Research on the current infodemic

Thanks to WHSLA member Jennifer Deal for sending me this article from Health Information and Libraries Journal.  The authors argue that inaccurate and misleading continues to be a problem, especially on social media.  They conclude that fake information does real damage to public health.

But don't despair!  They've also formulated strategies to combat the spread of false information.  And as information professionals, we can help in this fight.  Here are the authors' suggestions and some links to help you get started:

• Train people how to identify and recognize fake news stories.
• Stop tolerating pseudoscience health practices.
• Swamp the landscape with accurate information.

How to Combat Covid-19 Related Misinformation Webinar

I just watched this useful webinar about combatting Covid-19 related misinformation from Every Library Institute and recommend it to my WHSLA Colleagues.

Although the live webinar sold out, you can still register to watch the recording.  If you register, you'll get access to the slides, links, and other items mentioned in the talk.   The session is about 35 minutes long.  

If you don't have time to watch it, here are some of my notes from the session:

Did you know that there's a specific term for misinformation in the age of Covid-19? 

• WHO refers to it as Coronavirus Infodemic in their situation reports.  

Sarah Brandt  was one of the presenters.  She works for NewsGuard, a company that offers "nutrition labels" for news sites, where they rate credibility and transparency.

NewsGuard classifies Coronavirus Misinformation into 3 categories:

1. False Claims
2. Phony Cures
3. Downplaying the seriousness of Corona

NewsGuard's Step-by-Step Guide to Evaluating Claims:

[These should all look familiar to Librarians.]

1. What is the source?
2. What do other independent sources say?
3. Check the date.  Is it current?
4. What's the motivation behind Coronavirus misinformation?

Common motivations for misinformation include:

          -- Are they selling something? 

          -- Is it to get more clicks for advertising?

          -- Racial - to blame the origin or spread on a particular ethnic group

          -- Political

NewsGuard offers a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, that provides background info on website sources and their credibility.  It does NOT block any sites, just provides an extra layer of evaluation.  

This browser extension has been free for public libraries, but will be available to anyone until July 1, given the current environment of extreme misinformation.  

More about the presenters:

Sarah Brandt is the Vice President of News Literacy Programs for Newsguard. Newsguard and their team of researchers have put together a list of websites known for publishing misinformation on COVID-19.

In his role as Director of the School Library System for the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership Christopher Harris has played a critical role in educating his students and staff on how to find credible information on the internet. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, he compiled a valuable collection of websites where you can go to get credible and helpful information on COVID-19 and everything related.