UNESCO partners with Twitter on Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2018

Twitter has joined UNESCO on Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week 2018, to enhance the global reach and the impact of this flagship initiative led by UNESCO. The two organizations hope that combining their global reach, more impetus can be given to promoting more media and information literate citizenry in online spaces.

 

According to Ronan Costello, Public Policy Manager of Twitter, “by joining forces with UNESCO we can together amplify healthier messages and conversations on Twitter and other social media platforms.” He was speaking at the opening plenary session of the Global MIL Week 2018 Feature Conference in Lithuania.

 

The annual Global MIL Week is a major occasion for stakeholders around the world to review and celebrate the progress achieved towards MIL for all. This year’s edition is celebrated from 24 to 31 October 2018.

 

UNESCO hopes to extend the cooperation with other social media platforms and technological intermediaries in order to promote MIL. The endeavour comes at a time when countries around the world have increased their interests in and demand for MIL.

 

Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development, Guy Berger, welcomed the partnership with Twitter. “Other Internet companies should consider also stepping up, because this is an issue in which the whole industry, as part of society, has a stake,” he said.

 

“When a company’s business is to provide a communications service, that enterprise should also be sure to empower people to use that service – especially by boosting critical Media and Information Literacy skills,” he said.

 

Karen White, the Twitter Director of Public Policy for Europe, said: “Twitter's partnership with UNESCO for Global Media & Information Literacy Week is a reflection of a common challenge being met with international cooperation.

 

“Our need for media and information literacy skills is more and more acute as we consume content from an increasingly wide range of sources. Through this collaboration between public and private organisations, we complement each other's capacity to address the challenge. Our message for the week is simple: #ThinkBeforeSharing,” said.

 

As part of the co-operation this year, two Twitter emojis specially designed for Global MIL Week 2018 were launched on the 23 October. One is connected to the official hashtag #GlobalMILWeek. As well as the thematic campaign #ThinkBeforeClicking and #ThinkBeforeSharing.

 

The other emoji illustrates the #MILCities theme and way forward for MIL expansions in cities and communities around the world. MIL Cities aims to promote creative MIL learning in cities. The three hashtags for Global MIL Week will be available in 11 languages. The localized hashtags are listed below:

 

French: #SemaineMondialeEMI, #PenseAvantDePartager, #PenseAvantdeCliquer

 

Spanish: #SemanaGlobalAMI, #PiensaAntesDeCompartir, #PiensaAntesDeDarClick

 

Chinese (Simplified): #全球媒介和信息素养周, #先想再分享, #先想再点击

 

Chinese (Traditional): #全球媒介和信息素養週, #先想再分享, #先想再點擊

 

Arabic: #فكر_قبل_المشاركة, #فكر_قبل_الضغط

 

Portuguese: #SemanaDeEducaçãoEmMídia, #PenseAntesDeCompartilhar, #PenseAntesDeClicar

 

Hindi: #सोचकेशेयरकरो, #SochKeShareKaro

 

Japanese: #世界メディア情報リテラシーウィーク, #シェアする前に考えよう, #クリックする前に考えよう

 

Korean: #미디어리터러시

 

German: #ErstDenkenDannTeilen, #ErstDenkenDannTeilen, #ErstDenkenDannKlicken

 

Bahasa Indonesian: #MingguLiterasiMedia, #PikirSebelumSebar, #PikirSebelumKlik

 

UNESCO and its partners invite the global MIL family and community to crowdsource MIL conversation around these hashtags. In addition to the amplification of MIL learning content from MIL CLICKS Twitter channel and identified partners’ Twitter pages, Twitter is also joining hands with UNESCO in the co-production of a new edition of Twitter Educators Guide, which will include specific sections focusing on MIL learning.

 

For more information please contact Alton Grizzle, a.grizzle@unesco.org or Jing Xu, ji.xu@unesco.org

 

URL:

https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-partners-twitter-global-media-and-information-literacy-week-2018