Episode 3: Disinformation and vaccines with Dr. Adam Ratner
Send us a textSYNOPSISRachel and Dan talk to Dr. Adam Ratner, author of the new book Booster Shots, about the misinformation he encounters as a pediatric infectious disease specialist. We discuss the distinctions between vaccine hesitancy and being anti-vax, and how misinformation has an impact beyond individual healthcare. Dan uses the discussion to highlight a new “lens” called double-tagging, and Rachel is inspired to establish the lens “frenzy.”__________STORIES OF DISINFORMATIONThe Fifth ColumnRachel describes how the US used the fictional threat of a “fifth column” to bolster their argument for Japanese internment camps.A Brief History of Japanese American Relocation During World War II (National Park Service)How a Public Media Campaign Led to Japanese Incarceration during WWII (GBH - American Experience)Of Spies and G-Men: How the U.S. Government Turned Japanese Americans into Enemies of the State (densho.org)Reciprocal TariffsDan highlights some of the more subtle and insidious misinformation about Trump’s tariffs.Trade deficits and truth deficits (Julian Sanchez)PBS interview of Justin WolfersJake Tapper interview of Ag secretary Rollins__________INTERVIEW WITH DR ADAM RATNERDr. Adam RatnerAdam’s book: Booster Shots: The Urgent Lesson of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health2019 measles outbreak in New York City (New England Journal of Medicine)Brooklyn measles outbreak: How a glossy booklet spread anti-vaccine messages in Orthodox Jewish communities (NBC News)__________LENSESDouble-taggingSeemingly innocuous labels can be turned into misinformation by applying them in a way that is technically accurate, but twists the meaning of the label. Tagging anti-vax information with the label “vaccines” is misleading, and undermines the integrity of the system.How might tags and classification schemes be co-opted to threaten the system’s integrity?How does the system’s classification scheme adapt to deal with neutral terms that have become loaded?FrenzyInformation systems have a responsibility to help users understand what’s truly important and/or urgent. Systems must avoid contributing to the frenzy of information.How does the system help participants prioritize without causing a fre_____________________________________________________ Personnel Dan Brown, Host Rachel Price, Host Emily Duncan, Editor Music Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot _____________________________________________________ Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design
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Episode 2: Disinformation and civic tech, with Cyd Harrell
Send us a textSYNOPSISDan and Rachel talk with Cyd Harrell about the challenges of providing information to citizens that is accurate and accessible, even when it needs to be official and formal. Rachel discusses the Accuracy as a lens for evaluating information ecosystems. Dan explains the lens Accountability.EPISODE CONTENTSStories of DisinformationDan describes misinformation from the Bush administration that provided the impetus for the US invasion of IraqThe Iraq Invasion 20 Years Later (Mother Jones)Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq (Mother Jones)The Other "Big Lie" and Our Democratic Fragility (Harvard Kennedy School)Rachel describes how the US National Park Rangers handle messaging guidelines from the Trump administrationInterview with Cyd HarrellCyd's book, A Civic Technologist's Practice GuideLensesAccuracyIt turns out accuracy is a spectrum, and sometimes information is "accurate enough" for the purposes of the people using it. At the same time, some domains require information that is precise, even when that isn't required by all users.How does the system define and uphold an acceptable threshold for accuracy? How does the system ensure information is precise? AccountableWhen information is held accountable, it is subjected to outside critique and validation. Perfectly closed systems prevent information from being scrutinized. But also, systems that appear open can be compromised.How does the system encourage sources to be accountable for their contributions? How does the system enable outside criticism and give it equal weight to the original contributions?=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=PersonnelDan Brown, HostRachel Price, HostEmily Duncan, EditorMusicTurtle Up Fool, by Elliot_____________________________________________________ Personnel Dan Brown, Host Rachel Price, Host Emily Duncan, Editor Music Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot _____________________________________________________ Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design
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Episode 1: Disinformation and healthcare with Susannah Fox
Send us a textStories of DisinformationRachel told the story of disinformation in ancient Rome: Octavian’s campaign against Mark Antony.The Propaganda of OctavianFake news about Antony and CleopatraBBC: A brief history of fake newsA short guide to the history of fake news and disinformationDan recounted the story of how the Department of Homeland Security is manipulating search engine results… Or are they?The Guardian: A mirage of mass deportationsGizmodo: A little bit of HTML doing a lot of workInterview with Susannah FoxSusannah's Web siteRebel Health, Susannah's book (affiliate link)LensesInterrogableInformation ecosystems sometimes keep participants in the dark, preventing them from understanding more about the information conveyed. While opacity in a system can make it easier to understand, preventing users from becoming disoriented or overwhelmed, it also does not invite users to think critically about the information presented.How does the system invite users to interrogate the information being conveyed?In other words, how does the system make the "invisible" visible, so that it can be interrogated?Self-RegulatingIn peer-to-peer patient support communities, there are mechanisms that allow community members to indicate the reliability of posted information. If online spaces are like gardens, they should be community gardens, where any participant can contribute to the health of the information. How does your system allow participants to regulate the information within the system?+ + +PersonnelDan Brown, HostRachel Price, HostEmily Duncan, EditorMusicTurtle Up Fool, by Elliot_____________________________________________________ Personnel Dan Brown, Host Rachel Price, Host Emily Duncan, Editor Music Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot _____________________________________________________ Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design
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Pilot - Introducing Unchecked
Send us a textIntroducing Unchecked, the podcast about the architecture of disinformation. Exaggerations, misinformation, and falsehoods seem to be everywhere these days. No domain, no online space, no information ecosystem is safe from this invasive species. Dan and Rachel, two professional information architects, turn their attention to this growing threat in the hopes of developing strategies and methods for building better systems.____________________________________________Topics:Snopes teaches us the challenge of checking sourcesDisinformation in history: The role of misinformation in spreading influenza in 1918Disinformation today: LA fires and water “shortages”Defining disinformationDefining information architecture, and positioning it relative to disinformationOur objectives for this podcast-Sources:AP article covering misinformation in the LA FiresScripps News article about the use of disinformation in the 1918 Influenza pandemic-Personnel:Dan Brown, HostRachel Price, HostEmily Duncan, Editor-Music:Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot_____________________________________________________ Personnel Dan Brown, Host Rachel Price, Host Emily Duncan, Editor Music Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot _____________________________________________________ Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design
About Unchecked: The architecture of disinformation
Misinformation and disinformation thrive in today’s technology landscape, and arguably present the greatest threat to modern society. Information architecture – the practice of designing and managing digital spaces – has an opportunity to intervene. This podcast looks at disinformation from an information architecture perspective, and considers ways to expand the practice of IA to address this new reality....What is Information Architecture?Information architecture is the practice of designing virtual structures – the shape and form of online spaces and digital products. When you click on a navigation menu or follow the steps in a process, you're experiencing the information architecture of a web site or digital product....What is disinformation?Understanding disinformation is the purpose of this podcast. We are trying to figure out exactly what it is and what it means. If information architecture is the practice of designing virtual spaces, then disinformation is something that can occupy that space to disrupt the user's experience. Alternatively, it is a way of manipulating the space (like flooding it with irrelevant facts) to achieve an end unrelated to the space's original intention.
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