Exploiting context for rumour detection in social media

Tools that are able to detect unverified information posted on social media during a news event can help to avoid the spread of rumours that turn out to be false. In this paper we compare a novel approach using Conditional Random Fields that learns from the sequential dynamics of social media posts with the current state-of-the-art rumour detection system, as well as other baselines. In contrast to existing work, our classifier does not need to observe tweets querying the stance of a post to deem it a rumour but, instead, exploits context learned during the event. Our classifier has improved precision and recall over the state-of-the-art classifier that relies on querying tweets, as well as outperforming our best baseline. Moreover, the results provide evidence for the generalisability of our classifier

Tweeting 'truths': rumour and grammars of power in Kenya

This study examines rumour as a mediator of public discourses in Kenya. It focuses on rumours that followed the killing of Chris Msando – a senior election official with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission – and his friend Carolyne Ngumbu a week before the 2017 elections. Although earlier research on rumour exists, it is limited to oral societies and overlooks the versatility of structure and functions of rumours. Therefore, I study the interface between rumours, Twitter and the politics surrounding the two deaths. The research is informed by four objectives: to trace the history of rumour as an area of study in Africa; evaluate the role of Twitter in the creation, circulation, and use of rumour in contemporary Kenya; discuss the uses of rumour for government and individuals; and analyse how the interface between rumours and Twitter impact on the everyday life in Kenya. I use close textual reading of rumours and informal conversations to corroborate data scraped from Twitter. I then apply four theories: Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (1995) to unpack the meanings in rumours and informal conversations; Paul Ricoeur’s (1973) notion of hermeneutics of suspicion as popularised by Felski (2011) to analyse the rumours; Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) metaphorical rhizome to understand the amorphousness of rumours; and Jodi Dean’s (2009) concept of communicative capitalism to determine the extent to which communicative technologies of popular and social media’s appropriation in rumourous conversations evoke political awareness among different interlocutors. This thesis argues that rumours have changed and been changed by Twitter’s communicative cultures, owing to their structural complexity and the growing alertness among the general publics about the necessity of self-expression in a country where a majority of citizens have accepted democracy as the most desirable basis of political organization. Thus, contemporary rumours emerge from the process of co-creation in an amorphous public struggling to assert its identity through competing and alternative narratives it creates. The rumours are also subject to simultaneous archiving and transcend space and time. Furthermore, rumours on Twitter rarely filter to oral communities and vice versa, and are underpinned by ethnic sensibilities, historical mistrust, and national politics, all of which are the underpinning logics of Kenya’s experiments with democracy. This study demonstrates that viewing rumours as a weapon of the marginalised limits the scope of their value as knowledge, since the domination-resistance binary obscures the cultural and historical influences on creativity and appropriation of Twitter for rumourous communication

Disinformation, Science Communication and Trust: Food Rumours in Thailand

Abstract False information on the internet is one of the important global agendas. It becomes much more intensive since the rise of social media uses. The information leads people to have false beliefs and actions. There are many types of false information on the Internet. However, the food rumour is an influential issue attracting attention from social media users, especially in Thailand. It is normally composed of attractive headings and false scientific claims in order to convince the readers. One of the effective solutions to this problem is delivering the debunking of the information to the public, preventing them from misunderstanding these rumours. Since the rumours have contained scientific claims, debunking rumours, as a result, is a part of science communication. This study has three parts; rumour content, experts and people. This is paralleled to three empirical studies; disinformation in rumours, science communication from debunkers and the way people trust in the rumours and the debunkers. The thesis begins addressing the questions of features of food rumours on Facebook in Thailand during 2013-2016 because this period represents a huge increase in the use of social media. The feature of rumours will be completed by analysing the content. The following part explores the response from relevant stakeholders by in-depth interviews of government, social influencers, NGOs, media agencies and private sectors. The outcome of the interview will give us an idea of the current status of science communication. The last component goes back to people, as a layperson, assuming that they do not know about science. The study will investigate trust in the way they trust in rumours and in debunkers by an experimental survey. The experiment will give the results as to the source that people have more trust in; the government or the social influencer. The overall outcome hopes for people to detect rumours, help experts develop better science communication and encourage people to develop their science knowledge skil

