Description and Mandate of the Chair

UNESCO Chair on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) at the University of Latvia (UL), Faculty of Social Sciences was established in 2016. The head of the Chair from 2016 – 2020 was Guna Spurava.

UNESCO Chair on Media and Information Literacy at the University of Latvia was re-established on July 2022 and will continue to promote media and information literacy and to contribute to the UN General Assembly resolutions on media and information literacy and UNESCO strategies, through research projects, knowledge sharing and awareness raising particularly on media literacy among children and adolescents.

The UNESCO Chair on Media and Information Literacy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication Studies & Department of Information and Library Studies at the University of Latvia will contribute to academic research, elaboration of recommendations, as well as provide practical suggestions for governments and practitioners in the field of media and information literacy.

Chair will work on creating a knowledge-based platform for promoting the development of MIL (media and information literacy) in Latvia and globally mainly focussing on:

• Informal education activities together with young people as MIL (Media and Information Literacy) agents;
• Rising educators (teachers and librarians) MIL capacity to strengthen citizens ability critically evaluate accuracy of information;
• Raising of knowledge base necessary for policy makers to elaborate MIL related policies.

Objectives

• Encouragement of young people to participate in media and information literacy activities as active agents, strengthening the ability of young people to select, access, analyse, critically evaluate and create content for different but especially digital media.
• Curriculum development for educators and teachers training promoting international cooperation with media literacy experts from across the globe, by adopting best practices and sharing knowledge and experience.
• Support to MIL policy contributing to the flow of information and cooperation in the field of media and information literacy between academics, researchers, educators, the media, industry representatives and policy makers.

The ongoing project provides interactive classes in schools of Latvian Eastern border cities and towns (near the border with Russia). Researchers from Faculty of Social Sciences, UL will teach students to analyze examples of disinformation published in media in the context of Russian war in Ukraine, building students competence to check facts, explain propaganda techniques and understand cases when statements become hate speech and can be punished.

(UNESCO No. 2016LV1121)
(Ver. 07-2023)