Headway Upper-Intermediate 5th Edition I Unit 4 Bad News |
Summary
TLDRThis video discusses the pervasive issue of fake news and disinformation, exploring why people continue to engage with unverified content. John Rosenberg, a PhD candidate at Cambridge University, suggests four solutions: legislation, algorithmic adjustments, fact-checking, and media literacy education. He also introduces the inoculation theory, proposing an interactive game that teaches players to create disinformation, thereby building resistance to it. The game aims to make individuals more discerning consumers of online information.
Takeaways
- 📰 The prevalence of fake news and disinformation on social media is a significant concern, often leading to a cycle of misinformation that extends into mainstream media.
- 🌐 Social media platforms play a crucial role in the spread of fake news, as they use algorithms to determine the content users see based on their preferences.
- 🤔 The terms 'fake news' and 'disinformation' are not universally defined, with 'disinformation' implying a more deliberate intent to deceive compared to 'misinformation', which can be unintentional.
- 📉 Legislation is one proposed solution to curb disinformation, but it risks infringing on freedom of the press and censorship issues.
- 🔍 Algorithmic fixes involve adjusting social media algorithms to reduce the visibility of fake news, yet this could lead to concerns about media manipulation and control over information.
- 📋 Fact-checking initiatives aim to correct false information, but they are often outpaced by the ease of creating and spreading lies.
- 🏫 Media literacy and education are seen as effective long-term solutions to equip individuals with the skills to identify and resist disinformation.
- 💡 Inoculation theory suggests that preemptively exposing individuals to disinformation tactics can help build resistance, similar to how vaccines work against diseases.
- 🎮 A proposed method to implement inoculation theory is through games that simulate the creation and spread of disinformation, teaching players to recognize these tactics.
- 🛡️ The goal of such games is to make players think critically about the strategies used in disinformation, thereby building 'antibodies' against it, so they are less likely to be deceived in real life.
Q & A
What is the main issue discussed in the transcript?
-The main issue discussed is the prevalence of fake news and disinformation in social media feeds and its impact on society, including how it infiltrates mainstream media.
Why does the speaker prefer the term 'disinformation' over 'fake news'?
-The speaker prefers 'disinformation' because it is a clearer term that specifically includes the intent to deceive, unlike 'fake news' which is used in various contexts and doesn't always imply intentional deception.
What are the four possible solutions John proposes to stop the flow of disinformation?
-The four solutions proposed are: legislation, algorithmic fixes, fact-checking, and education or media literacy.
What is the potential downside of using legislation to combat disinformation?
-The downside of legislation is that it may infringe upon freedom of the press, which is the principle that the government should not interfere with or censor the media.
How do social media algorithms contribute to the spread of fake news, and what is a potential solution?
-Social media algorithms choose what information to present to users based on their preferences, which can lead to the spread of fake news. A potential solution is tweaking the algorithms to make fake news less visible.
What is the challenge with fact-checking as a method to combat disinformation?
-Fact-checking faces the challenge of always being behind in the cycle because it is much harder to verify information than it is to create and spread false content.
How does the concept of media literacy differ from the other solutions proposed?
-Media literacy focuses on individual resilience against disinformation by educating people, which can be very effective but is also expensive and difficult to implement widely.
What is the inoculation theory and how does it relate to disinformation?
-Inoculation theory suggests that, like a vaccine, people can develop resistance to misleading information by preemptively thinking about how they might be deceived.
How does playing a game relate to the inoculation theory proposed by John?
-Playing a game where players create disinformation helps them understand and resist deceptive strategies by actively engaging with the tactics used to spread misinformation.
What is the ultimate goal of the game mentioned in the transcript?
-The goal of the game is to help players build up 'antibodies' against disinformation by recognizing and understanding the strategies used in fake news, so they think before sharing online content.
Outlines
📰 The Pervasiveness of Fake News and Disinformation
This paragraph discusses the ubiquity of fake news in our social media feeds and its impact on mainstream media. It highlights the difficulty in defining 'fake news' due to its varied usage and contexts. The speaker, John Rosenberg, a PhD candidate at Cambridge University, prefers the term 'disinformation' to emphasize the intentional deception. He outlines four potential solutions: legislation, algorithmic fixes, fact-checking, and education or media literacy. Each solution comes with its own set of challenges, such as infringing on freedom of the press or the high cost of implementation.
💉 Inoculation Theory as a Defense Against Disinformation
The second paragraph introduces the inoculation theory as a method to protect individuals from disinformation. It draws an analogy between misinformation and a virus, suggesting that preemptive exposure to misleading information can help build resistance. The paragraph describes a game-based approach where players must create and disseminate disinformation to win, learning the tactics used by those who spread fake news. This active engagement is believed to be more effective than passive education, as it trains players to recognize and resist disinformation in real life.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Fake News
💡Disinformation
💡Misinformation
💡Social Media Algorithms
💡Fact Checking
💡Media Literacy
💡Freedom of the Press
💡Inoculation Theory
💡Game-based Learning
💡Credibility
Highlights
Fake news and disinformation are prevalent in social media feeds.
Fake news can infiltrate mainstream media after being shared on social platforms.
The importance of research in identifying and combating fake news is emphasized.
Disinformation is distinguished from misinformation by the intent to deceive.
Legislation is proposed as a solution to regulate the flow of information.
Algorithmic fixes are suggested to make fake news less visible on social media.
Fact-checking is highlighted as a necessary but challenging approach.
