NetHui

This year there’s not just a pandemic, but an infodemic. COVID-19 has brought issues with mis- and dis-information online into sharp relief. Understanding how bad information travels online is difficult, and coming up with meaningful responses can feel even harder.

Come to this room to talk about misinformation and what communities need to help them respond and build trust in each other to share good, useful, and accurate information online.

Session 1: Mis/dis/mal: what is misinformation?
What is misinformation? What do the terms disinformation, and even malinformation mean? This first breakout session will explore the terms you hear about misinformation, including the motivations and information sharing practices being seen online. Some challenging discussion on topics, related to misinformation, may be included in this breakout stream, so we'll be agreeing our stream approach to manage that in this session too.

Session 2: Misinformation Past
When did this online misinformation problem start? How do offline misinformation issues get handled and can we apply those approaches to misinformation online? What can we learn from misinformation online on issues in the past: online information around climate change and vaccinations can be explored as two issues where information is important and misinformation can be seen.

Session 3: Misinformation Present
What does online misinformation look like now? How is misinformation a threat in Aotearoa New Zealand? What can we learn from the ongoing misinformation concerns around interference in democracy and social cohesion, as seen in the 2016 elections and in ongoing global election processes. What is this global infodemic surrounding Covid-19?

Session 4: Misinformation Future
What can we do about misinformation? How can we respond, collectively and cooperatively, to misinformation online in Aotearoa New Zealand? Could we build an action plan to address the Covid-19 infodemic and reduce the potential harms of pandemic related misinformation in Aotearoa New Zealand?