An innovative project, mixing differents fields of education players interventions, BOOMERING-project is carried by five partners, designed by family and social associations with the support of two universities, various associated organizations and seasoned experts experienced in fake-news, right-of-way phenomena and the development of appropriate digital tools. Its ambition is to provide for Educator (generic term covering professional or volunteer educators and parents) - as part of a high-quality learning offer - with interactive and collaborative digital tools designed to fight the growing attraction of teenagers aged 10 to 19, and sometimes their elders, to infoxes and conspiracy or obscurantist theories (e.g. scientific, historical, religious or political) conveyed by the Internet and social networks. This attraction for infox occurs in a global context of crisis of values transmissions, in a period of a loss of meaning in life, a lack of reference points, a feeling of downgrading, and sometimes a sense of identity, victimization and/or social withdrawal, likely to pose a threat to the establishment of critical thinking among adolescents, but also to endanger democratic values by distancing young people from active and constructive citizenship. The construction of critical and complex thinking is a key skill to adjust the level of confidence given to information according to the reliability of the source, the argumentation, etc... It is therefore crucial, but not sufficient. In addition to strengthening critical thinking, Boomering-project also intends to support the Educator in developing the spirit of self-criticism as intellectual self-defence, using appropriate training tools (MOOC and BLENDED LEARNING). Accompanying the Adolescent in the process of thinking for himself, learning to consider complexity, and giving him leads to understand how he thinks, how he agrees to certain assertions, why he gives more or less confidence in the credibility of the considered information..., is essential to preserve his social inclusion by providing him with skills against propaganda, racism and lead him to protect himself from radical approaches from all sides. Such learning can only be based on concrete experiences, which are meaningful for all and share common values, and which are part of the socio-cultural heritage of the European Union. This learning must be corroborated by an elaborated and shared ethic, based on innovative tools allowing a media education, integrating the new digital information environments which differ according to the socio-demographic characteristics of the public. These tools adapt to this diversity and develop a better information literacy on the Net. Achieving these objectives presupposes that the project partners forge lasting links between all the stakeholders in Education (from university research and innovation to formal and non-formal education structures), and Society (civil society including NGOs and groups of parents in schools; political and economic actors; local authorities, etc.). The tools we propose aims therefore to be efficient, reliable and fun, but also favour an experiential approach by being attractive enough to involve parents (or educators) and teenagers, and make them want to use them. They must also be visible and well referenced to appear in good place on the net and on social networks. TALOS, a conversational digital robot, opens up a primary dialog (front desk) between young people and adults at any time. It can retrieve (non-private) data and offer personalised information adapted to each person. PAREIDOLOIA favours an experiential approach, knowing that the truth perceived by one is not necessarily the truth perceived by the other, depending on the angle of view chosen. Most European countries are concerned about the same drifts concerning the attraction of adolescents to infox, with a retreat of critical thinking and withdrawal into oneself. However, there are differences between the infoxes in force in each country, depending on psycho-social and especially geopolitical specificities. Hence the interest in developing a statistical, census and cartographic referencing tool, MAPPING of the different infox themes, in order to study their evolution in real time and over time. As an information and educational tool for educators, this collection of usable data will be available to European researchers and experts. The interest of proposing transnational collaboration is also to promote European coherence and competence in the field of digital and youth values and policy.
Boomering is not about fact-checking. We focused on objectives that are closest to our specific skills and expertise: pedagogy, teaching, specialised education, radicalisation and sectarianism prevention. Our first objective is to allow adults who were not necessarily trained in the field and/or are daily internet and social media users, to gain access to fundamental knowledge on the mechanisms and consequences of false information spread in Europe. As they do so, they might grow more confident in themselves, their intellectual and critical thinking skills, which in turn reduces vulnerability factors. All the Boomering tools are not suitable for all age groups. If Talos and Pareidolia are perfect for a young audience, StoryMaps and the MOOC modules require more experience or to ask for an adult’s help. We designed them to be used as materials for workshops, games and discussions, more so than for personal use! It is only through a shared dialog that their full potential reveals itself!
Fast and hyper-connected digital devices are unavoidable in today’s modern life in Europe. One of its uses is accessing information according to Eurostat study “Digital economy (...)” (2022). However in the mass of informational content circulating online, not everything is reliable and true. The fact that it is so easy to share misleading or fake content undermines the first principles of researching information online: checking and crossing sources. It also threatens citizens’ peace of mind, health and empowered participation in society. The Boomering project aims to address these new challenges by encouraging collective and intergenerational ways to receive information. The tools were built to answer the needs of the extended pedagogical community, i.e. adults in contact with or parents to 12-25 year-olds. They can feel ill-equipped to spark conversations about sensitive topics cluttered with false information, which facilitates situations of conflict and isolation to emerge. The Boomering toolbox exists to support, to inspire and to help them create their own pedagogical resources.