UI Design & Disinformation Miguel Gutierrez, IRI

Transcript:UI Design & Disinformation Miguel Gutierrez, IRI:
UI Design & Disinformation Miguel Gutierrez, IRI Research Fellow ‘19 Mentor: Lilian Coral, Knight Foundation disinformationdesign.github.io This is a web-based interactive essay and UX project that dissects the phenomenon of disinformation online through the lens of product design. Research Question How do design elements or features of the user interface affect the distribution of disinformation? Main Takeaways Stanford Study, 2018 Compares engagement trends of “fake news” media between Facebook & Twitter “Fake News” has declined more than 50 percent between the 2016 election and July 2018, using data tracked by the content marketing firm BuzzSumo. The ratio of Facebook engagements to Twitter retweets on the 570 sites has fallen from about 40-to-1 to about 15-to-1, which implies that Facebook is still by far the larger fake news source. Facing Facts, 2017 Methodology I first use the UI Theory and Case Study to form a basis of critical inquiry. Here, I can identify the following: What is the relationship between the design object and audience What is the nature of human psychology amidst digital information spaces How has disinformation on Facebook evolved over time? What design methodologies has Facebook employed? What are the gaps in Facebook’s design given what we know about UI theory. From these questions, I conducted ethnographic research on 31 UCLA students. This data then shaped a design proposal to help Facebook resist disinformation. Findings Facebook was better equipped at dismantling information after its publishing, but was lacking in means of prevention. From the array of post-publishing measures, most students surveyed (approx 90%) had not known of their existence. Facebook’s measures against disinformation were often too dependent on third-party fact checking Design cannot reach its full potential if it is inhibited by speech politics.