Scaling Up Fact-checking Using the Wisdom of Crowds

Scaling Up Fact-checking Using the Wisdom of Crowds
Author: Jennifer Nancy Lee Allen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre:
ISBN:

Professional fact-checking, a prominent approach to combating misinformation, does not scale easily. Furthermore, some distrust fact-checkers because of alleged liberal bias. We explore a solution to these problems: using politically balanced groups of laypeople to identify misinformation at scale. Examining 207 news articles flagged for fact-checking by Facebook algorithms, we compare accuracy ratings of three professional fact-checkers who researched each article to those of 1128 Americans from Amazon Mechanical Turk who rated each article's headline and lede. The average ratings of small, politically balanced crowds of laypeople (i) correlate with the average fact-checker ratings as well as the fact-checkers' ratings correlate with each other and (ii) predict whether the majority of fact-checkers rated a headline as "true" with high accuracy. Furthermore, cognitive reflection, political knowledge, and Democratic Party preference are positively related to agreement with fact-checkers, and identifying each headline's publisher leads to a small increase in agreement with fact-checkers.

Misinformation, Content Moderation, and Epistemology

Misinformation, Content Moderation, and Epistemology
Author: Keith Raymond Harris
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2024-04-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 104008642X

This book argues that misinformation poses a multifaceted threat to knowledge, while arguing that some forms of content moderation risk exacerbating these threats. It proposes alternative forms of content moderation that aim to address this complexity while enhancing human epistemic agency. The proliferation of fake news, false conspiracy theories, and other forms of misinformation on the internet and especially social media is widely recognized as a threat to individual knowledge and, consequently, to collective deliberation and democracy itself. This book argues that misinformation presents a three-pronged threat to knowledge. While researchers often focus on the role of misinformation in causing false beliefs, this deceptive potential of misinformation exists alongside the potential to suppress trust and to distort the perception of evidence. Recognizing the multifaceted nature of this threat is essential to the development of effective measures to mitigate the harms associated with misinformation. The book weaves together work in analytic epistemology with emerging empirical work in other disciplines to offer novel insights into the threats posed by misinformation. Additionally, it breaks new ground by systematically assessing different forms of content moderation from the perspective of epistemology. Misinformation, Content Moderation, and Epistemology will appeal to philosophers working in applied and social epistemology, as well as scholars and advanced students in disciplines such as communication studies, political science, and social psychology who are researching misinformation. The Introduction and Chapter 1 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY- NC- ND) 4.0 license.

Political Rumors

Political Rumors
Author: Adam J. Berinsky
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2023-08-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0691247579

Why debunked political rumors persist and how to combat them Political rumors and misinformation pollute the political landscape. This is not a recent phenomenon; before the currently rampant and unfounded rumors about a stolen election and vote-rigging, there were other rumors that continued to spread even after they were thoroughly debunked, including doubts about 9/11 (an “inside job”) and the furor over President Obama’s birthplace and birth certificate. If misinformation crowds out the truth, how can Americans communicate with one another about important issues? In this book, Adam Berinsky examines why political rumors exist and persist despite their unsubstantiated and refuted claims, who is most likely to believe them, and how to combat them. Drawing on original survey and experimental data, Berinsky shows that a tendency toward conspiratorial thinking and vehement partisan attachment fuel belief in rumors. Yet the reach of rumors is wide, and Berinsky argues that in fighting misinformation, it is as important to target the undecided and the uncertain as it is the true believers. We’re all vulnerable to misinformation, and public skepticism about the veracity of political facts is damaging to democracy. Moreover, in a world where most people simply don’t pay attention to politics, political leaders are often guilty of disseminating false information—and failing to correct it when it is proven wrong. Berinsky suggests that we should focus on the messenger as much as the message of rumors. Just as important as how misinformation is debunked is who does the debunking.

Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online

Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online
Author: Giovanni Fulantelli
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 826
Release: 2023-04-30
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3031298004

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online, HELMeTO 2022, held in Palermo, Italy, in September 2022. The 59 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 126 submissions. The papers present recent research on challenges of implementing emerging technology solution for online, online learning pedagogical frameworks, online learning technologies in practice, online learning strategies and resources, etc.

