Techsherdim! (“Checked!”) had actively engaged participants and visitors of the European Summer Festival 2023 into the event, which took place on May 26-27 in the city park “Yntymak-2”.
Various quizzes and games for children and adults with a focus on media literacy and the use of digital technology aroused great interest among festival visitors.
Teenagers started bringing their parents to the ‘Techsherdim!’ booth, just as the adults tried to introduce their children to useful information about safe online communication through interactive games.
Children answered questions about fakes and manipulation, and in most cases demonstrated their ability to navigate in virtual infospace.
Blogger Ismail Karypov and famous TV presenter and entertainer Urmat Borchenov conducted a series of games in Kyrgyz and Russian, which indicated the importance of checking the source of any received information before sharing or trusting it.
On the main stage of the festival, the participants of the project on media literacy Mukhammed Sultanov and Turat Zhumaev through the work of akyns-improvisers demonstrated sharp poetic skills, humor and lively improvisation.
They sang about the importance of verifying information on Instagram and Tik-Tok, not to believe every possible post, as there are many fakes and scammers who can take advantage of the trust of an illiterate audience.
Popular blogger Biikech performed the song “Uch Chekit” (“Three Dots”) about the importance of global media literacy and critical thinking in the digital age.
Asel Sooronbayeva, the head of the Chekit media project, told how journalists united to fact-check and combat fake accounts to expose fake news, which is spreading rapidly online and misleads people in assessing important events in the world and the country.
Popular blogger Elaman Temirov demonstrated the ability to effectively interact with his audience and also demonstrated the ability of Influencers to deliver socially relevant and useful information to a wide range of their fans.
The information campaign “Techsherdim!” is supported by two projects implemented by Internews in Kyrgyzstan: Resilience and Engagement with Various Information for a Vital Environment (REVIVE) funded by the European Union and Media-K funded by USAID in Kyrgyzstan.
Photo by: Yrys Uraliev and internews.kg
