WHSLA blog: Is Seeing Really Believing? Visual Health Misinformation (NNLM Webinar)

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Is Seeing Really Believing? Visual Health Misinformation (NNLM Webinar)

Presenters: Kelsey Cowles, Rachel Suppok, and Rebekah Miller, Research & Instruction Librarians at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System

Discussions of health literacy and health misinformation frequently focus on the analysis and fact-checking of written materials. However, research has shown that visuals can be even more convincing than text-based information and can shape how text-based information is perceived. Identifying misleading visualizations and imagery is therefore a vital skill for navigating the current health information landscape.
This interactive session will illustrate the pervasive nature of this issue and introduce attendees to a wide range of deceptive visual communications ranging from misleading graphs to manipulated images in scientific publications to AI-generated deepfakes.
Attendees will gain confidence in analyzing various types of visual information and leave the session with practical ideas for incorporating these skills into programming in a variety of contexts.

The goals of this webinar are to:

Describe the importance of visual health info literacy
Identify misleading visual communication or out-of-context imagery in both general and academic settings
Recognize how manipulation of visuals can alter the message conveyed by the media

People are more likely to believe a statement when accompanied by an image

Images are more likely to be remembered than words

Photos increase likes/shares on social media

The technology is constantly improving, so the tells that help us identify deepfakes will likely disappear soon, esp. some of the more obvious ones. This is where context is important: Would the person say / do that in real life?

Practice what you've learned:

3 Books recommended is the webinar: