This page will be this guide's "home base" for recent updates on the topics of misinformation/disinformation, media literacy, fact checking and conspiracy theories.
A February 2024 study published in The Harvard Kennedy School's Misinformation Review found that debunking misinformation among fringe groups susceptible to it was not effective. Instead, the study found that focusing upon limiting consumption of misinformation is far more effective. The new strategy works by exposing the unreliability of sources, which results in the audiences reducing their consumption of misinformation in order not to be misled. This groundbreaking research has broad implications for how societies combat misinformation -- watch this space!
A selection of recent scholarship on various aspects of misinformation/disinformation, propaganda & conspiracy theories..
Galarza-Molina, R. (2023). Youth in the face of disinformation: A qualitative exploration of Mexican college students’ attitudes, motivations, and abilities around false news. Communication & Society, 97–113.
Gjerazi, B., & Skana, P. (2023). Impact of politically motivated fake news on public opinion: A case study of deliberate dissemination of disinformation. Balkan Social Science Review, 22(22), 365–383.g
Petratos, P. N., & Faccia, A. (2023). Fake news, misinformation, disinformation and supply chain risks and disruptions: Risk management and resilience using blockchain. Annals of Operations Research, 327(2), 735–762.
Weaver, R. L. (2024). Remedies for “Disinformation.” University of the Pacific Law Review, 55(2), 185–208.
A selection of recent magazine, newspaper, web and trade journal articles about misinformation/disinformation, propaganda & conspiracy theories.
Bucktin, C. (2023, Apr 13). £1.3bn fake news trial 'could ruin Murdoch': Tycoon admits Fox TV pushed US election conspiracy theories. The Daily Mirror.
DiMolfetta., D. (2024, Mar 20). US sanctions Kremlin-backed firms for operating network of fake news sites. Nextgov.Com (Online).
Morris, R. (2023). The shocking truth about fake news: Your social media feed is an easy place to get news-but you shouldn’t believe everything you see. Here are four tips to avoid falling into a misinformation trap. Scholastic Choices, 38(6), 6–11.
Researchers have found that trusted messengers and grassroots organizing are critical to halting the spread of misinformation and fostering community engagement, especially in communities that have limited access to internet, wi-fi and library resources. Marginalized communities in particular can benefit from investments in "human networks and local infrastructures that can offer reliable information and support democratic participation." In addition, new research related to COVID-19 misinformation suggests the power of this type of outreach to counter conspiracy theories.
Sources:
Conference Presentation/Discussion, INFORMED 2024/The Knight Foundation. View sessions from INFORMED 2024 here; previous conference sessions are also available.
Lalani, H. S., DiResta, R., Baron, R. J., & Scales, D. (2023). Addressing viral medical rumors and false or misleading information. Annals of Internal Medicine.
New from PBS.org - lesson plans for the classroom! These lesson plans are listed with an accompanying video that explains the issue and how students can take action. The program is geared toward teens and young adults, and it includes modules on how to fact check and analyze online information to determine its credibility, how to avoid internet scams, how to navigate the internet using media literacy skills and how to produce a fact-check video. Check it out!
In summer 2023, the University of Rhode Island Media Education Lab had a series of events called Courageous Conversations. The goal was to gather data and insight into why and how misinformation and conspiracies are believed and spread, and what we can do to effectively tackle this problem via interpersonal communication. In addition to its professional development opportunities, curriculum and recommended reading list, the Lab has continued offering these conversations, and representatives are always available for in person and virtual presentations.
The Courageous Conversations events resulted in a fascinating data portal, which hosts interactive tools suitable for researchers, students and concerned citizens. Give it a try!
In July 2023, the Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University published a new tool called Top FIBers, a dashboard of disinformation "superspreaders" on Facebook and Twitter. Users can view data by month, platform, individual account or overall.
According to information scientist Mike Caulfield, "The latest AI language tools are powering a new generation of spammy, low-quality content that threatens to overwhelm the internet unless online platforms and regulators find ways to rein it in." Caulfield believes it's essential for tech platforms to mitigate AI spam before platforms become completely unusable. Stay tuned.
Hoffman, B. & J. Ware (2024) God, Guns and Sedition. Columbia University Press.
Thagard, P. (2024). Falsehoods fly: Why disinformation spreads and how to stop it. Columbia University Press.
Weiss, A. (2024). Counterfact: Fake news and misinformation in the digital information age. Rowman & Littlefield.
