Infodemia global. Desórdenes informativos, narrativas fake y fact-checking en la crisis de la Covid-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David García-Marín
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Textual Form ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Media Formats

Covid-19 has triggered not only a pandemic that endangers our social, economic, and health systems but also an infodemic resulting from the prolific spread of fake news, hoaxes, and misleading content. From a statistical-descriptive perspective and using content analysis, this research analyzes the information disorders, media language, ​​and narratives that carry the disinformation generated about Covid-19 at an international level. The analysis focuses on determining its frequency of occurrence, based on the time it takes to be verified and establishing the relationship between the spread of the virus and the prevalence of disinformation on different continents. A sample of 582 fake news items included in the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) database on the novel coronavirus was analyzed. This information was divided into a general sample made up of 511 pieces of disinformation and a specific one on fake news spread through WhatsApp (n=71). The results partially confirm recent studies that reported a greater prevalence of information that reconfigures legitimate content and takes longer to be verified than fully fabricated content. Disinformation in textual form predominates over the production of images and audios. Video content required longer verification times in comparison with the other media formats. Disinformation about Covid-19 includes narratives with a dynamic and changing character as the pandemic expands. Likewise, a parallelism between the geographical evolution of the pandemic and the spread of the infodemic is detected, as well as specific disinformation patterns on WhatsApp, where more audio-based disinformation and a higher percentage of fabricated content is shared, sometimes for criminal purposes. Resumen La Covid-19 no sólo ha desencadenado una pandemia que pone en peligro los sistemas sociales, económicos y sanitarios a nivel global, sino también una infodemia donde proliferan las informaciones falsas, los bulos y las noticias sesgadas. Desde una perspectiva estadístico-descriptiva y utilizando el análisis de contenido, en este estudio se analizan los desórdenes informativos, los lenguajes mediáticos y las narrativas que portan la desinformación generada sobre la Covid-19 a nivel internacional. El objetivo del análisis se centra en determinar las frecuencias de aparición de estas noticias falsas, conocer el tiempo que tardan en ser verificadas y establecer la relación entre la expansión del virus y la prevalencia de la desinformación en los diferentes continentes. Para ello, se analizó una muestra de 582 noticias falsas incluidas en la base de datos sobre el nuevo coronavirus de la International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Estas informaciones se dividieron en una muestra general compuesta por 511 piezas y una específica sobre la desinformación compartida a través de WhatsApp (n=71). Los resultados confirman parcialmente recientes estudios que afirman que las informaciones falsas que reconfiguran contenidos verídicos tienen más prevalencia y tardan más en ser verificadas que los contenidos completamente fabricados. La desinformación en formas textuales predomina frente a la producción de imágenes y audios. Los contenidos en vídeo registran tiempos de verificación muy superiores al resto de producciones. La desinformación sobre la Covid-19 integra narrativas con un carácter dinámico y cambiante a medida que la pandemia se expande. Asimismo, se detecta un paralelismo entre la evolución geográfica de la pandemia y la expansión de la infodemia, así como unos patrones desinformativos específicos en WhatsApp, donde se propagan más audios y un mayor porcentaje de contenido completamente falso, en ocasiones con fines delictivos.

The role and relationship of mindreading and social attunement in HRI – position statements of interdisciplinary researchers. Workshop HRI'20

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Wykowska ◽  
Jairo Pérez-Osorio ◽  
Stefan Kopp
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This booklet is a collection of the position statements accepted for the HRI’20 conference workshop “Social Cognition for HRI: Exploring the relationship between mindreading and social attunement in human-robot interaction” (Wykowska, Perez-Osorio & Kopp, 2020). Unfortunately, due to the rapid unfolding of the novel coronavirus at the beginning of the present year, the conference and consequently our workshop, were canceled. On the light of these events, we decided to put together the positions statements accepted for the workshop. The contributions collected in these pages highlight the role of attribution of mental states to artificial agents in human-robot interaction, and precisely the quality and presence of social attunement mechanisms that are known to make human interaction smooth, efficient, and robust. These papers also accentuate the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to advance the understanding of the factors and the consequences of social interactions with artificial agents.

