Judges determined the Alterea, Inc. team will be awarded the $75,000 to combat mis- and disinformation with media literacy spy-themed video game
Contact:
Betsy Cooper
Director
Aspen Tech Policy Hub
Betsy.Cooper@aspeninstitute.org
San Francisco, California, May 3, 2022 — At a live pitch event involving four semi-finalists in front of a panel of judges, the Alterea, Inc. team has been awarded $75,000 to execute “Agents of Influence” to make meaningful progress toward ending information disorder. The team members are Anahita Dalmia, Jasper McEvoy, and Alex Walter.
“Our goal is that, by playing this game, students realize the impact information has on their worldview,” said Dalmia during the presentation. “By empowering people, particularly the next generation, we knew we could have a positive effect on . . . civic empowerment.”
The video game teaches middle- and high-schoolers to recognize misinformation, think critically, and make more responsible decisions. Through interactive narrative and games that teach counter-misinformation best practices, students save the fictional Virginia Hall High School from the plots of Harbinger, an evil spy organization using misinformation to manipulate the student body.
The award is the culmination of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub Information Disorder Prize Competition. The prize competition, launched in November 2021, asked applicants for unique and innovative projects aimed at combatting mis- and disinformation in direct connection to one or more of the newly announced 15 recommendations of the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder.
The semi-finalist teams, announced in April 2022, received $5,000 to develop prototypes of their deliverables presented today. Commission members Chris Krebs, Amanda Zamora, and Deb Roy chose the winner from four semi-finalist teams at a live event today.
“The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is proud to support today’s winner and the team’s efforts to end information disorder,” said Betsy Cooper, Aspen Tech Policy Hub founding director. “The Commission’s report recommendations aim to increase transparency and understanding, build trust, and reduce harms. We are excited to see this project put those recommendations into practice.”
The Information Disorder Prize Competition is supported by Craig Newmark Philanthropies and ex/ante (an initiative of Schmidt Futures).
For more information on the Information Disorder Prize Competition visit here.
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The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is a West Coast policy incubator, training a new generation of tech policy entrepreneurs. The Hub takes tech experts, teaches them the policy process through fellowship and training programs, and encourages them to develop outside-the-box solutions to society’s problems. It models itself after tech incubators like Y Combinator, but trains new policy thinkers and focuses on the impact of their ideas. For more information, please visit https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org. The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is an initiative of Aspen Digital.