Combating Misinformation: University of Washington to Create UW Center for an Informed Public with $5 Million Investment From Knight Foundation

UPDATE August 8, 2019: “In The Battle Against Misinformation, We’re Taking a Bold Approach”
Blog Post by Anind K. Dey, Professor and Dean, University of Washington iSchool
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From the University of Washington:

The University of Washington today announced a $5 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to create the UW Center for an Informed Public, led by an interdisciplinary group whose mission is to resist strategic misinformation, promote an informed society, and strengthen democratic discourse. The Center is also funded by a $600,000 award from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The Center brings together existing areas of excellence at the UW and builds upon the university’s ability to better understand how and why fake news, misinformation and disinformation are created. The Center will combat what researchers call the “misinformation epidemic.”

“We really see the Center as a university-wide effort,” said Jevin West, principal investigator and inaugural director for the Center. “Misinformation touches everything.”

The UW Center is one of five institutions receiving major investments from the Knight Foundation nationally and is the only recipient in the Western United States.

“A functioning democracy is an informed democracy,” said Sam Gill, Knight Foundation vice president for communities and impact. “UW is bringing together leading scholars in computer science, sociology and law to equip our democracy with the right tools to navigate the digital age.”

The Hewlett Foundation’s support to the UW is part of a $10 million effort announced in 2018 to examine and combat digital disinformation’s impact on U.S. democracy and elections.

Recent decades have seen a profound shift in the ways people, groups, and organizations produce and consume information and participate in public discourse. While many positive advancements have emerged from new technologies and platforms, the new information environments also have opened the door to misinformation, disinformation and fake news.

“It’s one of the most important problems of our time that we as a society need to solve,” West said. “This is not a left or right issue. This is an issue that transcends political boundaries. Everyone wants to get this right.”

The principal investigators at the Center are a who’s who in this field of research, widely recognized for their respective expertise. In addition to West, co-director of DataLab, who is known for his Information School class “Calling B.S.: Data Reasoning in a Digital World,” there are four researchers who will lead various initiatives for the Center:

• Emma Spiro, co-director the Social Media Lab, Information School;
• Chris Coward, director of the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA), Information School;
• Ryan Calo, co-director of the Tech Policy Lab, School of Law; and,
• Kate Starbird, director of the Emerging Capacities of Mass Participation Lab (emCOMP), Human Centered Design & Engineering.

The Center will be devoted to educational efforts, research, policy and community outreach around misinformation and disinformation campaigns. Additionally, researchers will establish a network of Community Labs in public libraries and other institutions to co-create and assess research-based interventions.

Housed within the Information School, the Center for an Informed Public is scheduled to officially open in fall 2019.

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