IADE students will develop app to help journalists and others identify fake news
The project is funded by a grant from the US Embassy in Lisbon and has a partnership with Diário de Notícias
IADE - Faculdade de Design, Tecnologia e Comunicação, of the Universidade Europeia, will develop and implement the project "A Fact Checking framework for newsmedia", an application that aims to facilitate the work of journalists and the general public in identifying the degree of veracity of available informationin order to minimize the proliferation of so-called fake news.
This initiative, which aims to develop an application based on Google technology, is the result of a grant from the US Embassy in Lisbon, following an application from Europeia ID, and is being carried out in partnership with Diário de Notícias. The app will not only serve journalists, but anyone who uses the DN website and wants to confirm the veracity of any information. This tool is, in this sense, an ally against the growing phenomenon of fake news and deep fakes based on verification by comparison.
"IADE is delighted to be hosting the project 'A fact checking framework for newsmedia'. The cause couldn't be more familiar to us: the growing phenomenon of 'fake news'. We are grateful for the U.S. Embassy funding which has both educational value for our students and practical value for our democracy. The spread of misleading information is harmful to society and democracy, which is why it’s important to join forces with a credible media outlet such as Diário de Notícias and use Google's technology to create an application that helps verify the veracity of news, thus making a valuable contribution," says Carlos Rosa, director of IADE.
"It is with great enthusiasm that Diário de Notícias joins forces with IADE to deploy an application that helps people check the veracity of news. The fight against lies is an obligation of a society that wants to be modern. There is nothing worse than being misinformed or misled by false facts. DN, which is about to turn 160, has a responsibility to be a beacon of credibility in Portugal. And we will always be at the forefront of the fight against fake news. That's our DNA," says Diogo Agostinho, Director of GMG.
The project will be implemented within the framework of the European University's academic model, in which students engage in experiential and active learning by solving problems in a real context. The framework and app will be developed by the students of the Creative Technologies degree, in the "Web App Project", "Databases" and "Web Programming" curricular units, under the supervision of their teachers and with the guidance of Prof. Miguel Boavida, coordinator of the degree.
The project will take place during the first semester of the 2023/2024 academic year, from October to February. After this phase, the results of the project will be tested by Diário de Notícias. The final product will be publicly available on the page dedicated to this project, on both the IADE and Diário de Notícias websites, and can be downloaded free of charge.
