Seminars on Information Literacy, Digital Skills & AI
Phil Info Lab offers hands-on workshops for undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Faculty of Philosophy. Each seminar runs for 3 hours in the computer lab and concludes with a certificate of attendance. Sessions are designed to be practical, not theoretical: participants work with real tools, real databases, and real research questions.
Seminar 1 — "Exploring Artificial Intelligence: Myths and Realities"
AI is already embedded in the tools we use every day — from writing assistants to search engines. But what can it actually do? Where does it fall short? And how can we use it responsibly in academic work?
This seminar introduces the key concepts of artificial intelligence in an accessible way: how it developed, how it shapes everyday life and scholarship today, and what ethical use looks like in a university context. The hands-on segment invites participants to try different Generative AI tools, compare their capabilities, and explore how they can support research, idea generation and academic writing.
📍 For: undergraduate and postgraduate students in the humanities ⏱ Duration: 3 hours | Certificate of attendance issued
Seminar 2 — "Digital Research in the Humanities: Finding and Evaluating Scientific Sources"
Starting a paper and overwhelmed by thousands of search results? This seminar turns information overload into a navigable process.
Participants learn to build effective search strategies using the University's library catalogue, international academic databases, and specialist humanities resources. Through guided exercises, they practice converting a broad topic into a focused research question, applying keywords, Boolean operators and filters, distinguishing bibliographic records from full text, evaluating source quality, and organising references efficiently.
📍 For: undergraduate and postgraduate students in the humanities ⏱ Duration: 3 hours | Certificate of attendance issued
Seminar 3 — "From ChatGPT to AI Agents: How AI is Evolving and What It Means for the Humanities"
Generative AI tools have already changed how we write, search and think. Now a new generation of technologies — AI Agents — is emerging, capable of executing more complex tasks and collaborating more actively with users.
This seminar explores the transition from today's generative tools to agent-based systems: what the difference means in practice, how human-AI interaction is shifting, and what this evolution implies for humanities research, academic writing and knowledge work. Participants compare tools, discuss implications, and leave with a critical and forward-looking perspective on where AI is heading.
📍 For: undergraduate and postgraduate students in the humanities ⏱ Duration: 3 hours | Certificate of attendance issued
Seminars on request
Beyond the scheduled programme, seminars can be arranged in coordination with course instructors to address specific needs — for example, reference management tools (e.g. Mendeley), in-depth sessions on a particular database (e.g. JSTOR), or workshops tailored to a seminar or thesis project.
📧 philinfolab@phil.uoa.gr | ☎ +30 210 727 7660
Activities & Outreach
"Culture Mosaic" (Ψηφίδες Πολιτισμού) An ongoing cultural outreach initiative that extends seminar learning beyond the computer lab. Students visit cultural institutions — libraries, museums and archives — as part of a structured reflection on information, memory and the human record. Recent visits include the Gounaropoulos Museum and the Gennadius Library centennial exhibition. The initiative draws on the Peripatetic tradition: knowledge comes alive when it moves.
CIVIS European University Alliance Phil Info Lab actively participates in the CIVIS alliance through multiple networks. The Lab is represented in the CIVIS Libraries Network, the CASCADE participatory education network, and SUCTI (staff training in internationalisation). In the CIVIS Blended Intensive Programme "Transformative Libraries and Participatory Culture" (IMOTION), the Lab leads the NKUA team and delivers sessions on Information Literacy and AI alongside partner universities AMU Marseille, Sapienza Rome and PLUS Salzburg.
Information Literacy in the Library As part of the Faculty of Philosophy Library's Information Literacy Team, the Lab contributes to sessions for students across all departments of the Faculty — including Linguistics, German Philology, French Philology, Folklore Studies, and History & Archaeology.
NKUA AI Policy The Lab plays an active role in shaping the University's institutional response to AI: contributing to the draft AI Use Regulation for NKUA and working within the Library & Information Centre's AI Working Group.