Antisemitic or Bordering on Antisemitic? Grey Areas in Romanian Fake News Discourses in the Wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Transilvania ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 121-127
Author(s):  
Anca-Simina Martin
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Elie Wiesel ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Us ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Jews as a collective have long served as scapegoats for epidemics and pandemics, such as the Bubonic Plague and, according to some scholars, the 1918–1920 influenza pandemic. This practice reemerged in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when more and more fake news outlets in the US and Europe started publishing articles on a perceived linkage between Jewish communities and the novel coronavirus. What this article aims to achieve is to facilitate a dialogue between the observations on the phenomenon made by the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania and the latest related EU reports, with a view to charting its beginnings in Romania in relation to other European countries and in an attempt to see whether Romania, like France and Germany, has witnessed the emergence of “grey area” discourses which are not fully covered by International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.

scholarly journals Citation Network Analysis of the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (20) ◽  
pp. 7690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Martinez-Perez ◽  
Cristina Alvarez-Peregrina ◽  
Cesar Villa-Collar ◽  
Miguel Ángel Sánchez-Tena
Keyword(s):  
Web Of Science ◽  
Citation Network ◽  
The United States ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Citation Network Analysis ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Relationship

Background: The first outbreaks of the new coronavirus disease, named COVID-19, occurred at the end of December 2019. This disease spread quickly around the world, with the United States, Brazil and Mexico being the countries the most severely affected. This study aims to analyze the relationship between different publications and their authors through citation networks, as well as to identify the research areas and determine which publication has been the most cited. Methods: The search for publications was carried out through the Web of Science database using terms such as “COVID-19” and “SARS-CoV-2” for the period between January and July 2020. The Citation Network Explorer software was used for publication analysis. Results: A total of 14,335 publications were found with 42,374 citations generated in the network, with June being the month with the largest number of publications. The most cited publication was “Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China” by Guan et al., published in April 2020. Nine groups comprising different research areas in this field, including clinical course, psychology, treatment and epidemiology, were found using the clustering functionality. Conclusions: The citation network offers an objective and comprehensive analysis of the main papers on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.

scholarly journals Self-blame regret, fear of COVID-19 and mental health during post-peak pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hacer Belen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Multiple Mediation ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Self Blame ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The novel Coronavirus pandemic caused strong negative emotions including fear, and stress and impacted in mental health of individuals worldwide. One of the emotions linked with mental health and infectious disease is self-blame regret. Thus, current study investigated the role of fear of COVID-19 and perceived stress in the relationship between self-blame regret and depression. A community sample of 352 individuals in Turkey (71 % female and 29 % males), ranged between in age18 and 63 (M= 28.90±8.90), completed fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S), perceived stress (PSS-10), DASS-21 scales and responded to one item concerning the self-blame regret. Results demonstrated that self-blame regret is positively correlated with fear of COVID-19, perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Moreover, serial multiple mediation analyses demonstrated that both fear of COVID-19 and perceived stress mediated in the relationship between self-blame regret and depression. Findings and implications are discussed.

scholarly journals COVID-19-Related Web Search Behaviors and Infodemic Attitudes in Italy: Infodemiological Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Rovetta ◽  
Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula
Keyword(s):  
Web Search ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Google Trends ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Search Activity ◽  
Campania Region ◽  
Search Volume ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

BACKGROUND Since the beginning of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, fake news and misleading information have circulated worldwide, which can profoundly affect public health communication. OBJECTIVE We investigated online search behavior related to the COVID-19 outbreak and the attitudes of “infodemic monikers” (ie, erroneous information that gives rise to interpretative mistakes, fake news, episodes of racism, etc) circulating in Italy. METHODS By using Google Trends to explore the internet search activity related to COVID-19 from January to March 2020, article titles from the most read newspapers and government websites were mined to investigate the attitudes of infodemic monikers circulating across various regions and cities in Italy. Search volume values and average peak comparison (APC) values were used to analyze the results. RESULTS Keywords such as “novel coronavirus,” “China coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” “2019-nCOV,” and “SARS-COV-2” were the top infodemic and scientific COVID-19 terms trending in Italy. The top five searches related to health were “face masks,” “amuchina” (disinfectant), “symptoms of the novel coronavirus,” “health bulletin,” and “vaccines for coronavirus.” The regions of Umbria and Basilicata recorded a high number of infodemic monikers (APC weighted total >140). Misinformation was widely circulated in the Campania region, and racism-related information was widespread in Umbria and Basilicata. These monikers were frequently searched (APC weighted total >100) in more than 10 major cities in Italy, including Rome. CONCLUSIONS We identified a growing regional and population-level interest in COVID-19 in Italy. The majority of searches were related to amuchina, face masks, health bulletins, and COVID-19 symptoms. Since a large number of infodemic monikers were observed across Italy, we recommend that health agencies use Google Trends to predict human behavior as well as to manage misinformation circulation in Italy.

scholarly journals Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395172110138
Author(s):  
Melisa Basol ◽  
Jon Roozenbeek ◽  
Manon Berriche ◽  
Fatih Uenal ◽  
William P. McClanahan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Societal Challenge ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Misinformation about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a pressing societal challenge. Across two studies, one preregistered ( n1 = 1771 and n2 = 1777), we assess the efficacy of two ‘prebunking’ interventions aimed at improving people’s ability to spot manipulation techniques commonly used in COVID-19 misinformation across three different languages (English, French and German). We find that Go Viral!, a novel five-minute browser game, (a) increases the perceived manipulativeness of misinformation about COVID-19, (b) improves people’s attitudinal certainty (confidence) in their ability to spot misinformation and (c) reduces self-reported willingness to share misinformation with others. The first two effects remain significant for at least one week after gameplay. We also find that reading real-world infographics from UNESCO improves people’s ability and confidence in spotting COVID-19 misinformation (albeit with descriptively smaller effect sizes than the game). Limitations and implications for fake news interventions are discussed.

