The “Hack2Check: Media and Information Literacy Hackathon 2024” competition, organized by the Public Journalism Club in cooperation with the Armenian General Benevolent Union Armenia office and funded through a Department of State Public Diplomacy Section grant, was launched in Yerevan.
The two-day hackathon, held at the AGBU office, aims to develop innovative technological solutions to combat misinformation and promote media literacy.
The Hackathon partners are the American University of Armenia, Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) with its Gyumri and Vanadzor Technology Centers and the Media Initiatives Center.
Representatives from Armenian state departments, diplomatic missions, educational institutions, IT organizations, and other partner entities attended the opening ceremony of the hackathon.
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Seda Muradyan, PJC President, welcomed the guests and participating teams of the hackathon, underlining the imperative of fostering pan-Armenian solidarity to prioritize media literacy and execute synchronized and strategic endeavors in this domain.
Seda Muradyan emphasized, “Challenges associated with information security pose risks to individuals, societies, and nations. Hence, we underscore the significance of media literacy and collaborative efforts to fortify defenses against misinformation.”
Arshak Kerobyan, Head of the Digitization Department at the RA Ministry of High-Tech Industry, Astine Badeyan, the Diaspora-Armenia Mentorship Programs Coordinator at the Armenian General Benevolent Union, and Lusine Ghukasyan, Projects Manager at the Enterprise Incubator Fund, delivered welcoming speeches during the opening part of the hackathon.
The hackathon will last 24 hours, during which the 21 participating teams, representing educational institutions, IT organizations, and mass media, will develop technological solutions aimed at fact-checking and media literacy. Demo versions of these ideas will be presented to the hackathon jury members. The authors of the top three ideas will be awarded a total of USD 13,200 to implement their projects.
Among the esteemed guests are Bret Schafer, media and computational propaganda expert, German Marshall Fund, Creator and manager of Hamilton 2.0 (USA), and Dominykas Milasius, expert in IT/deep tech/digital safety, Investment Partner, Baltic Sandbox Ventures (Lithuania), who will also provide mentoring support to the participating teams.
During the panel discussion following the hackathon’s opening, international speakers with extensive experience in combating disinformation and digital security addressed modern manifestations of disinformation and propaganda. They presented international best practices and discussed issues related to the global challenges of media literacy.
Armenian experts will also provide mentoring support to the hackathon participating teams. These experts include Ani Yeghiazaryan, Media Literacy Projects Manager, Media Initiative Center; Samvel Martirosyan, Media and information security expert; Marianna Danielyan, Journalist at Media.am; and Amalya Margaryan, Communication Specialist at the Enterprise Incubator Fund.
On May 26, participating teams should finalize demo versions of their ideas and pitch them to the jury members. The jury will then select the top 3 teams. After the hackathon, the winning teams will continue to receive mentoring support.
