A murmuration of misinformation
Craig Shearer (May 30, 2022)
I'd like to draw attention to the work done by Te Pūna Matatini. They have released an initial report on mis- and dis-information in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Their website has a resources page with a number of PDF documents of varying technical complexity (and hence length), including their full scientific paper (which is yet to undergo peer review).
The most interesting one, I think, is the working paper - The murmuration of information disorders.
It makes sobering reading about how the information environment is changing in Aotearoa New Zealand and how mis- and dis-information is being spread.
From the paper, they give the following definitions:
In our study, we use the following definitions:
• Misinformation: “false information that people didn't create with the intent to hurt others”
• Disinformation: “false information created with the intention of harming a person, group, or organisation, or even a company”
• Malinformation: “true information used with ill intent”
I think it's definitely worth a read for skeptics.
Interestingly I can't find any reference to why they called this a murmuration. My guess is that they're likening the changing spread and patterns of mis- and dis-information online to that of a bird murmuration - where there's nobody setting the rules and controlling it, but patterns emerge out of the chaos.