The ability to manipulate and generate images with new technologies presents various challenges to traditional media reporting and also scholarly communication. However, as Joshua Habgood-Coote discusses the history of fake images shows, rather than he…
Category: Misinformation
Book Review: How Misinformation Acts Like a Virus
In ‘Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity.’ Sander van der Linden expertly lays out strategies for counteracting misinformation, but also highlights how difficult creating a better information environment…
Book Review: Not Exactly Lying: Fake News and Fake Journalism in American History by Andie Tucher
In Not Exactly Lying: Fake News and Fake Journalism in American History, Andie Tucher explores how journalistic practice has often pivoted on disinformation throughout US history. This is a first-rate study that will give readers a greater understandin…
The focus on misinformation leads to a profound misunderstanding of why people believe and act on bad information
Misinformation has been a prominent paradigm in the explanation of social, political, and more recently epidemiological phenomena since the middle of the last decade. However, Daniel Williams argues that a focus on misinformation is limiting when used …
Book Review: What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Fake News? by Nick Anstead
In What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Fake News?, Nick Anstead explores what we mean by fake news and possible ways to address it. Situating fake news in its historical context and providing clear and brief summaries of the current scholarly w…
Despite concerns, COVID-19 shows how social media has become an essential tool in the democratisation of knowledge
Social media has played a significant role in mediating the communication of information about COVID-19, although coverage of social media is more often than not negative. In this post, Ronnie Das and Wasim Ahmed, highlight some of the ways in which social media has become essential to societal responses to the crisis and how social … Continued
Plan S – Time to decide what we stand for
Reflecting on the recent consultation period for Plan S, a funder led proposal for achieving universal open access to research papers, Jon Tennant argues that whereas, the consultation has in many ways followed the contours of previous OA debates, OA has now become an unavoidable part of academic life and has moved into the mainstream. For this reason, he argues […]