g-f(2)39 University of Oxford: Misinformation about basic issues in science and technology abounds

Extra-condensed knowledge

The Oxford Martin Programme on MISINFORMATION, SCIENCE AND MEDIA

• Public understanding of key issues in science and technology is often limited and misinformation about basic issues in science and technology abounds.
• In this three-year programme researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism are examining the interplay between systematic misinformation campaigns, news coverage, and increasingly important social media platforms for public understanding of science and technological innovation. 
• The programme looks at the problem of “junk science”, “fake news” and public policy issues.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image.

The “genioux facts” Knowledge Big Picture (g-f KBP) chart

Condensed knowledge 

• The Oxford Martin Programme on MISINFORMATION, SCIENCE AND MEDIA
• Public understanding of key issues in science and technology is often limited and misinformation about basic issues in science and technology abounds.
• In this three-year programme researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism are examining the interplay between systematic misinformation campaigns, news coverage, and increasingly important social media platforms for public understanding of science and technological innovation. 
• The programme looks at the problem of “junk science”, “fake news” and public policy issues.
• Long-held scientific consensus on vital issues such as climate change or the vaccines is increasingly contested, heavily debated on social media and even in the mainstream news media. New technological innovations like artificial intelligence are discussed in terms that veer from the alarmist to the exuberant.
• Our aim is to combine social science and computer science to address the damaging impact of computational propaganda and other forms of digitally‐enabled misinformation campaigns on scientific innovation, policy making, and public life.
• We engage with stakeholders in journalism, the technology industry, the scientific community, and among policymakers in the search for evidence-based actionable interventions.
• LATEST NEWS
• Navigating the COVID-19 'infodemic' - how are people accessing news and information 
• News use is up across all six countries (Argentina, Germany, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US), and most people in most countries are using either social media, search engines, video sites, and messaging applications (or combinations of these) to get news and information about coronavirus.
• COVID–19 has intensified concerns about misinformation. Here's what our past research says about these issues
• UK media coverage of artificial intelligence dominated by industry and industry sources
• UK media coverage of artificial intelligence is dominated by industry products, announcements and research, according to a new study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Oxford Martin Programme on Misinformation, Science and Media.
• The factsheet, An Industry-Led Debate: How UK Media Cover Artificial Intelligence, is based on an analysis of eight months of reporting on AI, in six mainstream UK news outlets.
• Nearly 60% of articles were focused on new industry products, announcements and initiatives that include AI, from smart phones or running shoes, to sex robots or brain preservation.
• One third (33%) of articles were based on industry sources – mostly CEOs or other senior executives - six times as many as those from government and nearly twice as many as those from academia.
• Media coverage of AI is being politicised: right-leaning news outlets highlight issues of economics and geopolitics; left-leaning news outlets highlight issues of ethics, including discrimination, algorithmic bias and privacy.

Category 1, 2, 3 and 4: 

1. A new, better world for everyone

2. The Big Picture of the Digital Era

3. The Big Picture of Sports

4. Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford]

Type of validity of the "genioux fact". 

• Inherited from sources + Supported by the knowledge of one or more experts + Based on a research. 

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

The Oxford Martin Programme on MISINFORMATION, SCIENCE AND MEDIA, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Extracted from Wikipedia

The University of Oxford (legally The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford) is a collegiate research university in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world, the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation and one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. 

The university is made up of 39 semi-autonomous constituent colleges, six permanent private halls, and a range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. All students are members of a college. It does not have a main campus, and its buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre.

Oxford operates the world's oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system nationwide. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2019, the university had a total income of £2.45 billion, of which £624.8 million was from research grants and contracts.

Oxford has educated a wide range of notable alumni, including 28 prime ministers of the United Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the world. As of October 2020, 72 Nobel Prize laureates, 3 Fields Medalists, and 6 Turing Award winners have studied, worked, or held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford, while its alumni have won 160 Olympic medals.

The Oxford Martin School is a research and policy unit based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. It was founded in June 2005 as the James Martin 21st Century School and is located in the original building of the Indian Institute. It is named after its benefactor, James Martin, author of the books The Wired Society and The Meaning of the 21st Century. Its Director is Charles Godfray, who took up the post in February 2018. Founding director of the School was Ian Goldin who held the post from September 2006 to September 2016.

'Finding solutions to the world's most urgent problems' is the stated mission of the Oxford Martin School.