THE PARTICIPATORY JOURNEY

DIFFERENT PEOPLE, EXPERIENCES AND GENERATIONS EXPLORING THE WORLD OF INFORMATION

Each person encounters information differently. Every experience can help us understand something we might not have noticed on our own.

SCHOOLS

Learning to Observe and Understand Information

The school programme involves lower secondary school students from Istituto Comprensivo di Borgo Tossignano, across its schools in Casalfiumanese, Borgo Tossignano, Fontanelice and Castel del Rio. Through interactive workshops, small-group activities and collective discussions, students are encouraged to explore the world of information they encounter every day.

The starting point is a seemingly simple question: What is news?

From there, the activities explore different forms of communication — texts, images, videos, audio and digital content — and the processes through which information is produced, selected and distributed.

Students are encouraged to distinguish content from its context or medium, recognise the difference between describing and interpreting, question the purposes of those who communicate and understand how platforms influence which content becomes visible.

Particular attention is paid to what happens between the intention to search for information and the moment we actually encounter it: search suggestions, recommendations, social sharing and the mechanisms of digital environments.

The learning journey follows a common thread:

NEWS → CONSTRUCTION → CIRCULATION → INTERPRETATION

In the final stage, students are invited to reflect on their own experiences with information and transform them into stories, reflections and questions to share with others.

The objective is not simply to teach students to spot false news, but to help them become citizens who can critically question the information they encounter and recognise their own role in how information circulates.

YOUNG ADULTS

Information, Choices and Democratic Participation

A second pathway involves young adults aged 20 to 26 who are active in their local communities, through opportunities for discussion and collaborative content creation. 

The activities begin with their everyday experiences: social networks, digital platforms, search engines, AI-generated content, online information and participation in community life. The focus is not only on the content they encounter, but also on the mechanisms that may influence their information experiences: recommendation systems, news selection, persuasive communication, sharing dynamics and the interests of different actors within the information ecosystem.

Drawing on real situations and personal experiences, participants are invited to reflect on how information can shape opinions, reinforce existing beliefs, generate discussions or motivate behaviours. 

A central theme is the relationship between information and active citizenship: what role can young people play in fostering more informed spaces for dialogue? What responsibilities should individuals, media organisations, digital platforms and institutions take?

These activities contribute to the preparation of the Living Library and inform the discussion Youth Voices for Digital Democracy, scheduled during the international meeting on 21 October.

OLDER ADULTS

Memory, Experience and the Changing World of Information

The pathway involving older adults from the local community brings an essential perspective: first-hand experience of the profound changes that have taken place in the world of information over the years.

From radio and newspapers to television news and word of mouth, and later to the arrival of the Internet, smartphones and digital platforms, each transformation has changed how people learn about events and build relationships of trust. The meetings begin by comparing how people accessed information in the past and how they do so today.

Which sources did we consider trustworthy? How did news circulate? How did we check information? What changed when news began arriving directly on our phones?

Through conversations, everyday examples and personal memories, participants explore the role of information sources, communication media, personal relationships and digital technologies.

The programme does not approach older adults as people who simply need help using digital tools, but as people who bring knowledge, experience and ways of interpreting information developed over a lifetime.

Their testimonies become a starting point for dialogue with younger generations.

What can we learn from people who have experienced different ways of accessing information? And what can we discover by comparing those experiences with today's information habits?

FROM EXPERIENCES TO DIARIES

How We Collect Contributions

The educational and participatory activities are supported by collection tools designed for the different groups involved. Dedicated forms have been developed for students, young adults, older adults and European partners. Their language, examples and level of detail are adapted to each audience, while maintaining a shared methodological structure.

The questions invite participants to reconstruct several key aspects of their experiences:

WHAT did we encounter?

WHERE did we encounter it?

HOW did it reach us?

WHO might have produced or shared it?

WHY might it have been created or circulated?

WHAT EFFECT did it have?

WHAT can we learn from this experience?

Everyone can contribute a personal experience, but also a reflection, a useful practice, a piece of advice or an open question.

The responses are collected and subsequently examined through a process of reading, selection and editorial curation.

Not every contribution needs to become a publicly available story. Some may inspire discussions, raise new questions or help document the collective learning experience of the workshops. The guiding principle is simple: to value people's words and experiences without replacing them with interpretations imposed by others.

THE LIVING LIBRARY

Stories Become Encounters

On 21 October 2026, in Casalfiumanese, the local participatory pathways will connect with the European dimension of ELECTRA during The Disinformation Diaries – Living Library of Digital Misuse. The Living Library is a space for listening and dialogue, where people become storytellers of their own experiences and other participants can engage with them through questions and conversation.

Students, young adults, older adults and European partners will have the opportunity to compare their ways of accessing information, the difficulties they have encountered, the strategies they use and the questions that emerged throughout the journey.

The aim is not to decide which generation uses technology better or has the right answers. It is about recognising that different experiences can help us understand the same phenomenon from new perspectives.

The Living Library thus becomes a meeting point between individual stories and collective reflection, opening new opportunities for dialogue about digital citizenship and democratic participation.