The Rotary Club of Conejo Valley invited back Anahita Dalmia to update us on her peacebuilding project. Anahita is the CEO of Alterea and daughter of a past president of the RC Delhi Premier (Aneesha Dalmia).
Anahita first presented her project to RC of Conejo Valley in March 2021. She explained that, when she was a student, she read that more polio cases are now caused by the vaccine than by wild viruses. She was concerned because she knew of her mother’s and Rotary’s involvement with the polio vaccine. After researching the subject, she realized that the statement was misleading and that much of the information accessible to students is misinformation or disinformation. Anahita wanted to help.
Anahita and her team created an amazing interactive game to help middle schoolers learn how to use critical thinking to identify false information: Agents of Influence. In this game, students engage in a fun way to learn about topics including data collection and tracking, algorithms, echo chambers, impostor content, logical fallacies, and data fallacies while practicing three critical thinking skills: research, document analysis, and conversations.
The effects of disinformation and misinformation are certainly at the forefront of this era. Our past president Tom Niemerow has been very concerned about manipulation by social media, especially for teenagers, and was enthusiastic when he discovered Anahita’s project and introduced her to our Club.
Since our first meeting, Anahita has really moved the project forward with support from Stanford and three school districts to pilot the project. She has presented her project to more than 50 Rotary Clubs and is now looking for funding and help to get to the next level with it. RC of Conejo Valley hopes to spearhead support of this project within District 5240. We hope you will join us.