Abstract
The purpose of this study is to propose a method to raise awareness of biases in perceptions of different cultures created by information environments primarily based on the Japanese language. Therefore, we designed and implemented a workshop (WS) for elementary and junior high school students. In this workshop, participants worked with mentors from different cultures, comparing information through cross-lingual searches and conducting fact-checking. They then selected photos related to "food" and "tourism" and expressed them with catchy captions. The goals of this study are: (1) to make participants aware of the bias in information obtained through Japanese-only searches on the Internet, and (2) to summarize the elements required to utilize Internet information for understanding different cultures. As a result of implementing this WS, through participant observation and impression mapping, it was found that (1) by comparing information through cross-lingual searches and fact-checking, participants were able to use Internet information in the context of understanding different cultures and became aware of partial/biased perceptions of different cultures. For (2), based on the results of (1), the important elements were identified as "creating an environment for comparing information," "mechanisms to prevent misunderstandings of information," and "strategies to expand search terms.".
