A Collaborative Journey from Fiction to Facts
from 01/06/2025 until 16/01/2026
We are a group of science communicators who have observed that many of
us tend to believe in folk wisdom or outdated beliefs that influence our daily
choices, often without understanding their validity. Our curiosity about the
truth behind these beliefs has led us down an intriguing path. We realised we
need the assistance of intergenerational citizen scientists to help us
differentiate between fiction and facts. As we began our investigation, we
discovered that we often prefer to accept fabricated ideas that resonate with
our values, family, and community traditions rather than adhere to factual
information. While we suspect some folk wisdom may hold, we also recognise numerous
misconceptions. Therefore, in the summer
of 2025, we aimed to collect as many folk wisdoms as possible and in the autumn
we assembled a team of intergenerational citizen scientists to help us
distinguish fact from fiction. Together with these citizen scientists, we
co-created a tool designed to fact-check and collaboratively investigate
selected wisdoms.
Aim
This project uses intergenerational citizen science to critically
examine culturally-rooted wisdoms related to health, food, and environment,
fostering evidence-based reasoning to combat misinformation and improve science
literacy. We wanted to know what methods do citizen scientists use to
distinguish facts from fictions in deeply ingrained common wisdom and online
trends (related to health, food and environment). We are also planning to put
together an exhibition as part of the project and to continue running workshops
in libraries throughout Slovenia.
How to participate
People can collect and contribute common wisdom in their social
environment or from online media and contribute to boxes in libraries or in an
online form or send them to us through email and social media.
Citizen scientists can join our cocreation workshops to explore how to
interact with different information related to health, food and environment and
how to improve this interaction by relying on science and facts instead of
fictions. Citizen scientists reflect on their own experiences,share them with
others and are joined by domain specialists to explore whether there is any
truth behind traditional folk sayings and contemporary online trends.
Needed equipment
There is no need for equipment besides citizen scientists’ time.
About funding
Funding bodies: European Union’s Horizon Europe
Funding program: IMPETUS
