Media Smart Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of exercises
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A Brief History of Media and Media Manipulation
- 2 The Psychology of Memory and Learning
- 3 The Internet, Technology and the Media
- 4 Selecting Sources of Information
- 5 Expertise, Authority and Credibility
- 6 Language in Media Messages
- 7 Algorithms, Bots, Trolls, Cyborgs and Artificial Intelligence
- 8 Statistics and Data Visualization
- 9 Images, Reverse Image Searching and Deepfakes
- 10 Media Manipulation and Fact Checking
- 11 The Ethics of Likes, Clicks, Shares and Data Harvesting
- 12 How We Can Help Ourselves
- Resources
- Bibliography
- Index
11 - The Ethics of Likes, Clicks, Shares and Data Harvesting
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of exercises
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A Brief History of Media and Media Manipulation
- 2 The Psychology of Memory and Learning
- 3 The Internet, Technology and the Media
- 4 Selecting Sources of Information
- 5 Expertise, Authority and Credibility
- 6 Language in Media Messages
- 7 Algorithms, Bots, Trolls, Cyborgs and Artificial Intelligence
- 8 Statistics and Data Visualization
- 9 Images, Reverse Image Searching and Deepfakes
- 10 Media Manipulation and Fact Checking
- 11 The Ethics of Likes, Clicks, Shares and Data Harvesting
- 12 How We Can Help Ourselves
- Resources
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
… the COVID-19 outbreak mushroomed into a full-blown pandemic in March [2020]. The virus was, of course, a thing in the world. But the information disorder that corresponded with its spread – exacerbated by innumerable governmental, industry, and network failures – ensured that falsehoods and halftruths about the virus themselves went viral. And globally so. People around the world didn't know whom to trust. People around the world didn't know what to believe. As a result, countless millions failed to take the threat seriously, placing countless millions more at risk.
(Phillips and Milner, 2021, 4–5)Mis- and disinformation is not new. The speed at which news spreads and the ability to reach a global audience are what have changed. Technology has accelerated the spread and reach of news, both true and false. The spread of false information in the guise of news discredits journalism in general. It erodes trust and threatens democratic discourse.
Even in today's news environment, where people look for their own news, it is possible to have some control over the content received. More and more people receive news via their social media platforms. News received in this way is pushed to the reader using algorithms that show news that relates to the recorded likes, clicks, shares and other data gathered about the individual reader. Because each individual has a different profile of clicks, likes and shares, no two individuals are likely to see exactly the same information. This means that, collectively, we never all have the same information to begin with.
A predictive algorithm gives preference to news that agrees with what we have already seen. It does not readily display other points of view or other stories because the reader is less likely to engage with news they do not like or share. This leaves the reader with a skewed view of the news and a false impression that everyone believes the same things – and they do not see any evidence to the contrary. This does not square with the reality of everyday life and causes confusion and distrust when the reader is confronted with opposing news in the real world.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Media SmartLessons, Tips and Strategies for Librarians, Classroom Instructors and Other Information Professionals, pp. 165 - 178Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2022