Funding tool: Citizen Science
Project-ID: FTI23-C-007
Project start: 01. Juli 2024
Project end: 31. Dezember 2026
Runtime: 30 months / ongoing
Funding amount: € 299.510,00

Brief summary:
The permeation of our everyday lives with more and more media content consumed in a short period of time has completely changed the way we access and interact with information: Due to their everyday use and the strong integration of their lives with social media, young people are particularly affected by this development. The project “Young Citizen Scientists against Disinformation” (YCSAD) will explore the topic of disinformation from the perspective of these young adults. In doing so, the project focuses on coping strategies and processes of evaluating (dis)information as opposed to the truthfulness of the content being delivered. Citizen scientists will define the phenomenon of “disinformation” from their perspective and adapt the research focus according to their interests. In addition, they collect data on (dis)information that are relevant to them in their everyday lives and evaluate it. The data contain information about where and how they deal with disinformation and give insight into research and evaluation behaviour as well as questions and uncertainties about the topic. In addition, the researchers prepare material and questions on three topics that are discussed together with the young citizen scientists. These topic areas include (1) perspectives and approaches of policy and science; (2) government intervention and privacy; and (3) technical solutions and applications. Both the data collected by the citizen scientists and those collected by the researchers will be discussed, analysed and interpreted together with the citizen scientists in classroom settings. Finally, YCSAD will contribute a citizen-science-based concept for a future disinformation platform/infrastructure/tool that builds on the findings of the research project.

Keywords:
Science and Technology Studies (STS); Rechtsinformatik; Medienforschung