Introducing the Open Research Collective on Information Pollution
Misinformation online is a relatively new problem for platforms, researchers, and communities. Understanding the problem, and staying abreast of the latest insights from social science and computer science research about how misinformation is created, spreads online, and affects users are necessary steps towards designing and launching impactful projects.
To help surface actionable insights for researchers and communities working on information-pollution challenges, the Mozilla Information Trust Initiative (MITI) is supporting a community repository of recently published articles from thoughtful researchers across disciplines, spanning from communications to political science to human-computer interaction.
Our hope is that this resource will reinforce existing ideas, or tether new proposals to an existing body of research and insights.
The Mozilla Foundation will also host a remote study group to discuss and analyze cutting-edge research on topics related to information pollution. Thinkers and doers everywhere are welcome to participate. The topics will include:
- The effects of information pollution on users. Who’s most vulnerable?
- Conditions for building trust online. Are online fact checks and counter-messages working?
- Echo chambers and internet health. How can content creators reach polarized audiences online (without magnifying polarization themselves)?
- New research methods for the misinformation community
Register to participate in upcoming study group conversations here. Have ideas for other topics? Interested in getting involved? Please contact saraho@mozillafoundation.org.
MITI is committed to supporting the open-source coders, open-access researchers, and information activists who are taking up the charge to study information pollution trends, and study new education and tool-based interventions that will help keep the internet open and healthy.
