From 22-23 September 2022, I will attend and speak at the CEDMO International Conference (#CIC2022) “Europe Tackles Information Chaos”. Being the Chair of the CEDMO Advisory Board, this is a great honour and something I look very much forward to. About the event and my involvement – more below.
The CEDMO International Conference (#CIC2022) is a 1,5 day event, open to the public, organized under the auspices of the Czech Presidency of the European Union. Experts and stakeholders will speak about a wide range of topics that deal with information disorder and ways to counter disinformation.
Conference topics include:
- the impact and regulation of disinformation;
- how to strengthen democracy in the context of declining trust and increasing societal fragmentation;
- the current role of media in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine;
- foreign interference in general;
- the relation between technology and disinformation;
- efforts to boost media and information literacy.
The conference aims to:
- tackle the growing disenchantment with democratic processes, and institutional distrust and discord in civil society across Europe;
- gather a multidisciplinary community focused on fighting information disorders in Europe, and to arrange talks between key partners representing the EU, public institutions, think tanks, civil society / NGOs, academia, and the private sector;
- enable dialogue regarding the positive and negative role of technology in the European democratic landscape; identify areas where regulation can ameliorate problems; and advise on ways in which tech companies’ own actions could improve democratic outcomes;
- mark the first anniversary of EDMO regional hubs in action;
- build community and EU-wide resilience while protecting information ecosystems, democracy, social cohesion and human rights;
- promote the Czech Presidency of the EU in 2022, and the concern and efforts of the Czech Republic to mitigate the harm done by disinformation, and to support the European Commission agenda regarding the defence of European democracy.
Why will I go?
I will go to meet the CEDMO team as well as other members of the European fact-checking community, to network and discuss current and future challenges in the disinformation domain. I furthermore have a number of speaking engagements.
To start with, I will join the Grand Opening of the conference on 22 September in a panel with Zdeněk Hřib, Mayor of the City of Prague; European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová; Alexander Stubb of the European University Institute; the European Digital Media Observatory‘s Miguel Poiares Maduro; and CEDMO’s Václav Moravec. The opening panel will address the main high-level issues of the conference.
My second contribution will be in the afternoon of Day 1 in a session entitled “Technology and AI”. It is intended to show how tools and technology can support the media community in countering disinformation. In my talk and demo, I will showcase the InVID-WeVerify verification plug-in, a freely available platform with more than 70,000 monthly users, developed in the EC co-funded research projects InVID and WeVerify. The session will be closed off with a panel discussing what matters when it comes to supplying fact-checkers with the right set of tools and services.
On 23 September, conference day 2, I will speak in the morning session entitled “Disinformation, Media Freedom and Journalism”. At 10 am, I will take to the floor with a talk named “Technology and Innovation: How to Limit the Impact of Disinformation.”
Friday afternoon is then reserved for a meeting of the CEDMO Advisory Board, which I chair.
So there’s little time to get bored, as you can tell from a rather busy schedule and something I very much look forward to.
If you want to join yourself: The CEDMO International Conference is sold out, but it is still possible to get an online ticket. Registration is free of charge. More info on the official website of the CEDMO International Conference.
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