20th international conference e-Society.mk focused on digital transformation

The twentieth international conference e-Society.mk organized by the Metamorphosis Foundation, which marks two decades of existence, was held on the 5th of November in Skopje. This year, the conference addressed the topic of digital transformation through multiple panel discussions, exhibitions, quizzes, and presentations. Within the framework of the conference, the “Ilija Zhupanoski” Award for combating disinformation was also awarded for the first time.

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Republic of North Macedonia, Özlem Canel, opened the conference along with the Executive Director of the Metamorphosis Foundation, Bardhyl Jashari.

Among other things, Ambassador Canel emphasized that: “when we talk about digitalization, we can’t help but discuss cyber security, these are two sides of the same coin.”

Jashari emphasized that the Metamorphosis Foundation “has been trying to use technology, through activities and various efforts, to improve the openness and transparency of the authorities, to fight hate speech, and other issues.”

In addition to experts from the region and abroad, domestic experts, representatives of state institutions, and of the business sector, as well as individuals with disabilities and representatives of youth organizations were included in the sessions.

During the first panel discussion titled “Digital Society—What’s the point?” the speakers gave their perspectives from the institutional, civil, and business sector in terms of their responsibility and the practices they apply in creating a digital society which benefits all citizens.

After the discussion, the attendees had the opportunity to learn first-hand the ways of applying AI assistants by people with disabilities.

After the break, we had the opportunity to see a different kind of discussion which affects the new ways of using the means of communication and the new media, especially among young people. The discussion “Show Me Your Meme —Memification of the Public Discourse” touched on the questions of how media adapts to new decentralized ways of conveying information where its power diminishes, while unwanted background influences increase.

Young people attended the following session in which young representatives from civil organizations competed against senior and more experienced citizens in a quiz on recognizing disinformation. This entertaining session showed how difficult it is to recognize disinformation, as well as the ways to recognize it.

The last panel discussion “Disinformation War—Political and Security Challenge in the Western Balkans,” focused specifically on disinformation and its serious consequences for the safety of the country. This panel included experts which shared experiences regarding these questions from the region and beyond.

The conference closed with the awarding of the annual “Ilija Zhupanoski” Award for journalists, civil society organizations, and individuals working to combat disinformation in the country, which the Metamorphosis Foundation introduced for the first time. Awards were granted in two categories.

In the category of “Best journalistic work, i.e. professional paper prepared by civil society organizations and individuals” the prize of 3000 euros in denar equivalent was awarded to the Institute for Media and Analytics IMA Skopje for a series of content that is interconnected, covered in the TV show for detecting disinformation “Poligraf.”

The authors of the project and the script are Petrit Saracini and Zharko Trajanoski.

The award in the category “Educational multimedia content prepared by young people aged 18 to 28 years old” was awarded to the journalist Ardit Ramadani for the video titled “Media hysteria about Imane Khelif’s gender rooted in Russia, media outlets fell into Russia’s trap, again.”

Considering the quality of the reported topic “Disinformation and the spread of conspiracy theories” (educational videos), the Commission unanimously decided to award recognition for a special contribution to the journalist Vesna Kolovska.

The second day of the conference took place in Public Room where a workshop on fighting disinformation was held—the workshop “StopFake’s best practices” was aimed at educating participants on recognizing and opposing disinformation based on the experience of the well-known fact-checking service StopFake.org from Ukraine which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Conducted in synergy with the Google News Initiative to share skills and tips to educate a new generation of journalists, fact-checkers, and teachers.

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