The Full Story

Empowering Change:
GenderED Civic Hackathon
Tackled Gender Disinformation Across Europe

Theme

The GenderED Civic Hackathon took place from September 25th to 27th in Perugia, Italy, bringing together 40 participants from across Europe to tackle the issues of gender disinformation and misogyny through public campaigns. Participants were divided into eight teams, each tasked with addressing one of three challenges focused on combating gender disinformation.

Organizers

The event was organized by FORMA.Azione Giove In Formatica, the lead partner in the GenderED Coalition Project, alongside the DAISSy Research Group of Hellenic Open University, Savoir Devenir, the Sofia Development Association, and the Bureau for Integration and Social Innovation (BISI).

Mentors

Over the course of two days, the teams worked closely on three distinct challenges, with the support of seven mentors, all experts in their respective fields, to develop their ideas into practical communication projects. These mentors included :

Boyana Voyonova

Boyana Voynova is a designer and visual artist, engaged in community-based and collaborative social design, with a passion for exploring the world of visual media through various experimentative methods.
The 21 y.o. creator is based in the Netherlands and is currently a student at Design Academy Eindhoven. Driven by curiosity for social systems, she strives to challenge the way we interact with the space and matter surrounding us.

Tsvetelina Hristova

Since 2018 Tsvetelina has been part of the Association of European Journalists -Bulgaria where she coordinates COOLMedia.com - a Bulgarian national online platform showcasing students’ journalistic work. She is also involved in projects connected with media literacy, fighting hate speech and disinformation, and organising AEJ annual media conferences.
Tsvetelina has worked in Bulgaria’s NGO sector for more than 15 years. She held different administrative positions in an international organization supporting the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE Trust). Later she joined De Pasarel Foundation (now Polder) to facilitate Dutch social workers volunteering at Bulgarian social services for
people with intellectual disabilities.

Jennifer Guerra

Jennifer Guerra is a journalist and author specializing in feminist contents. She collaborates with newspapers and magazines of national interest and has published several books both as writer and editor. The last one, Il femminismo non è un brand, was released earlier this year (March 2024) and examines the emerging role of a new feminism in the public discourse, especially on social media, in connection with the risk of pinkwashing and capitalisation by brands that trade on feminist battles and values

Karen Ricci

Karen Ricci is a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion advisor and advocate, communication specialist and author with more than 20 years’ expertise in gender studies, social media and communication. Her project Cara, sei maschilista! (“Darling, you’re sexist!”) counts now more than 48K followers on
Facebook, 50K on Instagram and it is also a podcast and a book. It consists of a community that discusses and reflects on internalised mechanisms of the
patriarchal society and sexist distortions of our culture.

Pauline Bouty

La Mal Biaisée (“The Badly Biased” in English) is a blog and a YouTube Channel created by Miz Pauline, a fervent defender of critical thinking and of the skeptical approach. The aim of her blog and YouTube channel are to share content on critical thinking, feminism, and the history of social struggles from a skeptical point of view, in order to acquire the right argumentative ‘weapons’ to fight. Pauline started to tackle scepticism when she discovered the French YouTube channel Mental Hygiene in 2015, and subsequently decided to work on her critical thinking as well as on a benevolent approach
towards the tenants. She is convinced that benevolence is a good tool for helping people to question their beliefs. Regarding feminism, she was brought up by a feminist grandmother and over the last few years, thanks in part to Twitter, she has met a lot of people who have opened her eyes to my own biases and the concept of internalized sexism. Nevertheless, she approaches feminism in the same way as skepticism: with sources, epistemic maintenance and benevolence.

Vasilis Thanopoulos

Vasileios Thanopoulos studied journalism and communication at Panteion University in Athens. Since 2009 he has been working as a journalist and since 2013 he has been the editor-in-chief of ANTIVIRUS magazine, the leading LGBTQI+ press in Greece. He has been involved in LGBTQ+ news and has interviewed some of the biggest names in art, politics, activism, etc. Vassilis has also been an expert trainer of journalists on LGBTQ+ identities and a
speaker at conferences of journalistic and other organisations on political
correctness in public discourse.

