While reading Scientific American, I came across this. Thought of sharing.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"These days, many of us live online, where machine-generated content has begun to pollute the Internet with misinformation and noise. At a time when it's hard to know what information to trust, I felt delight when I recently learned that World Book still prints an up-to-date book encyclopaedia in 2023." Benj Edwards, Ars Technica
The main reason that I share this quotation is the tension between printed and online information sources. I read somewehere that “Coronavirus another ‘nail in the coffin’ for print”. I was reading summary of the Reuters report https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022/dnr-... which is very interesting to read, if you have time.
Under the heading “misinformation” in the report one finds MISINFORMATION In this year’s survey we find a link between online misinformation fears and the widespread use of social media. Across markets, just over half (54%) say they worry about identifying the difference between what is real and fake on the internet when it comes to news, but people who say they mainly use social media as a source of news are more worried (61%) than people who don’t use it at all (48%). Additionally, regions with the highest levels of concern – Africa and Latin America – correspond closely with high levels of social media news use. This is not to say that social media use causes misinformation, but that usage may generate awareness of and potential exposure to false information, including giving voice to extreme perspectives that previously would not have been widely heard. When looking at the types of misinformation that people claim to see, we find that dubious health claims around COVID-19, including from anti-vaccination groups, are, as in 2021, still most widespread across most regions, ahead of politics. Notable exceptions are in Kenya – where political misinformation is more widely seen – as well as Colombia and the Philippines, both countries where elections were held this year.
With kind regards.
Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, PhD, IAHSI
HIFA profile: Najeeb Al-Shorbaji recently retired from the World Health Organization (WHO), where he has worked since 1988 in different capacities. He was most recently Director of the Knowledge, Ethics and Research Department at WHO headquarters, Geneva. Previously he was Coordinator for Knowledge Management and Sharing in EMRO (Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office), Egypt. He is a member of a number of national and international professional societies and associations specialised in information management and health informatics. He has authored over 100 research papers and articles presented in various conferences and published in professional journals. He is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA Working Group on Multilingualism. http://www.hifa.org/support/members/najeeb http://www.hifa.org/projects/multilingualism Email: shorbajin AT gmail.com
