New tools for your toolkit, funding and learning opportunities, the latest research and more.
No images? Click here
Infodemic Management News Flash
Thursday 19 August 2021 | Issue #20
Feature Artwork
While this image highlights the importance of vaccination in the broader scheme of the COVID-19 pandemic response, it's unfair to paint everyone who hasn't been vaccinated with the same brush. Good infodemic management means listening to the diversity of questions and concerns arising and helping people make informed decisions.
At the WHO, social listening is a core function of the work we do, and identifying emerging concerns as soon as they arise can help to inform prebunking, and manage the infodemic. The WHO EARS platform is a useful tool that can be used alongside other social listening measures to identify infodemic insights, including where questions and concerns about COVID-19 vaccines are rising. There have recently been five new countries and an additional four languages added to the platform.
Image credit: Matt Davies, Newsday
Feature Content
Social Listening: Finding the Signal Through the Noise
During the COVID-19 pandemic, listening to and working with communities to understand and respond to concerns has been paramount. With the accompanying infodemic, social listening has been an important component of this work and a new report, ‘Finding the Signal through the Noise’ provides an overview of the current digital approaches to social listening for immunization.
The work was lead by Health Enabled with technical guidance and support from a Global Partnership consisting of WHO, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, and Vaccination Demand Hub.
WHO has been working closely with partners since March 2020 to develop tools and systems to help countries effectively manage the infodemic. The WHO public health research agenda called for more clarity and guidance on social listening, and recommendations from the recent 4th Virtual WHO Infodemic Management Conference: Advances in Social Listening for Public Health further highlighted the need for increased accountability, coordination and guidance.
This report responds to the recommendations identified throughout the pandemic by proposing a framework with practical guidance for those seeking to utilize social listening data to strengthen vaccine demand. The process map identifies stages of data identification, sourcing, collection, analysis and impact. Specific recommendations are included for different levels of involvement in social listening - implementers, policy makers, researchers and funders. It will be a useful, practical tool in the infodemic manager's toolbox.
Tackling COVID-19 Misinformation | A Social Media Toolkit for Health Care Practitioners
WHO has welcomed the release of a new social media toolkit for healthcare practitioners developed by the government of the United Kingdom. The guide was developed to empower doctors and nurses to actively address COVID-19 misinformation and build vaccine confidence globally.
The practical toolkit is based on three core vaccine confidence messages: vaccine safety, vaccine development and sickness risk reduction. It sets out three approaches: creating your own posts, posting the images and videos provided in the toolkit, or re-sharing vaccine information from trusted sources.
This product contributes to WHO’s ongoing collaboration with the government of the United Kingdom to raise awareness of misinformation and stop its spread globally.
Opportunities for Action
Combatting Disinformation in Communities of Color
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is calling for proposals for research that can inform near-term interventions that mitigate the impact of disinformation and targeted online manipulation of communities of color. The fund is seeking projects that will provide actionable insights to mitigate the effect of targeted disinformation. Proposals are due by 15 September 2021.
edX Course: Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in Africa
The media plays a critical role in democratic societies by informing citizens, facilitating and building freedom of expression, and fostering access to information. During COVID-19, and the associated infodemic, the importance of these roles has been highlighted. This free course aims to empower activists, students, regulators, journalists, lawyers, and everyone interested in ensuring a free, pluralistic and independent African media.
Call for Proposals: Supporting ASEAN to Address Vaccine Hesitancy
The British Embassy in Hanoi is inviting proposals from not-for-profit stakeholders for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) vaccine hesitancy project. The goal is to develop and implement public health interventions that increase vaccine confidence and uptake within vulnerable ethnic minority groups in remote areas where immunization rates are the lowest. The deadline for proposals is 26 August 2021.
New Journal Alert: Announcing the Journal of Online Trust and Safety
The Stanford Internet Observatory and Professor Jeff Hancock recently announced the creation of a new journal: The Journal of Online Trust and Safety. The journal will be a cross-disciplinary, open access, fast, peer-reviewed journal that publishes research on how consumer Internet services are abused to cause harm and how to prevent those harms. Some of the priority topics include Misinformation and Disinformation, Hate Speech and Harassment and Spam and Fraud.
Submission guidelines and more details can be found here.
Connect2Recover Research Competition
Through the Connect2Recover initiative, ITU is launching the 'Connect2Recover Research Competition' to identify promising research proposals that will accelerate digital inclusion during the COVID-19 recovery globally. The aims include increasing global capacity for digital inclusion, digital resilience and knowledge sharing. This is an opportunity to develop infodemic management projects as part of routine preparedness. Proposals are due 31 August 2021.
Find out more here
First Check Broadens Horizons
First Check is a collaborative global initiative that brings together medical professionals, researchers, journalists and technologists on a common platform to identify and combat medical misinformation, rumours and unscientific claims. The initiative has recently added new members to the team, adding to global coverage. Medical misinformation can be fact checked by reaching the team on WhatsApp or online. It's wonderful to see trainees from the WHO Global Infodemic Management training involved in this initiative.
Read more here
Job Opportunities
- WHO: Technical Officer (Geneva, Switzerland)
- Global Disinformation Index: Program Consultant (London, England)
- WHO: Communication Officer (Brazzaville, Congo)
- Tony Blair Institute for Global Change: Programme Associate, Africa Vaccine Programme (London, England)
- DAI: Digital Development and Strategy Consultant (Niger or Burkina Faso)
- WHO: Technical Officer, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)
- DAI: Senior Technical Researcher, Digital Society, Rights & Governance (Flexible / Guatemala)
- IFRC: Advocacy and Fundraising consultant; Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Collective Service (Remote)
- Center for International Health Protection: Scientific Associate (Berlin, Germany)
Upcoming Events
Societies on the Brink: Understanding the Dynamics of Partisanship and Polarisation | September 30 2021
An upcoming Real World Futures presentation by Professor Axel Bruns explores the drivers of polarisation, and examines the role of digital and social media as well as the broader social and political contexts enabling this trend. Presentation concepts include echo chambers and filter bubbles, as well as the dynamics of the spread of misinformation and disinformation across online and offline media.
COVID-19 Infodemic: Experienced perspectives from Singapore | 3rd September 2021
An upcoming presentation will share research findings examining the role of digital and social media data in the context of COVID-19 communication in Singapore. The issues examined include infodemic trends and effects, public sentiments, the role of the media during the course of the pandemic, and health information-seeking by population groups. The team’s findings from Singapore and the international landscape from the last 18 months of research will be discussed.
Find out more and register here
Truth and Trust Online Conference | 7th & 8th October 2021
The annual conference for Truth and Trust Online is organised as a unique collaboration between practitioners, technologists, academics and platforms, to share, discuss, and collaborate on useful technical innovations and research. This conference includes presentations of interest to infodemic managers covering disinformation, misinformation and AI moderation.
Global Health Literacy Summit | 3rd - 5th October 2021
Registrations are now open for the first Global Health Literacy Summit. Held entirely online, the summit will bring together multidisciplinary delegates to discuss and share ideas on advancing health literacy. Many of the discussions will be directly relevant to infodemic managers with themes including the role of health literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health literacy and AI and health equity.
Recent Events
NISTH Think Out Debate Series | Misinformation and Vaccine Attitudes
The NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity hosts a series of debates between leading researchers from different disciplines on important questions. A recent panel discussed how attitudes toward vaccines are affected by misinformation.
The presenters were Dr David Lye, who gave a medical perspective, and Dr Edson Tandoc, who discussed the social impact misinformation has on attitudes toward vaccines.
The Sunday Show | Tech Policy Press Podcast | 8 August 2021
The Tech Policy Press is a nonprofit media venture concerned with the intersection of technology and democracy. The Press hosts a regular podcast which recently featured an interview with the authors of a recent paper about the infodemic.
Listen to the podcast here
HIMSS21 | Pandemic to Infodemic: Building Public Trust in a Crisis
On 10th August Tim Nguyen, Head of Unit, High Impact Events Preparedness at World Health Organization presented at the HIMSS21 conference. Along with other global health experts Dr Ashish Joshi and Dr Jeffery Lazareus, Mr Nguyen discussed the role of misinformation and disinformation in the context of the pandemic and ways to monitor and respond to the infodemic.
What We're Reading
Youth Vaccine Trust Global Report
August 2021
Fun With Numbers
The latest Global Social Media Stats report from DataReportal contains some large numbers.
The report reveals there are 4.48 billion social media users globally, making up almost 57% of the population. In the last 12 months, 520 million new users have joined social media, the equivalent of 16.5 users every second. A typical user visits 6.6 different social media platforms each month and spends an average of 2.5 hours a day on social media. There are now 6 social media platforms that have more than one billion monthly active users.
So, what does this mean for infodemic managers? It means that information moves fast, and we need to be agile in our approaches to both monitoring and managing the infodemic. New tools shared in this issue will be useful additions to the infodemic manager's toolkit.
About the News Flash
An infodemic is an overabundance of information—some accurate, some not—that spreads alongside a disease outbreak. Infodemics are nothing new, but in the digital age, they spread in real time and create a breeding ground for uncertainty. Uncertainty fuels skepticism and distrust, which is perfect environment for fear, anxiety, finger-pointing, stigma, violent aggression and dismissal of proven public health measures. To manage an infodemic, we need to understand what contributes to it. So that’s why we’re sending you these updates. In each issue of the WHO’s Infodemic Management News Flash we’ll share the latest work happening at the global level, as well as highlight some of the challenges and solutions with infodemics in local contexts. We’ll also provide you with a few takeaways to help you be an effective infodemic manager in your daily life.
If you have a tip on infodemic management or an idea for a future News Flash, email us at infodemicmanagement@who.int. Thanks for joining us on this journey.