From our catalog:
Attack from Within by
MSNBC's legal expert breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few. In Attack from Within, legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on the Capitol in 2020 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving democracy.
Burning the Books by
Wolfson History Prize Finalist A New Statesman Book of the Year A Sunday Times Book of the Year "If you care about books, and if you believe we must all stand up to the destruction of knowledge and cultural heritage, this is a brilliant read--both powerful and prescient."--Elif Shafak The director of the famed Bodleian Libraries at Oxford narrates the global history of the willful destruction--and surprising survival--of recorded knowledge over the past three millennia. Libraries and archives have been attacked since ancient times but have been especially threatened in the modern era. Today the knowledge they safeguard faces purposeful destruction and willful neglect; deprived of funding, libraries are fighting for their very existence. Burning the Books recounts the history that brought us to this point. Richard Ovenden describes the deliberate destruction of knowledge held in libraries and archives from ancient Alexandria to contemporary Sarajevo, from smashed Assyrian tablets in Iraq to the destroyed immigration documents of the UK Windrush generation. He examines both the motivations for these acts--political, religious, and cultural--and the broader themes that shape this history. He also looks at attempts to prevent and mitigate attacks on knowledge, exploring the efforts of librarians and archivists to preserve information, often risking their own lives in the process. More than simply repositories for knowledge, libraries and archives inspire and inform citizens. In preserving notions of statehood recorded in such historical documents as the Declaration of Independence, libraries support the state itself. By preserving records of citizenship and records of the rights of citizens as enshrined in legal documents such as the Magna Carta and the decisions of the US Supreme Court, they support the rule of law. In Burning the Books, Ovenden takes a polemical stance on the social and political importance of the conservation and protection of knowledge, challenging governments in particular, but also society as a whole, to improve public policy and funding for these essential institutions.
Foolproof by
From fake news to conspiracy theories, from inflammatory memes to misleading headlines, misinformation has swiftly become the defining problem of our era. The crisis threatens the integrity of our democracies, our ability to cultivate trusting relationships, even our physical and psychological well-being--yet most attempts to combat it have proven insufficient. In Foolproof, one of the world's leading experts on misinformation lays out a crucial new paradigm for understanding and defending ourselves against the worldwide infodemic. With remarkable clarity, Sander van der Linden explains why our brains are so vulnerable to misinformation, how it spreads across social networks, and what we can do to protect ourselves and others. Like a virus, misinformation infects our minds, exploiting shortcuts in how we see and process information to alter our beliefs, modify our memories, and replicate at astonishing rates. Once the virus takes hold, it's very hard to cure. Strategies like fact-checking and debunking can leave a falsehood still festering or, at worst, even strengthen its hold. But we aren't helpless. As van der Linden shows based on award-winning original research, we can cultivate immunity through the innovative science of "prebunking": inoculating people against false information by preemptively exposing them to a weakened dose, thus empowering them to identify and fend off its manipulative tactics. Deconstructing the characteristic techniques of conspiracies and misinformation, van der Linden gives readers practical tools to defend themselves and others against nefarious persuasion--whether at scale or around their own dinner table.
Verified by
An indispensable guide for telling fact from fiction on the internet--often in less than 30 seconds. The internet brings information to our fingertips almost instantly. The result is that we often jump to thinking too fast, without taking a few moments to verify the source before engaging with a claim or viral piece of media. Information literacy expert Mike Caulfield and educational researcher Sam Wineburg are here to enable us to take a moment for due diligence with this informative, approachable guide to the internet. With this illustrated tool kit, you will learn to identify red flags, get quick context, and make better use of common websites like Google and Wikipedia that can help and hinder in equal measure. This how-to guide will teach you how to use the web to verify the web, quickly and efficiently, including how to * Verify news stories and other events in as little as thirty seconds (seriously) * Determine if the article you're citing is by a reputable scholar or a quack * Detect the slippery tactics scammers use to make their sites look credible * Decide in a minute if that shocking video is truly shocking * Deduce who's behind a site--even when its ownership is cleverly disguised * Uncover if that feature story is actually a piece planted by a foreign government * Use Wikipedia wisely to gain a foothold on new topics and leads for digging deeper And so much more. Building on techniques like SIFT and lateral reading, Verified will help students and anyone else looking to get a handle on the internet's endless flood of information through quick, practical, and accessible steps. For more information, visit the website for the book.