Some new interesting qualitative research from
Ofcom (the UK's communications and media watchdog) about dis- and mis-information, published on Tuesday. The report is called
Co-creating ways to navigate and mitigate against mis and
disinformation (by Samantha Outhwaite, Imogen Cox and Jo Bolton).
It is the result of
- 25 In-depth interviews, some being people who previously held a minority view, or been susceptible previously to mis/disinformation and some from the wider population. This was investigating their information habits and views about dis/mis information.
One thing that was highlighted was that young people thought older people were vulnerable to misinformation, older people thought younger people were vulnerable, and those in the middle thought both older and younger people needed help. So the message there seems to be - stop being ageist and realise that everyone needs help, including you (me)?
- 6 workshops drawing on a varied population of participants (details in the report). They were given 4 different people profiles, and the workshop was for participants to discuss how each of the 4 people could be supported to become more critical or confident, get out of their filter bubble etc. The results are presented in the report.
The blog summarising some results and with links to this report and related Ofcom reports is here:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-and-attitudes/media-literacy/why-all-of-us-need-to-talk-about-mis-and-dis-information
The pdf of the report is here:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/mis-and-disinformation/co-creating-ways-to-navigate-and-mitigate-against-mis-and-disinformation_verian-report.pdfPhoto by Sheila Webber: apple blossom on my tree, April 2025: there are now small green baby apples
