The Slovak team participated in the international project “THINK TWICE (IT’S ALRIGHT): Creating International Partnerships in the Battle with Disinformation”, which brought together young people from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Croatia. Read more from them:

The project “THINK TWICE (IT’S ALRIGHT): Creating International Partnerships in the Battle with Disinformation” was the first part of a KA210 project divided into four stays. The project involved four countries — Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Croatia. This stay was organized by the Czech team from April 29th to May 3rd and took place in Deštné v Orlických horách, located in the northern part of the Czech Republic near the Polish border. The main objective of the project was to understand the key factors behind the spread of disinformation so that we could better recognize whether the information we see online or in the news is real or fake.

The first day was mainly focused on meeting the other teams and getting to know all the participants. Each activity lasted from one to two hours and was separated by breaks. We discussed the media landscape in each participating country and whether the media were influenced by political parties. In the evening, we were divided into random teams of four and took part in a traditional Czech custom called “Pálení čarodějnic” (“Burning of the Witches”), during which we created dolls representing what we as team members had in common and then threw them into the fire.

It was a lot of fun, and afterwards we roasted bacon and sausages over the fire. Later, we learned key vocabulary related to disinformation so that we could not only recognize it but also understand the methods used to create and spread it. Since the rise of disinformation is closely connected to the development of modern media, we discussed how media have evolved over the years — from cave paintings all the way to today’s internet and AI technologies. We also participated in an activity focused on how disinformation appears across different media types. Later, we worked in national teams and presented common disinformation narratives found in our countries.

The last project day was mainly dedicated to creating a brochure. We divided into our national teams, and each member took on a specific role in the process. We put a lot of effort and thought into the brochure, and the beautiful weather made the experience even more enjoyable. In the evening, we received our Europass Mobility documents and attended the final dinner of the project. After saying our goodbyes to the other teams, the project officially came to an end. I have only positive feedback regarding this project, and I would encourage anyone to try a similar experience at least once. 🧠

Matúš from Slovakia

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