Innovations in Research: Confronting the Disinformation Age
2019, Summit Confronting the Disinformation Age, Media + Information
Research doesn’t just live in libraries and academic papers; it has a profound impact on our day to day lives. Innovations in Research is a dynamic evening that showcases the SFU researchers and innovators who are designing solutions to confront the disinformation age.
Hosted by Joy Johnson, Vice-President, Research and International at SFU, this event features rapid-fire presentations, in-depth discussions, and interactive demonstrations by faculty, staff, students and alumni from across SFU’s faculties, departments, programs and campuses. Enjoy light refreshments as you move throughout the space, interacting with researchers and watching presentations from SFU’s remarkable research community.
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. (PT)
SFU Segal Graduate School of Business
500 Granville Street
Vancouver, B.C.
We respectfully acknowledge that this event takes place on the Unceded, Traditional, Ancestral Territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm First Nations.
About Confronting the Disinformation Age
SFU Public Square’s 2019 Community Summit considered how the proliferation of disinformation is impacting society and challenging our capacity to make informed decisions about our economic, social, and political lives. Together, we co-created strategies to ensure stronger and healthier information ecosystems and stimulate more connected and resilient communities.
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The Disinformation Age
Information is fundamental to our existence. Without it, we cannot understand or effectively respond to the events that shape our world. Throughout history, campaigns to deliberately spread false information to influence public opinion or obscure the truth have been launched by individuals, organizations, and governments. But today, we’re living in a new age of information facilitated primarily by digital technology. These advancements offer us extraordinary access to facts and data but also allow for harmful, inaccurate, and manipulated information to be created and disseminated at an unprecedented speed, scope, and scale. Falsehoods are pitted against facts in competition for our attention and technology is used to exploit our cognitive functioning without repercussion. In what is being called the “post-truth” era, the distortion of our information landscape is eroding our trust in institutions, political systems, the media, and each other.
Host
Joy Johnson
Joy Johnson leads Simon Fraser University’s strategic research initiatives and facilitates international opportunities that foster research collaborations and student exchange. Her work focuses on facilitating research excellence and helping the university respond to new opportunities. She works with members of SFU’s eight faculties to ensure they have the support and resources required to conduct excellent cutting-edge research in all its forms. Building on her long-standing leadership and research experience, she works with faculty, students and staff to secure research partnerships within the community and industry.
A key element of her role focuses on knowledge mobilization by facilitating opportunities to transfer the results of SFU research to society. This collaborative role allows for an interplay between research and innovation to enhance social, economic, and environmental well-being.
Joy is a leader for the SFU Innovates initiative – a university-wide strategy and action plan to inspire, develop, and support impact-driven innovation and entrepreneurship. As part of SFU’s commitment to innovation, she is responsible for developing initiatives that support students and faculty members to harness new ideas and innovations for the benefit of society.
Information about her past scholarly and leadership experiences can be obtained by accessing her CV.
Juan Pablo Alperin, Michelle La, and Esteban Morales
Publishing Program, Assistant Professor
Is making knowledge public a part of a professor’s job?
Ahmed Al-Rawi
Professor, School of Communication
Fake news discourses on Instagram
Bakht Anwar
Undergraduate Student, Faculty of Health Sciences
Exploring the Perspectives of Health Sciences Regarding Refugee and Newcomer Health Needs
Micayla Bobsien
Undergraduate Student, Department of Political Sciences
The Media’s Portrayal of Refugees and Irregular Border Crossings
Clint Burnham
Professor, Department of English
We don't know what we want when we are on the internet (and that's ok)
Emily Choma
Undergraduate Student, School of Criminology
Discussing Past Attacks or Planning New Ones? Evaluating Critical Infrastructure Discussions on Online Hacking and Extremist Forums
Henry Daniel
Professor, School for the Contemporary Arts
From the Other Side
Heather De Forest & Ali Moore
Research Commons, Research Commons Librarian/Community Scholars Librarian
Confronting Disinformation with Public Access to Research
Jenika Ebing
Undergraduate Student, School of Communication
Confronting misinformation in chronic health support groups on social media - and a proposed, local solution.
