On 12 April 2021 Christiana Varda and Eleni Kyza presented work conducted in the context of the Co-Inform project at the American Educational Research Association Conference 2021 (AERA 2021), which was held online. The presentation was titled “Countering the Spread of Misinformation on Informal Social Media Networks: Media Literacy Implications”. It was presented in the Media, Culture and Learning SIG  session, entitled “Media Literacy in a Time of Crisis.” The theme of the AERA 2021 conference was “Accepting Education Responsibility”. 

Our presentation drew on the foundational work conducted in the context of the first co-creation workshop, which engaged the three stakeholder groups — citizens, journalists and policymakers — through focus groups and in-depth interviews in order to understand the challenges, proposed solutions and online actions taken in relation to misinformation. During these sessions the challenge of misinformation was also recognized as an issue of responsibility.  The presentation provided findings on how each stakeholder group viewed their role in countering misinformation and addressed the implications for media literacy education, within and beyond formal education.

This work supports and extends the overarching aim of the Co-Inform project — to provide tools that can support a  misinformation-resilient society — by considering the role of technology and humans in addressing misinformation, and the potential implications this holds for learning in informal learning spaces.