Online misinformation and disinformation are a significant contributor to the increased discord, violence, and fragmentation of movements, and have been a time-tested tactic used frequently to divert and divide. While the phenomenon that allows online misinformation and disinformation to thrive is not new, digital technologies do contribute greatly to the scale and reach of what we call mis/disinformation. Often, we ask ourselves, what, if anything, can we do about all this?
A new, informational and engaging digital campaign by the Our Voices Our Futures (OVOF) project at the Association for Progressive Communications’ Women's Rights Programme (APC WRP) aims to tackle these critical issues by putting the focus on how we consume and share information and content online. This campaign invites us all to step back from this pixelated, sometimes unclear and often overwhelming online experience, and see The Full Picture.
Information, especially on social media platforms, is created and distributed in fractions, which allows for distortion and misinformation to occur. While we continue to hold platforms accountable and responsible for the rampant mis/disinformation happening and their consequences, The Full Picture campaign aims to give us – people who use and in many ways depend on online spaces and various technologies to build awareness and solidarity for the numerous social justice movements and issues – the tools, tips and tactics to begin meaningfully engaging with and responding to emerging and existing threats to our collective rights and freedoms both online and offline.
By stepping back, we are able to better see and engage with the flood of information at our disposal, and respond to existing and emerging mis/disinformation in ways that ensure our well-being and mental health is not compromised, the safety of our online and offline communities is prioritised and that our values as actors for rights and justice are kept intact.
To this end, OVOF requests you to fill out and share a survey that will accompany the larger online campaign on digital misinformation, disinformation and information pollution.
Why a survey?
To do this right, we need to know more about your experiences with consuming and creating information and content online, and learn from you your ways of tackling this information pollution. This way, the resources and knowledge that we share via this campaign will be rooted in your reality, and will be relevant and useful for you and your community.
Here’s how you can help us.
Please fill up this short survey, The Full Picture survey, and share it with your communities, families, friends, and other circles, latest by 29th July 2024. Share it far and share it wide!
The more responses we get, the better we can develop effective strategies that are tailored to your needs to stop the spread of false information.
In the coming weeks, we will share more information about The Full Picture campaign and how you too can join it. We will also be sharing the survey translated into several regional languages. This way, we can hear and learn from people who are experiencing misinformation and disinformation in languages other than English.
We hope that you are as excited as we are for this opportunity to shift not only what, but also how we shape information consumption and creation online.
The Full Picture survey is now available for you to fill.
And do follow us on the campaign social media platforms: Twitter/X | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook