Media Accuracy, Media Bias, and Media Trends

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"Many people are familiar with our work through The Social Dilemma, our focus goes beyond the negative effects of social media. We work to expose the drivers behind all extractive technologies steering our thoughts, behaviors, and actions.
We believe that by understanding the root causes of harmful technology, we can work together to build a more humane future." --- CHT

We believe that the way powerful technology is developed and used will be the most important factor in determining the prospects for the future of life. This is why we have made it our mission to ensure that technology continues to improve those prospects.

'We live in an era of ambient information. Amidst the daily flood of digital news, memes, opinion, advertising, and propaganda, there is rising concern about how popular platforms, and the algorithms they increasingly employ, may influence our lives, deepen divisions in society, and foment polarization, extremism, and distrust. For the past decade, Project Information Literacy has conducted large-scale studies on how college students interact with information for school, for life, for work, and most recently, for engaging with the news. The latest report from PIL stands at the intersection of these critical information practices and asks: How much do students know about how internet giants such as Google, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook work, and, in turn, how they work on society? "

"The iSchools represent an international organisation of over 130 universities. A common interest in all aspects of research and teaching about information unites them. The scope is deliberately broad and methodologically agnostic, with a strong reliance on the social and behavioural sciences, as well as computing, artificial intelligence, and linguistics. iSchools topics include data science, human-computer interaction, information organisation and access, bibliometrics, and information integrity. Information scientists share a common perspective on the importance of how intelligent creatures and machines understand the universe."

"The widespread adoption of digital media and information technologies made it exponentially easier and faster to produce, disseminate, and be exposed to false, manipulated, and sometimes hateful content. Still, misinformation is a complex, largely misunderstood phenomenon. The public, the media, and policy makers are in need of reliable, unbiased research on the prevalence, diffusion, and impact of misinformation worldwide." --- HKS

"The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit, is building a national movement to advance the practice of news literacy throughout American society, creating better informed, more engaged and more empowered individuals — and ultimately a stronger democracy. "

"Project Information Literacy (PIL) is a nonprofit research institute that conducts national, ongoing studies on how adults find and use information as they progress through, and beyond, their higher education years and throughout adulthood. We work in small teams on large-scale studies using a collaborative research approach, mixed methods, and samples from across the United States."

"Shortly after generative artificial intelligence hit the mainstream, researchers warned that chatbots would create a dire problem: As disinformation became easier to create, conspiracy theories would spread rampantly.

Now, researchers wonder if chatbots might also offer a solution. DebunkBot, an A.I. chatbot designed by researchers to “very effectively persuade” users to stop believing unfounded conspiracy theories, made significant and long-lasting progress at changing people’s convictions, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Science."

We are bombarded with information from the moment we wake up in the morning (hello, cell phone) to the moment we go to sleep (goodnight, laptop). But how many of us actually question the sources of information or how information is produced and filtered? In today's information age it is essential to look at these questions and others so that we can better understand contemporary society and be prepared for future changes and challenges. Students will come away with skills to prepare them to be informed, responsible, and engage students, citizens, and professionals.

A wandering across, around, and through some of the major promises and perils presented by artificial intelligence (AI), like the ethical, economic, political, and creative impacts of these technologies. We will examine how these changes may impact your life, your future career, and (y)our world.