The collaborative initiative between TaRC and the Russian Media Lab Network (University of Helsinki), Online Talks on Russian Media, has one more interesting presentation to offer you before it is time to head for a summer break!
On Tuesday 9 May, Dr Daria Gritsenko from the University of Helsinki presents her study “Heuristics of doubt: Information foraging in online media environments”.
Drawing on survey research in the UK and Poland, Dr Gritsenko explores what makes people doubt the credibility of information in Western and Eastern Europe and shows that while heuristics of doubt may be idiosyncratic, they are also influenced by policy and politics.
All over the world, experts and ordinary citizens alike are aware of and worried about the surge of misinformation – false and misleading messages circulating in the media.
Misinformation has been acknowledged as one of the key challenges to democracy in the early twenty-first century because it creates a polarised and hostile information environment in which deliberation is in decline.
Extant research generated important knowledge on what makes people gullible to misinformation and how to help them spot the so-called “fake news.” Yet, we still know surprisingly little about what makes people doubt the credibility of information they encounter.
Drawing on the ecological rationality approach, Dr Gritsenko argues that people’s encounters with information online can be understood as “information foraging” and their practices are driven by simple heuristics, colloquially “rules of thumb.”
Speaker bio:
Daria Gritsenko is Assistant Professor in Russian Big Data Methodology (Aleksanteri Institute – University of Helsinki). Her ongoing research is concerned with digital transformation of state and society.
Gritsenko has diverse methodological expertise, and her focus is mixed method research design, in particular with big data. Her ongoing work infuses the study of politics with insights from cognitive science to explore the role of political context in cognition of societal institutions.
This Online Talk will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 9 May, 12:00 to 13:30 Helsinki time (GMT+3). The talk will be moderated by Dr Katja Lehtisaari (Tampere University).
If you want to participate and receive emails about upcoming Online Talks, please leave your contact information here until noon on Monday 8 May. If you have registered for Online Talks or the RMLN email list before, no need to register again, you will get the information!