Join us for ‘Ground Truth in Open Internet’ — the new Creative Commons Open Journalism Webinar Series and Training

“Carry The Truth Forward” by Teo Georgiev for Fine Acts licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Journalism provides a crucial public service. Access to verifiable information and stories that question the underlying terrain of power is critical to democratic societies. Yet, journalism as we know it faces existential new challenges. Increasingly, journalists face work-halting financial and ethical challenges, as well as threats to their physical and digital safety, when sharing information online. Misinformation and disinformation campaigns in the media challenge collective notions of ground truth. They challenge the bedrock and meaning of open internet. 

Journalism also faces newfound opportunities, as the tectonic plates of power shift in our shared digital landscape. We witness the rising role of nonprofit media sources, filling gaps where traditional media organizations have shuttered; the rising power of crowdsourcing information and fact checking, and a powerful new role an open internet can play in knowledge sharing. 

Introducing our Ground Truth in Open Internet Series

Join us as we explore what public, open options our news needs, and how to take advantage of these options. Through particular cases in Brazil, Croatia, India, the US, as well as global examples, the webinar series explores topics of: 

• Online narrative power as social power
• Access to information and paywalls in the time of COVID
• How to address mis & disinformation campaigns shifting the focus of traditional news audiences
• The rising role of nonprofit media and the gap they fill
• Open licensed media

This webinar series will culminate in a ½ day training providing: 

• Copyright basics for journalists
• Tools for open access research
• Access to usable photo and media archives
• How to best use open licensed media

REGISTER HERE

Key Dates and Session Information

Open Internet and Journalism

• January 20, 7:00 pm UTC/2:00 pm EST
• Speaker: Ashley Edwards, US Partnerships Manager, Google News Initiative
• Speaker: Catherine Stihler, CEO of Creative CommonsTo kick off the discussion series, Google News Initiative and Creative Commons will reflect on the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of technology, journalism, and social power. 

Addressing Misinformation and Disinformation Campaigns: a Community Led Approach

• January 27, 4:30 pm UTC/ 11:30 am EST 
• Speaker: Kate Levan, Disinformation Specialist – Trust & Safety, Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) 
• Speaker: Diego Saez-Trumper, Senior Research Scientist at Wikimedia Foundation (WMF)This conversation will highlight Wikimedia Foundation’s technical perspective and community-led approach to addressing mis and disinformation campaigns on Wikipedia, highlighting the Croatian Disinformation Case and the Biden Campaign Disinformation Retrospective. 

Risks with Digital Platforms: Language and Narrative Power 

• February 8, 2:00 pm UTC/ 9:00 am EST
• Speaker: PP Sneha, Program Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society
• Speaker: Torsha Sarkar, Policy Officer at the Centre for Internet and Society
• Speaker: Peter Kaufmann, MIT Open Learning, Strategic Initiatives Speakers will explore risks of digital platforms: further marginalizing languages, spreading disinformation, and perpetuating power structures in India and globally. Speakers will also describe new ways journalists can work with digital knowledge institutions. Conversation will draw from the Centre for Internet and Society’s Global Disinformation Index’s (GDI) study into the risk of disinformation on digital news platforms in India, a forthcoming report on the State of the Internet’s Languages, and Peter Kaufmann’s recent book, “The New Enlightenment and the fight to free knowledge.” 

Gunfire and Ground truth: Investigative Journalism Using Creative Commons

• February 15, 2:00 pm UTC/ 9:00 am EST
• Speaker: Cecília Oliviera, Investigative Journalist and founder of Fogo CruzadoCecília Oliviera will discuss developing and using crowd-sourcing on an open platform as an investigative tool in journalism focused on drug and arms trafficking. In 2016, frustrated with the lack of publicly available data, she began mapping every shooting in Rio de Janeiro. This effort turned into Fogo Cruzado, an open data platform on armed violence that is spreading to every major city in Brazil.

CC licenses and Combatting Disinformation Campaigns

• March 3, 2:00 pm UTC/ 9:00am  
• Speaker: Shalini Joshi, Executive Editor and co-founder of Khabar Lahariya and Regional Program Officer at Meedan (India)
• Speaker: Joel Abrams, Director of Digital Strategy and Outreach at The Conversation (US)This discussion will explore how CC licenses increase information sharing in global journalism. Speakers will share anecdotes from Meedan’s The Checklist, a weekly roundup of global misinformation news—open-source investigations, industry resources and event information. Discussion will also target The Conversation, a nonprofit network of 8 international news sites publishing hundreds of useful articles of news and analysis each week, all written by experts, in 4 languages, and all available under the Creative Commons license, CC-BY-ND.

Free Online Training

• March 23, 2:00 pm-6:00 pm UTC/ 10:00 am-2:00 pm EDTCreative Commons staff will provide free training on the basics of copyright for journalists, how to best find and reuse openly licensed resources such as research, photos, videos, music and more!  Come away from the training, understanding the flexibilities within copyright law that journalists can harness for better information sharing. Journalists will also gain the practical tools and resource lists to take advantage of open licensed content. All are welcome to join. 

Join us for our ‘Ground Truth in Open Internet’ series from January to March 2022 from wherever you are, as we explore what public, open options our news and media need, and how we can use these options. Register here >>

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