Misinformation versus disinformation. Digital literacy resides at the intersection of the two and can be crucial to a democratic society, so says Dr. Joseph Zompetti, professor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University.
Misinformation is information that while not accurate isn’t always published with sinister intentions. It sometimes is published in error. But disinformation is intentional and designed to mislead and drive a wedge between people.
Zompetti is concerned enough about such things that he wanted to research the topic further. So, he applied for and was awarded the Center for Civic Engagement’s fellowship for 2022 to study digital literacy. Part of the center’s mission is to provide a place where students, faculty, and members of the Bloomington-Normal community can become informed and engaged. Zompetti was inspired by his students who raise the issue of so called “fake news” and the power of social media in all his classes.
“As a result, I wanted to dive into that area more deeply,” he said. “The goal was to find ways that we can improve our digital literacy.”
Zompetti enlisted the help of then-sophomore Michael Severino, a math secondary education major and civic engagement minor. Severino’s task was to research the role of algorithms in how information is manipulated in social media. Algorithms become like echo chambers showing content that aligns with your beliefs, which are amplified and reaffirmed by the repetition found in your feed.
—Dr. Harriett Steinbach
“Having better information allows us to not only participate but contribute to our democracy and civic participation.”
“It’s called confirmation bias,” Zompetti said. “People don’t question information that supports their beliefs. It can lead to the downfall of democracy if people make decisions based on inaccurate information.”
Zompetti and Severino made a presentation of some of their findings to Dr. Harriett Steinbach’s class, United States Government and Civic Practices, last December. Their guest lecture was titled “Improving Digital Literacy.” Steinbach was grateful for their visit.
“Being digitally literate is crucial to the success of our democracy,” she said. “And having better information allows us to not only participate but contribute to our democracy and civic participation. When we can competently know we are sharing accurate information, that is good civic participation.”
Zompetti took a practical approach to his research by thinking about educating his students and himself. He developed a presentation comprised of PowerPoint slides that’s modular by design and can be taken around campus to residence halls and workshops.
“Anybody can step in and look at these PowerPoint slides in 10 minutes or an hour,” he said. “We can maximize the knowledge on how we can reduce the problems of social media.”
Ultimately, Zompetti’s research on the topic evolved into a presentation at a national conference that was edited to create an article published in The Journal of Social Media in Society. In addition to Severino, Zompetti was grateful for the contributions of Hannah Delorto, another undergraduate student.
Zompetti has spent two decades at Illinois State teaching rhetoric, political communication, and intercultural communication courses. He teaches his classes how important it is to be informed not only about issues but specifically about where information is coming from.
“Young people, 18 to 24, about 80 percent of them receive all of their news from social media,” Zompetti said. “It’s convenient, it’s fast, and a lot of people think it’s more accurate. The problem is that convenience does not always mean accurate and truthful. If you get your news in real time, many times people rush to judgment before all the facts are in. Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of news is like in social media.”
Zompetti explored and critiqued the role of social media in political messaging, but digital literacy applies to all information, not only political, he said. Without some digital competence, people are more prone to fraud scams or believing something that’s unhealthy. They might use inaccurate information in school or on their jobs. Social media can easily disguise false information as fact. People today have an 8-second attention span, he said, so social media dangles bright, shiny objects to grab attention.
“Digital literacy is the ability to make critically informed decisions, so we’re less likely to be duped by people,” Zompetti said. “Digital literacy boosts our ability to make critically informed decisions. That’s the most obvious reason why digital literacy is important.”
Elaborating on the difference between misinformation and disinformation, Zompetti used anti-vaccination social media posts as an example.
“That started with 12 people, most of whom were suburban moms who were really scared,” Zompetti said. “At first we could classify their posts as misinformation because they were posting things online that were based on fear. However, later when studies showed that not only do vaccines work, but they don’t cause things like autism, these 12 people continued to post that vaccines cause autism.”
Once these posts were picked up by social media influencers, they went viral, and then mainstream media followed.
“All of a sudden, this idea that COVID vaccines might be harmful and may not work became a thing because 12 people voiced their concerns,” Zompetti said.
Zompetti offers some tips for improving digital competency that include several approaches.
“Take bits and pieces of these and apply them to your lives,” he said.
Advocate for changes in social media
- Many people argue for Congress or the government to increase regulations or oversight on social media platforms.
- Arguments have been made that changing the addictive design features of social media could allow people to engage with digital algorithms less. Get rid of the infinite scroll feature, or change the “Like” buttons. Every time something gets liked, it increases the numerical value of the algorithms. Caveat: We can’t rely on the owners of social media platforms.
- Report disinformation: The only way these platforms can reduce disinformation is to know it exists. They’re not going to hire people to scroll through feeds and pick out disinformation. So how do they know? We tell them. Users have a responsibility to point out when disinformation occurs.
- Fact-check information: If something pops up in your feed that’s important to you, double-check all information with varying sources. We can find sources that minimize bias.
Utilize the SIFT method, an acronym that stands for:
S: Stop before you hit share or retweet to check for accuracy
I: Investigate the source
F: Find better coverage
T: Trace claims, quotes, and media to their original source
We owe it to ourselves to do this extra work. “You owe it to yourself to make sure you’re not being tricked and that you’re sharing accurate information,” Zompetti said.
“I would add one more tip: Diversify your sources. This helps you get out of those echo chambers, bubbles, and informational silos,” Zompetti said. “Step out of your comfort zone, and read some conservative sources now and then, or liberal sources. It’s not going to hurt you by reading other points of view. It makes you smarter and better able to make critical decisions.
“It could also be a poor reflection on your image if you’re the person who retweets or posts bad information. It’s important that your credibility not be called into question.”
“This topic is more important now than ever,” Zompetti said. “I view my role as an educator as one of helping prepare students to be critical thinkers and critical consumers of information. Digital literacy is pivotal to that mission.”
