Unchecked: The architecture of disinformation
Misinformation and disinformation thrive in today’s technology landscape, and arguably present the greatest threat to modern society. Information architecture – the practice of designing and managing digital spaces – has an opportunity to intervene. This podcast looks at disinformation from an information architecture perspective, and considers ways to expand the practice of IA to address this new reality.
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What is Information Architecture?
Information architecture is the practice of designing virtual structures – the shape and form of online spaces and digital products. When you click on a navigation menu or follow the steps in a process, you're experiencing the information architecture of a web site or digital product.
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What is disinformation?
Understanding disinformation is the purpose of this podcast. We are trying to figure out exactly what it is and what it means. If information architecture is the practice of designing virtual spaces, then disinformation is something that can occupy that space to disrupt the user's experience. Alternatively, it is a way of manipulating the space (like flooding it with irrelevant facts) to achieve an end unrelated to the space's original intention.
Unchecked: The architecture of disinformation
Episode 4: Disinformation and federal information spaces with Dana Chisnell
SYNOPSIS
Dana Chisnell joins Dan and Rachel to talk about information in civic tech. Dana discusses her experience with voting systems, immigration, and homeland security. New executive orders on communicating about people directly affected Dana’s job. She explains her rationale for stepping down from her executive position. Rachel coins the lens “#influencers” and Dan describes the lens “Messaging.”
STORIES OF DISINFORMATION
The AIDS crisis
Dan’s son was in a musical called Falsettos and it brought back many memories about growing up in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s.
- AIDS denialism (Wikipedia)
- Panic, Paranoia, and Public Health – The AIDS Epidemic’s Lessons for Ebola (New England Journal of Medicine)
- Falsettos at Lincoln Center (YouTube)
Salmon fishing in the Pacific Northwest
Rachel notes a mainstream use of the term “misinformation” in, of all places, a local controversy over salmon fishing.
- Northwest Indigenous leaders recommit to alliance to bolster salmon recovery (Bellingham Herald)
- Bellingham’s SE Alaska salmon fleet threatened by lawsuits, misinformation (Cascadia Daily News)
INTERVIEW WITH DANA CHISNELL
- Dana Chisnell
- Plain Language Makes a Difference When People Vote (Journal of User Experience)
- Resettling Afghan refugees (DOD archive)
- Executive Order 14035: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce (Federal Register)
- Office of Homeland Security Statistics
LENSES
#Influencers
Information spaces rely on “elders” or authorities to give information merit. Designing a system needs to acknowledge that influencers have long been part of information spaces, even before they were digital.
- How does the system rely on influencers?
- How does the system enable influencers without giving them too much power?
Messaging
Microcontent in systems are meant to guide users and we’ve long focused on the the clarity and usability. In modern interconnected information environments even the smallest misunderstanding can snowball into full-fledged misinformation.
- How might microcopy spawn misinformation?
- What might people extrapolate from otherwise simple or harmless system messages?
- Ask yourself: What if someone posts this
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Personnel
- Dan Brown, Host
- Rachel Price, Host
- Emily Duncan, Editor
Music
- Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot
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Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid
Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design
