This summer, Prof. Mateja Rek was invited to participate in the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (#IVLP) run by the U.S. State Department. She participated in the 21st Century ChangeMakers: Countering Disinformation among Older Adults programme.

 

She spent 3 weeks travelling around the USA with a group of media education and literacy experts from Europe and had the opportunity to visit and get to know many institutions, communities and great individuals working on media literacy and reducing online misinformation and other forms of online abuse among older adults.

 

In WASHINGTON, she met with experts from PEN America, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense, IREX, the American Psychological Association (APA).  Also very informative and interesting were a lecture by Dr. Edward Rhodes, Dean of the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, on the U.S. system of government, and a conversation with Jason Steinhauer, author of the bestselling book History Disrupted: How Social Media and the www have changed the past.

 

In AUSTIN, TEXAS she learned about student projects at The Global Disinformation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin – very impressive student work!

She also visited:

  • KUT Radio, Austins NPR Station
  • Round Rock Public Library
  • Attorney General’s Office and the Online Criminal Investigations Division, where they presented on the challenges of prosecuting cruel online scams and fraud.

In DETROIT, the programme included visits to the Elder Abuse Task Force, the Detroit Area Agency on Ageing and the Detroit Public Library. She also spoke with Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence and discussed her work with the Commission on Digital Literacy and Equity and the importance of digital literacy.

In BOSTON, she met with Ambassador Donald Heflin, Executive Director of the Murrow Center and Senior Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as well as with Senator Michael Moore and Mark Zglobicki of the Committee on Advanced Information Technology. She attended a lecture by Professor Dan Kennedy of the School of Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston on the crisis of local news and the measures being taken to keep local media alive and well, as local journalists are an important link in reducing the spread of disinformation.

Prof. Dr Mateja Rek will share the knowledge, experience and good practice with you in the upcoming academic year.

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