MCCM
RESILIENCE
OUR MEDIA
Citizens’ Association Školegijum from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has launched a quiz and handbook to boost media literacy in society, as part of Our Media, a regional initiative promoting media activism across the Western Balkans and Turkey.
The Hopi quiz and handbook were designed to help teachers – and others – to have fun while gaining solid knowledge about media, social networks, and the internet. The quiz works as an app and includes questions from other fields as well.
The game begins with the first team moving the figurine (the “Hopi”) like a knight in chess to the desired category. A correct answer to one of four options allows another jump; a wrong answer passes the turn to the next of four teams. The winner is the first team to answer two questions correctly in each category. Each question comes with extra explanations, information, or prompts for further research.
The concept was created by Školegijum magazine editor Nenad Veličković and his colleagues. For fifteen years, Školegijum has researched education in BiH, finding it unjust (unequal access for all children), non-transparent (decisions made without public input), and outdated (lagging behind modern educational processes).
They are aware of the long road from initiative to decision to introduce media literacy in schools and of the reality that functionally illiterate graduates will easily fall for unchecked, false, or malicious information, spread it, and base decisions on it. When asked why media literacy is absent from the school system, Veličković replied:
“I wouldn’t say the curriculum creators have no idea, but I would say they don’t know enough. Also, the problem lies with teachers. No one forbids them from engaging with it, but they don’t, except for rare exceptions. The most important reason, I think, is the fear of knowledge, which has been systematically nurtured here for some time. Knowledge can prompt ethical behavior, which threatens conformism. And that doesn’t apply only to media literacy.”
The quiz and handbook provide at least some knowledge about what media are, how they work, and how to consume them, contributing to understanding why media literacy matters and what problems reliance on unreliable information can cause.
For proper understanding and application of media, the key elements are:
a. critical thinking; b. civic competence; c. media literacy; d. political correctness.
One of the most frequently repeated false claims on the internet is:
a. vaccines are linked to autism; b. polar bears are endangered; c. Americans landed on the Moon; d. Nikola Tesla was cremated.
Media content that seeks to divert public attention from another piece of content, fact, or event currently in the public spotlight is called:
a. spin; b. spam; c. bot; d. bin.
(These are randomly selected questions from the Hopi quiz, within the “Media Literacy” category.)
Hopi Jumps Through BiH
Školegijum asked partners in eight cities to spread the word about the quiz and form mixed groups by age and gender. The Hopi team visited Jajce, Jelah, Konjic, Odžak, Posušje, Prijedor, Srebrenica, and Vareš – where the tour opened.
These gatherings brought together teachers, retirees, pupils, students, engineers, and scouts to have fun and learn. At each event, quiz host and journalist Zoran Ćatić gave short lectures and moderated discussions aimed at encouraging critical thinking about media phenomena.
Hopi will remain active in the cities visited, ideally becoming part of local quiz culture and, eventually, schools. Teachers who value media education can use it as a ready-made tool.
The project is funded through the Our Media sub-granting scheme, which has provided support to 21 local projects across the Western Balkans.
The regional program “Our Media: A civil society action to generate media literacy and activism, counter polarisation and promote dialogue” is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by partner organizations SEENPM, Albanian Media Institute, Mediacentar Sarajevo, Press Council of Kosovo, Montenegrin Media Institute, Macedonian Institute for Media, Novi Sad School of Journalism, Peace Institute and Bianet.
This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Mediacentar Sarajevo and SEENPM and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
