Pella, Eastern Thessaloniki, Western Thessaloniki, Western Attica, and with the Directorates of secondary education in Pella, Eastern Thessaloniki, Western Thessaloniki through the Heads of School Activities, Health Education and Cultural Affairs