Welcome to our collaborative effort to address the topic of Misinformation. Our goal: to provide a clear and transparent foundation for an incredibly knotty, complicated, and decidedly unclear topic.
How do we know that the news we read and hear is true? How do we develop intellectually honest and informed opinions about a tremendously complex world: Politics and Policies, War and Science? Opinions that are based on facts and clear, rigorous analysis, informed by history and context, and take stances that recognize and name racism and bias of all kinds?
It’s hard! And there is no formula. We have to read a lot and ask a lot of questions. This research guide is a collaboration of librarians and instructors at Barnard and Columbia who sat down together to try to articulate where we might start. For example, it can help to know some basic terms like “misinformation” and “disinformation” and to question image choices and word choices.
This is imperfect and incomplete. We hope it is the beginning of a conversation though. It is an absolutely essential one.
Peace and Solidarity,
Liam, Tatiana, Miriam, Fannie, Joscelyn, and Emily
So we are all on the same page, let's share the same definition of terms used throughout the discussion:
Clickbait -- Eye catching but misleading headlines, designed to get people to click on links to make money or get views for a website. Headlines that are designed to hook you in. It may include appealing titles and lots of explanation points. "Best Ever!" "You won't believe! And so on.
Confirmation Bias -The tendency to Interpret information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses
Disinformation -- false information that is deliberately created or disseminated with the express purpose to cause harm. Producers of disinformation typically have political, financial, psychological, or social motivations.
Deep Fakes -- term currently being used to describe fabricated media produced using artificial intelligence. By synthesizing different elements of existing video or audio file, AI enables relatively easy methods for creating "new" content, in which individuals appear to speak words and perform actions, which are not based on reality.
Fact-Checking -- the process of determining the truthfulness and accuracy of official, published information such as politicians' statements and news reports.
Filter bubble is a situation in which an Internet user encounters only information and opinions that conform to and reinforce their own beliefs, caused by algorithms that personalize an individual's online experience, based on their clicking behavior, browsing history, and search history. The personalized web browsing gradually isolates an individual user into their own filter bubbles.
Hoax-- a deliberate deception that plays on people's willingness to believe. Hoaxes depend, at least initially, on some people take them at face value. Often, hoaxes are a means of challenging authority, custom, or the status quo.
information bubble refers to the idea that people tend to only look at news from sources that they agree with therefore not seeing any opposing viewpoints.
Malinformation -- genuine information that is shared to cause harm. This includes private or revealing information that is spread to harm a person or reputation.
Misinformation -- information that is false, but not intended to cause harm. For example, individuals who don't know a piece of information is false may spread it on social media in an attempt to be helpful.
Political Bots - Automated computer programs that generate political messages using an algorithm.
Propaganda -- true or false information spread to persuade an audience, but often has a political connotation and is often connect to information produced by governments.
True - the true or actual state of a matter: conformity with fact or reality; verity: a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.
Truthiness - Comedian Stephen Colbert discusses "truthiness" on his Comedy Central TV show - and the word makes it into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. See the definition: truthiness. This is an example of Satire - the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
For More -- check out the fake News Glossary-- Essential Key Words from the BBC.
Sources: Lexicon of Lies, Information Disorder: The Essential Glossary, The University of California Irvine Library, Hillsborough Community College Library, University of Central Oklahoma.