In recent years, we have seen an increase in dis-, mis- and mal-information which can be detrimental to people’s literacy and can impact on government intended interventions, as happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent studies have indicated that in to help people with media and information literacy support in social media platforms, we need to design for:
- Balancing individual and collective sense-making
- Make ongoing experiences salient
- Integrating spatial separation and contextual awareness
Students working with this topic will be engaging in the design of features for existing social media platforms (e.g., X, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) to help people make sense of online false information and work against its propagation. Students are expected to engage in participatory design approaches for the design of such features.
Courses:
- IN5000 – Research Methods in Informatics
- IN5500 - Computer-Support Cooperative Work and Social Computing
- IN5510 – Participatory Design
Related literature
Riazi, B. (2025). Understanding the Role of Technology and Community Interactions in the Lived Experience of Online False Information, Master Thesis, Department of Informatics: University of Oslo.
Eysenbach, G. (2020). How to Fight an Infodemic: The Four Pillars of Infodemic Management. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22, 6.
Fisher, K. E., Landry, C. F. & Naumer, C.. (2007). Social Spaces, Casual Interactions, Meaningful Exchanges: “Information Ground” Characteristics Based on the College Student Experience. Information Research 12, 2.
McClure Haughey, M., Muralikumar, M. D., Wood, C. A. & Starbird, K. (2020). On the Misinformation Beat: Understanding the Work of Investigative Journalists Reporting on Problematic Information Online. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 4, CSCW2.
Reuter, C., Hartwig, K., Kirchner, J. & Schlegel, N. (2019). Fake News Perception in Germany: A Representative Study of People’s Attitudes and Approaches to Counteract Disinformation.