Dismiss : uma abordagem para análise sociotécnica da desinformação digital

Orientador: Dr. Roberto PereiraTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciencias Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa : Curitiba, 28/08/2023Inclui referênciasÁrea de concentração: Ciência da ComputaçãoResumo: Essa tese aborda o desafio de entender e lidar com a desinformação digital como um fenômeno sociotécnico, ou seja, que envolve tanto aspectos das tecnologias utilizadas para comunicação quanto do contexto humano/social em que a desinformação ocorre. Os resultados de nosso mapeamento sistemático da literatura mostraram que projetistas de intervenções para mitigação da desinformação têm dificuldades em lidar com a natureza sociotécnica do fenômeno, tendem a utilizar abordagens disciplinares focadas nos aspectos técnicos da desinformação e abordam o fenômeno de forma segmentada. Essas dificuldades podem levar os projetistas à ignorarem aspectos relevantes para o entendimento do fenômeno e à soluções com potenciais prejudiciais, como a censura ou avisos invasivos. Nesse sentido, essa tese investiga meios para apoiar projetistas a compreenderem o fenômeno pela perspectiva sociotécnica, ajudando a caracterizar casos de desinformação digital e auxiliando no entendimento abrangente de problemas. Como solução, essa tese apresenta a Dismiss - uma aborDagem para análIse Sociotécnica de Deinformações DigItaiS. A Dismiss é fundamentada na Semiótica Organizacional, composta pelo Modelo Conceitual do Ciclo de Vida da Desinformação Digital, artefatos e materiais de apoio que amparam a análise sociotécnica da desinformação. A abordagem representa uma ferramenta epistêmica projetada para proporcionar a reflexão de seus utilizadores sobre as circunstâncias em que a desinformação ocorre, auxiliando na compreensão da origem e consequências da desinformação digital. A Dismiss foi avaliada de forma construtiva ao longo de seu desenvolvimento, usando métodos de grupo focal (11 encontros), estudos em pequena escala (7 casos), e oficinas de análise sociotécnica de casos de desinformação digital com representantes do público-alvo (3 oficinas). Os resultados dos grupos focais e estudos em pequena escala informaram o refinamento da abordagem, sua estrutura, componentes e métodos de aplicação. Os resultados das oficinas indicam a utilidade percebida da abordagem em apoiar a compreensão da desinformação como um fenômeno sociotécnico. Os resultados também indicaram aspectos que podem ser aprimorados na Dismiss, como a quantidade de passos, a explicação de artefatos, e a densidade dos materiais de apoio, informando melhoriasAbstract: This thesis addresses the challenge of understanding and dealing with digital misinformation as a sociotechnical phenomenon, meaning that it involves both aspects of the technologies used for communication and the human/social context in which misinformation occurs. The results of our systematic literature review showed that designers of interventions for mitigating misinformation face difficulties in dealing with the sociotechnical nature of the phenomenon. They tend to employ disciplinary approaches focused on the technical aspects of misinformation and often address the phenomenon in a fragmented manner. These difficulties can lead designers to overlook relevant aspects for understanding the phenomenon and result in potentially harmful solutions, such as censorship or invasive warnings. In this regard, this thesis investigates means to support designers in comprehending the phenomenon from a sociotechnical perspective, helping to characterize cases of digital misinformation and aiding in a comprehensive understanding of the issues. As a solution, this thesis presents Dismiss - an Approach for Sociotechnical Analysis of Digital Misinformation. Dismiss is grounded in Organizational Semiotics, comprised of the Conceptual Model of the Digital Misinformation Lifecycle, artifacts, and supporting materials that underpin the sociotechnical analysis of misinformation. The approach serves as an epistemic tool designed to facilitate users’ reflection on the circumstances in which misinformation occurs, assisting in understanding the origins and consequences of digital misinformation. Dismiss was constructively evaluated throughout its development, utilizing focus group methods (11 meetings), small-scale studies (7 cases), and workshops for the sociotechnical analysis of digital misinformation cases with representatives of the target audience (3 workshops). The results from the focus groups and small-scale studies informed the refinement of the approach, its structure, components, and application methods. The workshop results indicate the perceived utility of the approach in supporting the understanding of misinformation as a sociotechnical phenomenon. The results also highlighted aspects that can be improved in Dismiss, such as the number of steps, artifact explanations, and the density of supporting materials, providing insights for enhancement