Media literacy education is presented as a way to make individuals more resilient against disinformation.
Inoculation theory is introduced as a method to build resistance to fake news.
The concept of 'vaccinating' against disinformation through preemptive exposure is discussed.
Playing a game that involves creating disinformation can help in building resistance.
The game mechanics involve balancing followers and credibility to simulate disinformation tactics.
The game aims to teach players to recognize disinformation strategies by creating them.
The goal is to develop 'antibodies' against fake news through the game.
The game is proposed as an engaging way to educate on the dangers of disinformation.
Transcripts
[Music]
it seems these days we can't escape fake
news
we all know that our social media feeds
are full of news articles and stories
that are biased exaggerated or just
plain fabricated
so how come so many of us continue to
consume and share content without
questioning its credibility
these stories may start on facebook or
twitter but once we share them they
eventually work their way into articles
in the mainstream media
and these articles are then shared again
on social media
and so the endless cycle continues
is there a way that this flood of fake
news can be stopped
or can we all become better at
identifying and simply ignoring it
in recent years these questions have
become an important field of research
my name is john rosenberg i'm a phd
candidate at cambridge university and i
mainly study fake news and
disinformation
fake news is a is a difficult term
because everyone is using it and it's
used in a lot of different contexts and
by a lot of different people with a lot
of different agendas and ideas and
political convictions and so on
and it doesn't mean the same thing when
two different people say it so that is
why i just myself prefer the term
disinformation which is much more clear
misinformation is information that is
false and that includes simple human
error if i make a mistake and i say
something that is incorrect i publish it
somewhere online that is what i would
call
misinformation disinformation includes
the intent to deceive so i must actually
want to give you
wrong information for it to be
disinformation
so are there things that can be done to
stop the flow of disinformation
john believes that there are four
possible solutions
the first is legislation so trying to
write laws that regulate the flow of
information in such a way
that fake news becomes less prevalent
the downside of this is of course that
you run into issues of freedom of the
press very quickly
freedom of the press is the principle
that government shouldn't interfere with
or censor the media
the second one is algorithmic fixes
all social media sites use algorithms
to choose the information they present
to their users
this is the programming code that
decides what content to show you
based on what you like and share
so
for example on facebook
you will
see certain posts before other posts and
facebook can decide which post you see
first
so in that way you can
have facebook tweak the algorithm in
such a way that fake news becomes less
visible
downside of course is that facebook then
decides what it wants you to see which
is not great
the third category is fact checking
meaning correcting false stories
which is a good initiative and for sure
that is something that needs to be done
the problem is that you're always going
to be behind simply because it is much
harder to fact check something than it
is to create and spread a lie
and the fourth category is education or
what you call media literacy which
focuses on the individual level
meaning making people more resilient
against deception against manipulation
against disinformation
the upside is that this has a potential
of being very effective
and you don't run into issues of freedom
of the press the downside is that it's
very expensive and that is difficult to
implement in many countries
[Music]
if it is so difficult to stop the flow
of disinformation and fake news
is there a way we can protect ourselves
from becoming infected with it
john believes that inoculation theory
could offer a potential solution
the idea behind inoculation theory is
that information can work in the same
way as a virus or a bacterium
so
assuming that
information misleading information can
be akin to some kind of infection
how do you make sure that people don't
become ill
and normally in medicine that happens
through a vaccine so vaccine is a
weakened version of a certain virus or a
certain bacterium
that is introduced into the body and
it doesn't have the power to kill you or
hurt you or make you ill but it does
make sure that the body creates
antibodies against
that virus so that the next time that
the virus actually enters your body the
real version of it you already have the
antibodies and you don't become ill
and inoculation theory says
information can work the same way
so
you can be
you can
develop resistance against misleading
arguments by preemptively before the
manipulation attempt occurs thinking
about the ways in which you might be
deceived
and what's a simple way to vaccinate
people
get them to play a fun game
a game where they have to create
disinformation
in the game players are shown a short
text or an image like an article
headline
they can react to these in a variety of
ways
the player's score is measured by
followers and credibility
the aim of the game is to gather as many
followers as possible without losing
credibility
but the important thing is that if a
player acts like a producer of
disinformation
they will gain followers
and credibility
[Music]
but if they lie too obviously
they will lose credibility
and if they act like a good journalist
reporting just the facts
they will lose followers
so the player has to learn to use all
the tricks of effective producers of
disinformation to succeed in the game
so it's this active component is very
important so it's not just that someone
tells you
this is how you might be deceived this
is what fake news looks like instead you
create it yourself you think about it
yourself how you can
um
use these strategies
to you know forward your own interests
in the game
which
is a much more resilient approach to
training how to recognize these things
and then just me telling you something
john's hope is that by the end of the
game the player will have received a
small dose of the fake news disease
and they will be starting to build up
antibodies
so the next time they are online
they will recognize the disinformation
strategies being used on them
and think before they share
so why not play the game and vaccinate
yourself today
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
Headway Upper-Intermediate, 5th edition, Unit 4
Why it’s so easy to fall for fake news and how to spot it
TRUTH OR CHAROT?! - How to Spot FAKE News | Internet Smart
The Fifth Macro Skill in Communication: Viewing || Grade 9 English || Quarter 3 Week 3
Fake news pandemic: Bakit marami ang nabibiktima ng Fake News sa social media | Need To Know
Misinformation and Disinformation (With KARA DAVID)
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)