Magali Forte & Gwénaëlle André
Ph.D. Candidates, Languages, Cultures and Literacies Program
Digital story creation with Scribjab: human and material encounters
Sun-ha Hong
Professor, School of Communication
Fake news for fake pills: Disinformation beyond politics, and its historical roots
Kayli Jamieson
Undergraduate Student, School of Communication
Algorithms in the Age of the Digital Public Sphere: Filter-Bubbles and Disinformation
Aliya Kazmi
Undergraduate Student, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Power as Revelatory: Challenging the Idea That Power Corrupts In Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
Akira Kojima, Rielle Harding, Nick Shum, Ann Ness
Undergraduate Students, Semester in Dialogue
Dr. Google
Esteban Morales
Master Student, Faculty of Education
Data literacy in a peace education course, an opportunity to address disinformation in Colombia
Mark Pickup
Professor, Department of Political Science
Political Opinion Leaders and Normative Change: A Trump Effect across the Canada/US Border?
Kamyar Razavi
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Communication
Journalism for climate solutions: Rethinking standard approaches to climate change reporting.
Daniel Savas
Professor, School of Public Policy & SFU Centre for Dialogue
Disinformation, Trust & Commitment to Democracy: The Case for Building Social Connections
Maite Taboada
Professor, Department of Linguistics
Using computational linguistics to detect fake news
Eileen Van der Flier-Keller
Professor, Faculty of Science
Beyond the ivory tower: Empowering our students to communicate their science to public audience
Donna Yung
Senior Research Assistant, Children's Health Policy Centre
Confronting disinformation to improve children's mental health
Naomi Zakimi
Graduate Student, Department of Criminology
Right-wing extremism online: Are we part of the problem?
Event Recording
Confronting the Disinformation Age | Trailer
Confronting the Disinformation Age | Resources
Books, articles, videos and other resources on disinformation.
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Fabricating Meaning
Dr. Eldon Yellowhorn and Dr. J. Steven Dodge will present their approaches to how language is used in science, as objective or embedded with cultural histories and subjectivities.
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When Facts Fail | City Conversations
Over the last decade, narratives surrounding climate, housing, drug, and transportation policies have taken centre stage in our news cycle and the collective conscious of Greater Vancouverites.
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Philosophy of Fake News
What is it exactly? How bad is it? And what can we do about it? Three philosophers grapple with how disinformation works and poses a serious threat to our democratic institutions.
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Youth Take Action
Digital citizenship is a new and evolving concept which grapples with the complex reality of new digital technologies that impact all aspects of our lives today.
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Confronting the Disinformation Age | Keynote
Today, in what many are calling the “post-truth” era, we’re witnessing an epidemic of disinformation. How did we get here?
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Face to Face(book) with Christopher Wylie
The New Yorker calls him “a pink-haired, nose-ringed oracle sent from the future". Best known for his role in setting up – and then taking down – the cyberwarfare firm Cambridge Analytica, Chris has been listed in TIME100 Most Influential People in the World, Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Politico’s 50 Most Influential People in Politics and Business Insider’s 100 Coolest People in Tech.
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Media, Misinformation, and What Can Be Done About It
Given the rise of misinformation that we’ve seen around the world and in Canada, what practical steps can be taken to improve the coverage leading up to and during the 2019 federal election?
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Working Towards an Inclusive Digital Society
This interactive forum will address current practices, challenges and possibilities for justice-based approach to digital literacy education in communities that experience various forms of marginality across income, ability, health, gender and race.
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Is Social Media Destroying Democracy?
Is social media destroying our democracy? If it is, what role can public policy play in regulation, will regulation even work, and can we save our democracy before it’s too late?
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Innovations in Research: Confronting the Disinformation Age
Hosted by Joy Johnson, Vice-President, Research and International at SFU, this event features rapid-fire presentations, in-depth discussions, and interactive demonstrations by faculty, staff, students and alumni from across SFU’s faculties, departments, programs and campuses.
Read More →
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Competing Visions of Climate Populism
Populism has become an increasingly prominent force in Canadian political life, with significant implications for how the public engages with the intersecting politics of climate change and energy. In a panel discussion featuring Shane Gunster, Bob Neubauer, and Paul Saurette, these three authors of a forthcoming book will discuss how competing visions of extractive and ecological populism are shaping political debate in Canada.
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A Special Philosopher's Cafe: Confronting the Disinformation Age
Lies and mistruths have always been used to sway people’s beliefs, and people have always created false personas. Plato wrestled with how to tell appearance from reality, and suggested that those in “the cave” might choose shadows and reflections over being truly enlightened. Are current times different and, if so, why and how? For example, does the Internet make it easier to create and disseminate persuasive lies? Are snark and falsehood now rewarded with more attention and money than ever before? Or is there nothing new under the sun?
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Fake News, Real Talk
In a digital age of fake news, alternative facts, media echo chambers, confirmation bias, and algorithm-fuelled virality, how can we as students navigate our way around our distorted media landscape?
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