ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: training course
Dates: 2—8 December 2024
Venue: Trnava, Slovakia
Please read the info-pack.
Hosting organisation: Európsky Dialóg, o.z.
Report z projektu:
Ahoj! It is a great pleasure to welcome You from Trnava, Slovakia! Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in Erasmus+ training program, “Human Rights Defenders: Societies in Digital Era “. Project took a place in smaller city named Trnava in Slovakia from 2nd of December to December 8th, 2024. The whole experience was both exciting and enlightening. Not only did I meet some new and great people, but I also gained valuable insights into the digital world and our rights within it. Alongside other participants from Slovakian Republic, Romania, Italy, Lithuanian, Greece and Slovenia, I not only visited Trnava and Bratislava but also, most importantly, learned about our rights in digital and sociologic space, how companies collect and use our data, what creates hate speech and how to fight it..
The arrival went smoothly, I was the only participant from Czech Republic so my way there felt a bit lonely. However, as soon as I arrived at the train station in Trnava I immediately spotted a group of three participants from Italy and one from Romania. Together we were ordered a taxi to Na Mlyne Guesthouse, where our project took a place. By the time of dinner, I already knew all the participants from all the countries. Everyone was really friendly, and we could already tell that the work environment will be supportive and cooperative.
There was no time to lose! Five days are no time for a project, so we started the next morning straight with introduction of our project leaders – Denisa and Monika from Slovakia, Martin from Czechia and Ali from Greece. The training sessions were fully covered with many important topics. We dove into the issues surrounding digital privacy, exploring how social media tracks our data and the role of cookies. It was quite a shock to realize just how much information can run through our fingers by one click on our phone. Discovering how deeply is our online behaviour monitored and commercialized, made me want to be more mindful to how I spend my time online and which apps do I really have to have in my phone and if it‘s necessary to have my consent to every website I visit.
By the third day we moved from topic of human rights to fighting hate speech. We dove deeper into what are the reasons of hate speech, how it affects youngsters and kids and how to fight and prevent hate speech as well as protect ourselves from it. This topic was more about debate, we concluded, that main cause of hate speech is anonymity and the fact we do not see the consequences of our words. The whole topic was highly connected to the mentality of culture and community, because in the discussion we agreed that every community and every country has different ways of expressing themselves and different borders, so the fight against hate speech has to be really individual.
Each session was closed with group activity related to the topic we currently explored. For example, we tried to plan an educational training course, simulated a political debate, a court where human rights were overlooked or played a shirt scene. Each time out group changed so we learn how to cooperate with different people and are given new ideas and views. The final creation and the closing task of our project was to create a game either on hate speech or data security. Our group chose to create a board ‘hacking’ game to teach people how easy is to steal our data if we are nor mindful enough.
Throughout the week, we also connected and explored Slovakia’s rich culture. From wandering through the charming town of Trnava to savouring local cuisine and got in touch with wonderful spirit of Christmas These shared experiences deepened our sense of community, and I left the training with many new friends and connections.
Looking back on the whole experience, I can honestly say this Erasmus+ training was transformative. It equipped me with practical tools to be educate others about the challenges we face in the digital world and how we can all work towards making it a safer, more respectful environment. The skills and insights I gained will greatly benefit my work with young people, as I now have fresh strategies to teach them about digital privacy, online safety, and how to stand against hate speech and cyberbullying. As for personal use, I will definitely be more mindful about how I spend my time on social media and who I share my data with.
Julie
