This session is facilitated by Chiin-Rui Tan, Dare Imam-Lawal, Nicola Koo
About this session
The facilitators will introduce and contextualise key socio-technical features of the topic, such as:
-Definitions of Disinformation, Misinformation, and Malinformation
-Examples of disinformation actors, from governments to extremist groups to corporate lobbyists to copy-cat individuals
-An anti-democracy case-study where disinformation campaigns targeted the European Parliamentary elections in May aiming to manipulate political discourse, influence attitudes, change voting and alter outcomes
-A visualisation depicting social divisions being deepened by digital content creators, whose output is further amplified, often artificially and/or exploiting micro-targeting mechanisms enabled by user data harvested without consent
-Example techno-centric approaches for citizen investigation and reconnaissance using Open Source Software, especially Python technologies, inclusive of a range of domain and technical proficiency
Participants will be encouraged to engage, exchange with and develop upon this material and each other’s input throughout the session, shaping actionable, constructive next-steps to take post-MozFest.
Goals of this session
The ultimate goal of this Learning Forum session is to explore, engage, empower, and grow decentralised, grassroot activism for protecting online communities from disinformation.
By creating a stimulating space where the facilitators and participants can share and exchange practical knowledge and experience, we aim to further democratise socio-technical citizen investigation by widening access to Open Source Software (OSS), particularly Python technologies and workflows, that unearth actionable intelligence about online disinformation.
A measurable outcome of this session will be greater awareness, confidence, and literacy of participants regarding the free scientific and computational resources available to them, and how these enable opportunities for impactful independent ethical hacking.