The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning

The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning
Author: Darren Lilleker
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 506
Release: 2024-11-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1040175473

The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning provides an essential, global, and timely overview of current realities, as well as anticipating the trajectory and evolution of campaigning in the coming years. Offering a comprehensive analysis, the handbook is structured into seven thematic sections, including the campaign environment; rhetoric and persuasion; campaign strategies; campaign tactics and platform affordances; news and journalism; citizens and voters; and civil society. The chapters within each section reflect on the latest societal, technological, and cultural developments and their impact on campaigning, on democratic culture within societies, and on the roles that campaigns might play in both facilitating and impeding political engagement. Key trends and innovations are examined alongside case studies and examples from a range of nations and political contexts. Issues around trust and representation are further reflected in a focus on the wider campaigning environment and the rise in importance of grassroots and pressure groups, social movements, and movements that coalesce within digital environments. The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning is an essential resource for scholars, students, and practitioners in political communication, media and communication, elections and voting behavior, digital media, journalism, social movements, strategic communication, social media, and more broadly to democracy, sociology, and public policy.

Socio-Technical Aspects in Security

Socio-Technical Aspects in Security
Author: Simon Parkin
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2022-07-13
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3031101839

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the refereed conference proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Socio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust, STAST 2021, held in conjunction with ESORICS, the European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, as a virtual event, in October 2021. The 10 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 25 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: web and apps; context and modelling; and from the present to the future.

A Future for the News

A Future for the News
Author: Jim A. Kuypers
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2023-11-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1538180243

Bringing together academics and news industry professionals, this daring book investigates and offers solutions to significant problems with the productive functioning of the mainstream news media. Each chapter offers a pathway for improvement for individual reporters, the institution more broadly, and the news consumer.

The Psychology of Fake News

The Psychology of Fake News
Author: Rainer Greifeneder
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2020-08-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000179052

This volume examines the phenomenon of fake news by bringing together leading experts from different fields within psychology and related areas, and explores what has become a prominent feature of public discourse since the first Brexit referendum and the 2016 US election campaign. Dealing with misinformation is important in many areas of daily life, including politics, the marketplace, health communication, journalism, education, and science. In a general climate where facts and misinformation blur, and are intentionally blurred, this book asks what determines whether people accept and share (mis)information, and what can be done to counter misinformation? All three of these aspects need to be understood in the context of online social networks, which have fundamentally changed the way information is produced, consumed, and transmitted. The contributions within this volume summarize the most up-to-date empirical findings, theories, and applications and discuss cutting-edge ideas and future directions of interventions to counter fake news. Also providing guidance on how to handle misinformation in an age of “alternative facts”, this is a fascinating and vital reading for students and academics in psychology, communication, and political science and for professionals including policy makers and journalists.

Miscommunicating the COVID-19 Pandemic

Miscommunicating the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author: Ran Wei
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2023-09-08
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000954684

This book tackles the infodemic—the rapid, widespread diffusion of false, misleading, or inaccurate information about the disease and its ramifications—triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. With a focus on four Asian societies, the book compares and analyzes the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and its broad impacts on the public in Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Singapore. Providing both a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon of misinformation and cross-societal analyses of patterns, the book features in-depth analyses of the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation and engagement and explores its consequences in an Asian context. The book sheds lights on these key questions: What types of infodemic messages circulate widely on popular social media platforms? What factors account for exposure to and engagement with debunked yet popular COVID-19 misinformation? How does exposure to widely circulated COVID-19 misinformation affect people’s beliefs, attitudes, and adoption of preventive measures to cope with the pandemic? How do macro social differences condition the diffusion and impacts of COVID-19 misinformation? What intervention strategies can counter the misinformation? Presenting scientific insights and empirical findings on the pressing issues about infodemic, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of communication studies, political science, public health, crisis communication, and Asian Studies, as well as policymakers and practitioners who wish to acquire cutting-edge, evidence-based knowledge about combating misinformation during a global pandemic.

News Quality in the Digital Age

News Quality in the Digital Age
Author: Regina G Lawrence
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2023-03-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000841677

This book brings together a diverse, international array of contributors to explore the topics of news “quality” in the online age and the relationships between news organizations and enormously influential digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Covering topics ranging from internet incivility, crowdsourcing, and YouTube politics to regulations, algorithms, and AI, this book draws the key distinction between the news that facilitates democracy and news that undermines it. For students and scholars as well as journalists, policymakers, and media commentators, this important work engages a wide range of methodological and theoretical perspectives to define the key concept of “quality” in the news media.