Developing critical digital literacy and social pedagogy skills
Project SOMEONE is a Concordia-housed web portal with multimedia materials and training curricula developed to prevent hate speech and build resilience toward radicalization. Using tools from the project, Venkatesh and his team will work with Lebanese stakeholders in education, public policy and social service.
Venkatesh explains that 11 distinct multimedia, curricular and public engagement projects created under Project SOMEONE have been reimagined in concert with partner organizations for Middle Eastern audiences.
They will offer the Lebanese civic community a variety of curricular activities meant to open dialogue on understanding and building resilience against hate speech.
“The workshops in Lebanon will focus primarily on critical digital literacy and social pedagogy in an aim to positively build capacity and empower local communities,” he adds.
Jihan Rabah, a Mitacs post-doctoral fellow and Project SOMEONE’s co-principal investigator, says that collaboration was key when tweaking the workshop curriculum for an international audience.
“We collaborated with five local NGOs who represent different minority groups such as women, youth, refugees and individuals with special needs to develop our programming. We’ve tried to ensure that the voices of as many community members are heard through local case studies and storytelling that participants will be able to relate to easily.”
Partner organizations include the Youth Association of the Blind and the Inclusion Network, the Collective for Research and Training Development-Action, Basmeh and Zeitooneh, the Majed Abu Sharar Media Foundation and Heritage College.