DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL TOOLS TO COUNTER ONLINE HATE SPEECH AMONG YOUNGSTERS

Technology has undoubtedly transformed our lives and become an integral part of our everyday existence. The way we communicate, trade, consume and keep informed, has changed drastically. Education has been greatly aided and enhanced by the new possibilities provided by the internet access and the technological tools at the schools’ and young peoples’ disposal. However, as any ubiquitous phenomenon, the increasingly easier access of children and young people to technology and the internet has its negative side too. It has become obvious that traditional forms of bullying phenomena have found their way into the virtual platforms giving birth to online hate speech incidents as well as other forms of online harassment. The misuse of information technology with the intention to provoke harm to others is a modern phenomenon that has to be taken very seriously since it has real life consequences. New methods of communication such as text messaging and online instant messaging via computer and mobile phones, as well as, classroom chats in recent online teaching, due to the global distance learning necessities provoked by the recent pandemic, have redefined our understanding of the nature of young people’s social networks and their social interactions. We also need to consider, that the addition of a camera on mobile phones and the technological advances allowing mobile phones to interface with the Worldwide Web have meant that any harmful interaction which once could only be witnessed by a limited audience can now be uploaded immediately onto social media, public forums and various unrestricted viewing sites which can be accessed globally. Cyber bullying tarnishes the reputation of an individual, erodes their confidence and eventually takes a serious toll on their mental health. In today’s world there is a pressing need for online hate speech and other forms of cyber bullying to be monitored and prevented. Advanced Media Literacy to Counter Online Hate Speech (AMeLiE) is a two year Erasmus+ KA2 Project that brings together six partners from five countries: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy and Romania and two best practices that will be upscaled. The main objective of AMeLiE is to counter online hate speech phenomena that affect the school communities and render the scholastic environment unsafe, by offering innovative and already tested as effective tools and proposals to the world of education in order to achieve a broad and participatory effort for their tackle. Specifically, it aims at training teachers and school representatives such as school Principals and managers; parents, guardians and local communities, on a specific methodology that focuses on the development of advanced media skills for those involved in education. The three complementary tools that will be developed are: an interactive Platform that will be accessible to all schools and educational communities and will offer useful content and the possibility to discuss real life cases and carry out bottom-up initiatives with the common goal to address the online hate speech phenomena; a Virtual European Network of Schools cooperating in the fight against online hate speech by raising awareness and tackling the issue by actively involving young people, and a manual of Policy Recommendations for policy makers and educational Institutions. This paper aims at presenting the two digital educational tools that AMeLiE will develop: the Platform and the Virtual European Network of Schools.