MEET THE TEAMS

TEAM 1

TEAM 1 – “Shwa”

Participants:

Sandra Perez Hernandez
Vladimir Milev
Zoé De Nadai
Christina Margioti

Challenge: Challenge 1: “Monitoring gendered disinformation on social media platforms”

Product Title: Gender Desinformation Observatory

Product Description: educational platform featuring a reporting tool for tracking the spread of gender disinformation and flagging hateful speech on social media

Overall Score: 18,30

TEAM 2

TEAM 2 – “Hack the Bias”

Participants:

Bruna Almeida Paroni
Martina Droandi
Vyara Momcheva
Maud Trosseille-Saroq
Konstantinos Kalemis

Challenge: Challenge 2: Challenging gendered disinformation on social media platforms

Product Title: Tabooboo

Product Description: App game target teens,13+, players ask questions challenging stereotypes and “clean the world” from gender disinformation.

Overall Score: 17,55

TEAM 3

TEAM 3 – “Macho-Free Zone”

Participants:

Alina Medoia
Léa Samain Raimbault
Souzana Maria Serveta
Monika Simeonova
Veselka Stoyanova

Challenge: Challenge 2: Challenging gendered disinformation on social media platforms

Product Title: Media for Fair Play

Product Description: badge for media outlet to certify non-sexist and non-discriminatory language in sports reporting

Overall Score: 24,05

Award: Challenge 2: Challenging gendered disinformation on social media platforms

TEAM 4

TEAM 4 – “Guerrilla’s Voices”

Participants:

Aleksandra Dimitrova-Nenova
Enrica Perotti
Teodor Minchev
Lamprini Chartofylaka
Myrto Prodromidou

Challenge: Challenge 3: Cancelling the impact of misleading and offensive visual and textual representation of women and girls online

Product Title: We are all sexist, Bro!

Product Description: Guerrilla marketing campaign in public places on everyday sexism and website to collect stories and how to react to it.

Overall Score: 23,45

Award: Challenge 3: cancelling the impact of misleading and offensive visual and textual representation of women and girls online

TEAM 5

TEAM 5 – “Gender Fact Patrol”

Participants:

Giulietta Zanga
Yordan Kirev
Hajer Tlili
Vivian Rangel
Ismini Binta

Challenge: Challenge 1: Monitoring gendered disinformation on social media platforms

Product Title: Gender Disinfo House

Product Description: collaborative platform 14+, with croudsourced examples of gender disinformation throughout European Media, stored and debunked.

Overall Score: 23,40

Award: Challenge 1: Monitoring gendered disinformation on social media platforms

Motivation:

Special Mention: Intersectionality

TEAM 6

TEAM 6 – “Cat Ladies”

Participants:

Sabina Leoncini
Elena Lulcheva
Nathalie Nouailles
Anthony Da Silva

Challenge: Challenge 3: Cancelling the impact of misleading and offensive visual and textual representation of women and girls online

Product Title: #ShameOffMe Campaign

Product Description: platform with factchecked resourses to replace shame with knowledge, especially around body taboos. Section with stories.

Overall Score: 23,25

TEAM 7

TEAM 7 – “Anti Patriarchy Revolution”

Participants:

Linda Serra
Pavlina Michailova
Antonin Atger
Andromachi Koutsoulenti
Konstantina Kallini

Challenge: Challenge 2: Challenging gendered disinformation on social media platforms

Product Title: GenderWhat?

Product Description: challenging narratives that seen nice but are stereotypes: toolbox on how to react with counternarratives instead of criticism

Overall Score: 23,05

TEAM 8

TEAM 8 – “Rocks”

Participants:

Sarah Treb
Toma Tomov
Anna Douvali
Theodoros Thanos

Challenge: Challenge 1: Monitoring gendered disinformation on social media platforms

Product Title: Rocks

Product Description: project to monitor and analyse data online, to move mountains one rock at a time.

Overall Score: 17,75

Challenge # 1

“Monitoring gendered disinformation on social media platforms”

Team SCWA presented the "Gender Disinformation Observatory," an educational platform featuring a reporting tool for tracking the spread of gender disinformation and flagging hateful speech on social media. Team “Gender Fact Patrol”, introduced "Gender Desinfo House," a website tackling gender stereotypes across different countries through video, audio, and text-based reports. Team “Rock”’s project proposed the creation of an NGO aimed at monitoring social media and language, with the motto “We can move mountains, one rock at a time.”

