The SMILES Project
The SMILES Project
It was Autumn 2020 and the KB (Dutch National Library) had an idea for a new project that would help kids become more savvy consumers of digital media and regain trust in news sources. The idea couldn’t have come at a better time.
COVID-19 had already unleashed a tidal wave of disinformation upon the public that was a challenge for even adults to see their way through. With our kids’ future at stake, we felt it was almost our duty to jump onboard and help design the project.
We set to work with six European partners. Our vision was to bring libraries and schools together to develop and participate in “fake news” workshops geared at middle schoolers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.
We’re really proud that the Dutch National Erasmus+ Agency awarded funding to Innovative methodS for Media & Information Literacy Education involving Schools and Libraries, or the SMILES Project. It’s implemented from 2021-2023 with a €236,703 grant.