scholarly journals Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on logistics firms and their resilience: case studies in Thailand

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-98
Author(s):  
Sun Ketudat ◽  
Chawalit Jeenanunta
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
It Systems ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that is currently causing challenges and opportunities in all sectors worldwide. The logistic industry plays an enormous role in keeping the countries functional, and it accounts for 13.4 % of the total GDP in Thailand. This article aims to identify and justify critical success factors for the Logistic Industries experiencing success and failure during the pandemic. The research was conducted using semi-structured interviews with top managers of three companies from March to September 2021, which is phase 4 of the pandemic. The findings we analysed using thematic analysis to understand the critical factors within the industry. Logistics companies of different sizes were selected for this purpose as case studies aimed to identify the resemblance of the effects and find the relationship with company resilience. Five key supporting factors were identified for the logistics firms to be resilient during the pandemic, including flexibility, Business Continuity Plan, market diversification, IT systems, and leadership.

scholarly journals Early Days of the Novel Coronavirus: Public Response in Social Media during the First Month of the Outbreak

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 159-182
Author(s):  
Maris Kuperjanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Public Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Flow Of Information

The aim of the article is to give an overview of the first month of the novel coronavirus outbreak and of the public reactions to the news in media comments and social media environments in both local Estonian and global contexts. The pandemic was still ongoing at the time the article was published and, with some modifications and new emphases, vernacular reactions in the media (incl. social media) continued flourishing. During the first month (January 2020), the growing flow of information and rapid escalation of the situation made the topic more noticeable in both the media and social media, and thus provided a fertile basis for jokes and internet memes, legends, fake news, misinformation, conspiracy theories, etc., as was the case with the former bigger epidemics and pandemics. As it has also been observed previously, the consequences of some fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories may often be more harmful for society than the disease itself. Several motifs and storylines are universal and surge as similar situations arise both in Estonia and all over the world. The article also presents a selection of more prominent topics and examples of the outbreak from social media environments during the initial phase of international awareness of the novel coronavirus.

scholarly journals ANALISIS SENTIMEN PANDEMI COVID19 PADA STREAMING TWITTER DENGAN TEXT MINING PYTHON

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Anni Karimatul Fauziyyah
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Data Streaming ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Community Behavior ◽  
N Gram ◽  
To Come ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is widespread and will likely shape community behavior for months to come. And while the humanitarian and safety-related aspects of this outbreak are top of mind globally, it’s unquestionable that social distancing, quarantining, and staying home will have a significant effect on media consumption, which could rise up to 60%, according to recent research from Nielsen’s U.S. media team.  Social media, now a part of everyday life for most consumers engaged with the world digitally, became the primary source for buzz about all things COVID-19 as worries and news intensified. Sentiment analysis is applied in this study to analyze the opinions, feelings, and interests of individuals in the COVID-19. The purpose of this study is to analyze sentiment based on an opinion by classifying individual feelings such as sadness, happiness, or panic in facing a COVID-19 into sentiment level that is negative, positive or, neutral. In this paper, an open-source approach is presented where we have collected tweets from the Twitter API and then reprocessing, analyzing and, visualizing these tweets using python. Furthermore, Twitter data streaming will be processed and cleaned to parse data that can be classified based on opinion with a text mining algorithm using text blob Python. Feature extraction is done for the relationship between words by the Bigram and N-gram methods.

scholarly journals Russian Medical Society for Arterial Hypertension Expert Consensus: Hypertension and COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-41
Author(s):  
Irina E. Chazova ◽  
Natalia V. Blinova ◽  
Vera A. Nevzorova ◽  
Juliya V. Zhernakova ◽  
Mikhail P. Savenkov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arterial Hypertension ◽  
Medical Society ◽  
Target Cells ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Coronavirus Infection ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Russian Medical

The novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) caused by the b-coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, and leads to acute respiratory distress-syndrome, has affected more than nineteen million people worldwide, resulting in 0.7 million deaths as of August 2020. The fact that the virus uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 as a receptor for entering the target cell, and the high prevalence of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases among patients with COVID-19, have caused serious discussions on the management of such patients. This consensus of experts from the Russian Medical Society for Arterial Hypertension analyzed the existing data on the relationship between COVID-19 and hypertension, the pathophysiological aspects of the penetration of the virus into target cells and the use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors in patients with hypertension and COVID-19.

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