Platforms such as TikTok, X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook have become a dominant factor in opinion-forming. In the last ten years, however, they have undergone a transformation from a democratic beacon of hope to a critically scrutinized means of communication. This is because social media is increasingly spreading misinformation and is actively used to manipulate opinions. But how can children and young people deal with all of this? Do they find enough resonance spaces in real life? How can their resilience be strengthened so that they are aware of the dangers of social media and its opinion-forming effect? These and other questions will be discussed by experts from the fields of Holocaust education, participatory research, cultural and science education during the panel discussion.
Guests on the podium
- Barbara Buchegger is the educational director of saferinternet.at in Vienna. She lectures on various topics such as “Growing up in the digital world”, “Digital youth work” and “Using digital media for teaching and learning”. She also develops guides and teaching materials for parents and teachers.
- Rebekka Dober is the founder and managing director of the multi-award-winning Viennese social enterprise YEP – Youth Empowerment Participation. YEP sets up inclusive participation processes to effectively bring the voice of young people into the economy, politics and society.
- Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann teaches film history, German cultural history and the history of memory at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He publishes on filmic and digital remembrance of the Holocaust and the handling of historical film material. Ebbrecht-Hartmann is providing academic support for the TikTok project “Mauthausen Memorial”.
- Stephanie Meisl is a conceptual and media artist. She moves between art and the creative industry with a focus on AI. Meisl holds workshops on the topics of digital humanism, “How real is digital reality?”, AI film, digital twin, AI avatar, digital competence and algorithms in every form. She is co-founder of the collective D#AVANTGARDE - new technology, art and creativity.
René Werner is a researcher in the Department of Sociology at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, focusing on innovation and digitalization. He is active as a science ambassador and offers the workshop “Knowledge vs. opinion. Truth vs. fake”. In this workshop, students will examine how current technologies such as social media, artificial intelligence and others are linked to fake news.
Presentation: David-Xaver Forthuber (Ö1)
You can register for the event HERE.
