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Battling disinformation with technology

A team composed of graduates from three Philippine universities bagged first place in a recently concluded hackathon.

According to recent report, the three-city event challenged programmers and developers to create systems that will help institutions battle disinformation.

The winning tech

The team, comprised of graduates from the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), the De La Salle University (DLSU) and the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, topped the competition when they created a network graph to track purveyors of disinformation.

Their project is also capable of mapping out the relationships of fake news web sites with each other.

By mapping out the Web of fake news sites, which have figurative and literal links to one another, these sources can be separated from legitimate outlets and publications.

Separating them will undoubtedly lift the quality of public discourse.

Some of the solutions produced include:

  1. An online database of fake news sites
  2. An anti-fake news content portal
  3. An app that identifies if an applicant’s credentials are true
  4. A mapping tool that maps traffic sources of a social sentiment in an online platform

The team that won second place created a Web browser extension that bridged the gap between users and fact-checking organisations.

The third place winner, meanwhile, created an app that gives bloggers a badge that detects fake news.

Each team were given five minutes to pitch their creation, and had three minutes to answer the judges’ questions.

Aside from PHP 100,000 (US$ 1,913.95), additional prizes for the winners are:

  1. Opportunity to pitch their programs to potential investors
  2. Visit the country offices of some of the region’s biggest companies
  3. Get mentorship from local entrepreneurs and professionals
  4. Consultancy from a marketing and events management company

About the hackathon

Jakarta, Indonesia, was the inaugural stop of the event. The event then moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for its second outing last July. Manila, Philippines was the last leg of the event.

Participants were encouraged to develop a multitude of possible solutions to fight fake news.

The hackathon was made possible through the generous grant awarded by the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Seeds for the Future program of the US Government, in cooperation with a non-profit organisation.

Launched in 2013, YSEALI is the signature program of the US to strengthen youth leadership in the region.

The lead organiser of the event explained that they aim to engage the public, especially the youth, through technology-driven media literacy events to combat fake news.

They are addressing the Asian struggle against fake news and disinformation through technology.

Fake news is one of the most pressing issues facing the world today. It will take the ingenuity of the youth, combined with the power of technology, to put an end to this trend.

The event serves as forum to realise their solutions and mobilise them into action.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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