FakeNews&Elders

Today’s fast internet era places high demands on all users, their critical thinking, and their ability to work with the information overload that is coming from everywhere.

Today’s seniors have lived most of their active lives at a time when the Internet and media market were far from being as developed and fragmented as they are today. Therefore, they might be subject to disinformation pressures, manipulations, information pessimism, or conspiracy theories.

How to prevent it? How to help the elders acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in the fight against misinformation? The new European project FakeNews&Elders wants to answer those questions.

Not every piece of information is carved in stone

The activities of this project aim to overcome the barriers that seniors may face in the media every day. The phenomenon of Fake news – pieces of information created in order to manipulate recipients – has been on the rise in recent years and seniors may encounter them, for example, in chain emails.

“Falling for false information, for example in a chain email, is influenced by more than just age,” says Barbora Honusová, project coordinator for PELICAN, “it can be due to greater isolation, less knowledge about the media market, or information overload. Our goal will be to help seniors orient themselves and simply try to inspire them that not every piece of information is carved in stone.”

Project results

FakeNews&Elders project began in February 2022 and over its two-year duration. Experts and partners will work on four main project results.

The first will examine the anatomy of misinformation and Fake news and a handbook will be created to explain to seniors how false news is created and spread.
On this basis, a purely practical course for seniors will be created and focused on the critical use of the media in relation to Fake news, media literacy, but also the dynamics of social networks.
The third project result will then serve for social workers and lecturers as a methodological guide for working with seniors on improving their digital skills.
These three results will be complemented by a fourth one in the form of didactic boards and posters on the issue of misinformation made for libraries, universities of the third age, elderly homes, and others.

International team

A team of experts from six European countries – Poland, Italy, Spain, France, Czech Republic, and Greece – works together on the project results. Including Spolek PELICAN it is:

Fundacja Rozwoju Aktywnosci Miedzynarodowej i Edukacyjnej – FRAME (Polsko) – is a foundation that aims to develop and promote international cooperation of local communities supporting education. FRAME is the project’s coordinator.
I.E.R.F.O.P. ONLUS (Itálie) is a non-profit organization. Its main aim is to represent all individuals with disabilities.
FYG CONSULTORES (Španělsko) is a private educational and training organization that promotes the local labor market as well as a lifelong learning process of adults, companies, and young people.
E-SENIORS: INITIATION DES SENIORS AUX NTIC ASSOCIATION (Francie) is a non-profit non-governmental organization fighting e-exclusion by providing access to and training in ICT to seniors.
ATHENS LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUT EASTIKI MI KERDOSKOPIKI ETAIRIA (Řecko) is a research and educational institute. Its mission is to foster and enhance the innovation processes mainly in the areas of education and lifelong learning, human capital development, and social inclusion.

This cooperation gives the project an international context and proves that the problem of Fake news and misinformation is topical and burning across countries. All project results will be available not only in the national languages of cooperating countries but also in English and will be freely accessible to all – seniors, social workers, and the general public.

Project meetings

What’s new in the project?

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