What is misinformation, and how 鈥� and why 鈥� does it spread? The 91爆料 is taking a leading role in helping people better navigate this era of increasing online fakery and falsehood.
On March 19, the iSchool will welcome more than 200 Seattle-area high school students for “,” a daylong workshop on how to navigate the misinformation landscape from and , the faculty duo who created the “Calling BS in the Age of Big Data” class and .
“MisInfo Day,” will be from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Husky Union Building’s North Ballroom.
West is an iSchool assistant professor, Bergstrom a professor of biology. Their most recent creation is , a website that helps users learn to tell real from fake images online.
The students 鈥� many of whom are studying government 鈥� will come from Nathan Hale, Franklin, Bellevue and Toledo high schools. Discussions will include defining misinformation and why we find it so compelling as well as “tips and tricks” for determining if news reports and social media posts are legitimate
The afternoon session will be an “Ask the Experts” panel, where the students will hear professionals from the Seattle Public Library, Snopes.com and the 91爆料 about their work. The students are asked to “come with questions about misinformation, fact-checking, confirmation bias and more.”
Other faculty and staff involved are:
- , iSchool assistant professor
- , 91爆料 librarian who manages the Information Science collection
- , assistant professor in the Department
- , assistant professor in the
- Liz Crouse, one of several students involved from the iSchool’s Masters of Library Science program, who assisted West in coordinating the event and will conduct pre- and post-program surveys of students for an ongoing research project. Other MLIS students will lead breakout sessions during the event.
Bergstrom and West’s “Calling BS” work has drawn wide attention from press as well as other institutions, some of whom have already expressed interest in holding events modeled on “MisInfo Day.”
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For more information, contact Maggie Foote, iSchool communications director, at 206-250-5992 or m2foote@uw.edu