Online Misinformation Analysis and Information Quality Theory |
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| Author:
| Ryall, Kirsti
Omoregie, Uyiosa |
| ISBN: | 979-8-7759-3518-4 |
| Publication Date: | Nov 2021 |
| Publisher: | Independently Published
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| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | USD $8.00 |
Book Description:
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"Impressive..." NOAM CHOMSKY Institute Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) "...the book, it will be an important one" ZAINAB USMAN, PhD (Oxford) Senior fellow and director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Online social media has brought together billions of people from around the world. The impact of diverse platforms such as Facebook, WeChat, Reddit, LinkedIn, Signal,...
More Description"Impressive..."
NOAM CHOMSKY
Institute Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
"...the book, it will be an important one"
ZAINAB USMAN, PhD (Oxford)
Senior fellow and director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Online social media has brought together billions of people from around the world. The impact of diverse platforms such as Facebook, WeChat, Reddit, LinkedIn, Signal, WhatsApp, Gab, Instagram, Telegraph etc. has been transformational. The number of active users of the six most popular online social networks combined is estimated at about 10 billion. The internet is a place where online written content can be created, consumed and diffused without any real intermediary. This empowering aspect of the Web is generally a force for good: people, on the whole, are better informed and participation in online discussion is more inclusive (barriers to participation are reduced). As online activity has grown, however, research has revealed a darker side to online social media and its ability to influence behaviour negatively in the real world.
In this short monograph, information quantity theory, brilliantly espoused by Claude Shannon (father of the information age) is balanced by an approach to information quality inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein. The authors propose a framework for online misinformation analysis and provide a tentative online information quality theory. The concept of "algorithmic choice" for the ranking of content for social media users is endorsed as a way forward.