Opinions, Intentions, Freedom of Expression, ... , and Other Human Aspects of Misinformation Online

As a wicked problem, limiting the harm caused by misinformation requires merging multiple perspectives to the design of digital interventions, including an understanding of human behaviour and motivations in judging and promoting false information, as well as strategies to detect and stop its propagation without unduly infringing on rights or freedoms of expression. Tools and online services are continuously being developed to support different stakeholders in this battle, such as social media users, journalists, and policymakers. As our studies have demonstrated, the expected impact of online solutions is hampered by limitations associated with lack of explainability, complex user interface, limited datasets, restricted accessibility, biased algorithms, among other factors that can confuse, overwhelm, or mislead users in their own ways. These ethical implications are typically neglected when new digital solutions to tackle misinformation are conceived. This hands-on workshop pro- poses to unpack the state-of-the-art on social, societal and political studies and socio-technical solutions to stop misinformation, challenging the participants to first critically refect upon limitations of existing approaches, to then co-create a future with integrating perspectives focusing on ethical aspects and societal impact

Ethical considerations in social media analytics in the context of migration: lessons learned from a Horizon 2020 project

The ubiquitous use of social platforms across the globe makes them attractive options for investigating social phenomena including migration. However, the use of social media data raises several crucial ethical issues around the areas of informed consent, anonymity and profiling of individuals, which are particularly sensitive when looking at a population such as migrants, which is often considered as ‘vulnerable’. In this paper, we discuss how the opportunities and challenges related to social media research in the context of migration impact on the development of large-scale scientific projects. Building on the EU-funded research project PERCEPTIONS, we explore the concrete challenges experienced in such projects regarding profiling, informed consent, bias, data sharing and ethical approval procedures, as well as the strategies used to mitigate them. We draw from lessons learned in this project to discuss implications and recommendations to researchers, funders and university ethics review panels. This paper contributes to the growing discussion on the ethical challenges associated with big social data research projects on migration by highlighting concrete aspects stakeholders should be looking for and questioning when involved in such large-scale scientific projects where collaboration, data sharing and transformation and practicalities are of importance

A multi-perspective view on AAL stakeholders' needs : a user-centred requirement analysis for the ActiveAdvice European project

This paper discusses the process of including a multi-perspective view on stakeholders’ needs into a specific project, namely the European project ActiveAdvice. It highlights the factors supporting and hindering the development and the implementation of the ActiveAdvice platform – as an integrated communication tool targeted at bridging the gaps between AAL stakeholders by facilitating cooperation and information exchange – regarding user requirements, preferences, acceptances and expectations. For this, a qualitative study was carried out, taking into account not only the older adults as primary end-users but the whole AAL stakeholder ecosystem. 23 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders of different groups – older adults and their relatives, business as well as government representatives – were conducted. The results show that even though different stakeholders can have conflicting needs, e.g. regarding online communication or feedback, those can be integrated into the requirements analysis, thus including the whole stakeholder ecosystem in the designing process. Furthermore, all three included stakeholder groups agree on the importance of raising awareness of AAL solutions, technologies and products. In including not only consumers but other secondary and tertiary stakeholders as well, ActiveAdvice has the chance to reach a broader audience and thus raise public awareness of AAL

The best of both worlds : combining digital and human AAL advisory services for older adults

Technological developments in the last 20 years have been instrumental in service provision by offering new means of interaction among stakeholders in virtual environments. However, in most service sectors, the consumer journey is growing in complexity, which calls for a multifaceted service logic. While a number of ICT companies have been expanding their portfolio from an entirely virtual to additional physical experience, a seamless merger of both physical and virtual worlds in service provision may still be some way off. This applies to advisory services for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions, a recently opened market of great importance in the contemporary ageing society. In this position paper, we expand on the concepts of engagement platforms and engagement ecosystems to argue that an integration of physical and virtual worlds is necessary for AAL advisory services. We first determine the extent to which current service platforms are acting as ‘engagement platforms’ by presenting key insights from an analysis of platforms and services promoting AAL products for older adults. The focus lays on the stakeholder involvement, the interaction and feedback features. Second, we identify the key features that a platform must have to qualify as an engagement platform. Third, the debate delves deeper on how to integrate both virtual and physical dimensions in an optimal solution for stakeholders’ engagement. Finally, we present the concept of an ‘Authorized Active Advisor’ as a solution of utmost relevance in this field due to preferences evidenced by older age groups and to insufficiencies exposed in most service platforms, such as lack of personalization and interaction features