The MILBoard Team from Universitas Indonesia (UI) brought Indonesia’s name to the UNESCO Youth Hackathon 2024. The event, held by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), brought together young innovators from various countries to find creative solutions to improve media literacy and understanding. The competition was attended by 203 projects from 68 countries, with the aim of answering challenges in the digital era that are increasingly colored by content from creators and influencers and the threat of hoaxes that are exacerbated by advances in artificial intelligence.
The MILBoard Team’s victory not only brought them to the champion’s stage, but also gave them the opportunity to be invited to the UNESCO Global MIL Week Feature Conference 2024 in Amman, Jordan, on 30-31 October 2024. In front of global leaders, the team presented innovations that focus on developing media literacy skills among children and adolescents.
“We are very proud to be able to bring Indonesia’s name to the world stage and contribute to advancing media literacy for the younger generation,” said Muhammad Rafi Aurelian R., a member of the MILBoard team from FISIP UI batch 2022.
MILBoard was designed by six students from various faculties at UI, namely Muhammad Rafi Aurelian R. (FISIP UI 2022), Sobarisar Al Fariz Nasution (FEB UI 2022), Salma Noorfitria Ningrum (FIA UI 2022), Dien Fitriani Azzahra, Dwiky Ahmad Megananta and Muhammad Faishal Adly N. (all three FASILKOM UI 2022). They created an educational tool that combines board games and digital applications, with the aim of equipping the younger generation in filtering and understanding information critically.
“Through MILBoard, we want children and teenagers to not only understand how to filter information, but also be able to distinguish between facts and hoaxes in the digital world,” he said.
The game combines the concept of traditional games such as snakes and ladders with interactive elements such as challenge cards and QR codes. The accompanying mobile application allows users to continue learning through mini-games and interactive exercises, enhancing the relevant and engaging learning experience.
“By combining traditional learning and technology, we want to reach young people throughout Indonesia, both in big cities and remote areas,” said Salma Noorfitria Ningrum, another team member.
This success shows that innovation from Indonesia’s young generation is able to compete at the global level and inspires other young people to continue working. The MILBoard team hopes that this achievement will be the beginning of many other achievements that can raise media literacy in Indonesia.
