The Global Media and Information Literacy Week, initiated by UNESCO, has kicked off for the year 2024. The thematic week, which reiterates the importance of media literacy for individual and collective growth, is celebrated from October 24 to 31 every year.
The 2024 theme for the Global MIL Week is “The New Digital Frontiers of Information: Media and Information Literacy for Public Interest Information”. The theme sheds light on the importance of media and information literacy in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of information creation, its dissemination and consumption, according to the concept note published by UNESCO.
The theme calls for the facilitation of a safer, more inclusive, and empowering digital future for everyone. The feature conference for the Global MIL Week 2024 is scheduled for October 30 to 31 in Amman, Jordan. The conference will be to open to public online.
The conference will address the transformative effects of emerging technologies, including generative artificial intelligence (AI), and the new wave of digital content creators on the production and dissemination of public-interest information, highlighting both opportunities and risks associated with it, according to UNESCO.
“While rapid digital transformation offers vast opportunities for learning, communication, and innovation, it also brings forth significant challenges,” reads the note. “Misinformation, hate speech, the digital divide, privacy concerns, AI-generated gender bias or racial stereotyping have emerged as pressing issues affecting individuals, societies, democratic governance, and peace around the world.”
The objectives laid out for the Global MIL Week 2024 include enhancing international, regional, and national policies on media and information literacy to combat disinformation, hate speech, and online privacy violations; and facilitating individuals in navigating the digital landscape by generating meaningful new knowledge.
“AI can be used to increase the spread of disinformation by creating realistic AI-generated fake content and facilitating its dissemination at scale,” the note adds. “AI can also lead to manipulation and falsification of information, which is now considered by the World Economic Forum as one of the most severe short-term risks the world face.”
The week seeks to raise awareness about best practices, particularly among youth, women, and content creators; building and strengthening partnerships among stakeholders committed to advancing media and information literacy; and identifying key areas of research, policy, and capacity building in the new information landscape.