Challenge # 2

“Challenging gendered disinformation on social media platforms”

Team ‘”Hack the Bias” presented ”Tabooboo" a mobile game where players repair a broken Earth—symbolizing society and gender discrimination—by answering quiz questions. Team “Anti Patriarchy Revolution”, developed "GenderWhat?", a website designed to create new narratives on gender bias, including an online toolkit with visual templates. Team “Macho Free Zone”, developed an online platform using humor to highlight double standards in gender disinformation, along with a "Media Fair Play Badge" to recognize journalists who challenge gender biases and promote truthful reporting.

Challenge #3

“Cancelling the impact of misleading and offensive visual and textual representation of women and girls online.”

Team “Guerilla’s Voices” presented "We Are All Sexist, Bro", an online platform paired with a guerrilla marketing campaign for public restrooms. The platform included a feature where users could assess their own sexist narratives and see how widespread they are. Team “Cat Ladies” introduced "#ShameOffMe", an educational toolkit website offering resources, personal stories from women who overcame public shaming, a support network, and accessibility features for individuals with disabilities and neurodiverse users.

Meet The Jury

For-Website-Final-Choice_edited_edited.j

Panayiotis Chaldaios

a trained family psychotherapist, counsellor and Scientific Supervisor (independent contractor) of units that support women victims of Gender Based Violence, under the supervision of General Secretariat for Equality and Human Rights and Research Centre for Gender Equality – KETHI;

Marianna Stefanitsi

Laurence Allard

communication sciences lecturer, researcher at the IRCAV-Sorbonne Nouvelle, working on the creative and activist uses of digital technology for many years, particularly around techno-feminism

For-Website-Final-Choice_edited_edited_e

Pascale Garreau

MIL and digital citizenship expert, and co-founder of Savoir Devenir

Jovana Martic

communication designer and creative director with an inclusive approach to media literacy , and GenderED Coalition’s visual designer

Denitsa Lozanova

Executive Director of BISI and a strategic leader with a background in European Studies

... And the awards went to :

For challenge #1

Team 5

Team “Gender Fact Patrol”, with the “Gender Desinfo House” platform

Participants:

Giulietta Zanga, Yordan Kirev,, Hajer Tlili, Vivian Rangel, Ismini Binta

Challenge #1

For challenge #2

Team 3

Team “Macho Free Zone”, “Media for Fair Play” campaign

Participants:

Alina Medoia, Léa Samain Raimbault, Souzana Maria Serveta, Monika Simeonova, Veselka Stoyanova.

Challenge #2

For challenge #3

Team 4

Team “Guerilla’s Voices”, with the guerrilla campaign “We Are All Sexist, Bro”

Participants: Aleksandra Dimitrova-Nenova, Enrica Perotti, Teodor Minchev, Lamprini Chartofylaka, Myrto Prodromidou.

Challenge #3

Special mentions

Special Mentions were given to Team “Gender Fact Patrol” for “Gender Desinfo House”, for addressing Intersectionality in their project, and to Team “Anti Patriarchy Revolution” for “GenderWhat?”, for its MIL education Relevance; Participants: Linda Serra, Pavlina Michailova, Antonin Atger, Andromachi Koutsoulenti, Konstantina Kallini.

All projects will be reimagined and integrated into public campaigns by the GenderED Coalition Project team to combat gender disinformation and misogyny. The campaigns will be launched and spread starting from next November.

SOUVENIRS

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

Capture d’écran 2024-10-08 à 11.59_edited

The GenderED Coalition project is funded by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) under the Creative Europe Program (CREA), in response to the call CREA-CROSS-2023-MEDIALITERACY.

Empowering Change: GenderED Civic Hackathon Tackled Gender Disinformation Across Europe

Theme

Organizers

Mentors

MEET THE TEAMS

TEAM 8

Challenge # 1

“Monitoring gendered disinformation on social media platforms”

Challenge # 2

“Challenging gendered disinformation on social media platforms”

Challenge #3

“Cancelling the impact of misleading and offensive visual and textual representation of women and girls online.”

Meet The Jury

Marianna Stefanitsi

Laurence Allard

Pascale Garreau

Jovana Martic

Denitsa Lozanova

... And the awards went to :

Team “Gender Fact Patrol”, with the “Gender Desinfo House” platform

Team “Macho Free Zone”, “Media for Fair Play” campaign

Team “Guerilla’s Voices”, with the guerrilla campaign “We Are All Sexist, Bro”

SOUVENIRS

Empowering Change:
GenderED Civic Hackathon
Tackled Gender Disinformation Across Europe