On Friday 16 September 2016 the REVEAL project consortium is hosting a one day workshop south of Athens, Greece, in which participants will raise and discuss various aspects of social media verification. This includes showcasing how technology can aid in the process. The event is free of charge, but requires prior registration. Don’t miss out!

The REVEAL project is nearing its end. It will terminate on 31 October 2016. Hence, the project consortium decided to organise a closing event and workshop near Athens, Greece, on Friday 16 September 2016 that is to focus on various aspects of social media verification. The idea is to present project results and outcomes, demonstrate tools and services that have been developed, and discuss aspects of relevance with others active in the field. All this is to be done with a focus on real journalistic needs and practices.

Two expert keynotes

The event will be structured around two keynotes by leading figures in the area of eyewitness media and user-generated content verification. We are very pleased to have Dhruti Shah, a BBC journalist who has been working for the Corporation’s User-Generated Content and Social Media Hub for about five years, as a confirmed keynote speaker. The other keynote speaker we are grateful to have secured is Sam Dubberley, co-director of Eyewitness Media Hub, formerly Head of the EBU’s Eurovision News Exchange, and an authority in the field of user-generated content in news.

During the keynotes, current practices with regards to the verification of eyewitness media in the journalistic context will be raised and discussed. This includes highlighting the challenges of the verification process and the opportunities for state-of-the-art technologies and corresponding research.

REVEAL joining forces with research projects PHEME and InVID

In addition to showcasing aspects of the work carried out in REVEAL, two other projects that focus on related research challenges, also co-funded by the European Commission, will present their results and expected outcomes. These are PHEME and InVID.

While the PHEME work concentrates on studying the spread of speculation, controversy, misinformation and disinformation in Social Networks (the project ends on 31 December 2016), InVID focuses on video verification and related aspects. The latter runs until the end of 2018.

Who should attend?

You should not miss out on this great opportunity and book your place if you:

• are working in the media industry and are interested in modern ways to assess the trustworthiness of information found in Social Networks;
• want to find out more about challenges and pitfalls regarding the verification of eyewitness media;
• are interested in research and new technologies that analyse multimedia content to discover information related to trust and credibility;
• are working in industries and sectors in which the discovery of information residing in Social Networks is important;
• want to network with experts in the field;
• want to meet a wide variety of specialists, ranging from academia and research to industry to practical journalism;
• are looking for future collaboration opportunities.

Location and logistics

This will be a single-day event that will take place south of Athens on Friday 16 September 2016. It is hosted at the Plaza Resort Hotel, about 32 km from Athens airport. In the evening of 16 September all participants are invited to join the organisers for an informal networking dinner by the seaside to discuss topics of the day and opportunities for future collaboration.

How to participate? It’s free – but you need to register and reserve your place

Participation in the event is free of charge. However, you are required to register by sending an email requesting a place with your name, contact details and affiliation to Eva Jaho (e.jaho@atc.gr) at ATC by 5 September latest. Please also indicate if you would like to join the complimentary networking dinner on Friday evening.

Places will be allocated on a “first come, first served” basis. So better don’t delay your decision for too long…!

We look forward to welcoming you on 16 September!

PS: the hashtag for the event is #smvw16 (which stands for social media verification workshop 2016) – please use it when you tweet about the event. Thanks!

Here, you can view the day’s agenda.

The Organising Committee
(Eva Jaho, Nikos Sarris & Jochen Spangenberg on behalf of the REVEAL consortium)