FactSpace West Africa engages stakeholders on fact-based information through IVR technology – Ghana Business News
A day’s workshop, which focused on co-designing and co-creating solutions within the information integrity chain, has been held for selected stakeholders drawn from the northern part of the country.
It formed part of preparations for the rollout of an Interactive Voice Response (IVR)-based system aimed at combating misinformation and disinformation.
The initiative would leverage IVR technology to provide citizens with access to verified, fact-checked information through their mobile phones using local languages and user-friendly audio prompts without the need for internet connectivity.
It was organised by FactSpace West Africa and attended by representatives from the Northern Regional Media Advisory Committee of the National Media Commission, youth groups, academic institutions, journalists, and students of media and information literacy.
FactSpace West Africa is an independent non-partisan organization dedicated to tackling misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda across the sub-region.
The organization is also signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network Code of Principles.
Mr Rabiu Alhassan, Executive Director of FactSpace West Africa, speaking during the workshop in Tamale, emphasised the importance of the initiative in bridging the gap between digital fact-checking platforms and offline communities.
He said the workshop was to gather stakeholders’ input to ensure the system being developed was contextually relevant, inclusive, and responsive to community needs.
During the workshop, participants co-developed key messages addressing various misinformation and disinformation topics, which would be translated and uploaded to the IVR platform.
They also created IVR user journey templates that would be refined by FactSpace West Africa for implementation.
They lauded FactSpace West Africa for the initiative and indicated it had enhanced their understanding of misinformation and disinformation, especially as such actions affected offline communities.
Source: GNA
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