Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: the Role of Library Professionals

[Cite as: Panda, Subhajit. (2020). Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: The Role of Library Professionals. Presented at the 20th Indian Science Communication Congress Web-Conference on
COVID19 Pandemic: Assessing Public Awareness and Response (ISCC-2020). http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4434429]
Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: the Role of Library Professionals
Subhajit Panda
Assistant Librarian, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab (India)
Email: subhajit.e9641@cumail.in
Abstract:
During the COVID-19 pandemic situation, when information outbreak is enormous, it is the time to remind the society of the importance of libraries and librarians in
organising and disseminating accurate & reliable information. Accurate information is the key to handling a chaotic situation. The exchange of false information seems
to be on the rise. It has created a situation of 'infodemic' as stated by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). This has not only affected research
work severely but has also created chaos among the laypeople. The present study tries to investigate the attitude, perception & responsibility of a library professional for
this purpose as they are the essential provider of information for academic as well as a social community. The study was carried through a short online survey with a
structured questionnaire designed on a Google form. A total of 150 respondents (N) was selected for the study over four designated domains viz. Library Assistant,
Assistant Librarian, Deputy Librarian and University Librarian. The findings of the study reveal that some part of regular citizen, political leaders, attention seekers &
profiteers, and heavily partisan news media are the top responsible sources of infodemic; while WhatsApp & Facebook takes the lead as a major platform for this
purpose. Additionally, the study throws light on harms done to people due to this infodemic e.g. anxiety, insomnia, depression and negative thoughts. As an essential
practice to fight against such infodemic, all types of library professionals agree to crosscheck information from authentic sources before sharing with others but also take
into account updating yourself from time to time with sufficient information as well as not trusting blindly on everything over the internet. Again, the majority of the
library professionals agreed with more than one way to stop such infodemic situation, which includes conducting information literacy programmes, social talk, surveys
& webinars to ensure mental richness of the user, spreading awareness about official and fake websites, training common people about how to identify & report
misinformation etc.
Keywords: Infodemic, COVID-19, Library Professionals, India, Social Media, Misinformation, Physical Problems, Psychological Issues

Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak:
the Role of Library Professionals
PRESENTED IN,
20th Indian Science Communication Congress (ISCC-2020)
Web-Conference on
COVID19 Pandemic: Assessing Public Awareness and Response
20th December, 2020
Presented By
Mr.Subhajit Panda
Assistant Librarian, University Library, Chandigarh University
[Cite as: Panda, Subhajit. (2020). Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: The Role of Library Professionals. Presented at the 20th Indian Science Communication Congress
Web-Conference on COVID19 Pandemic: Assessing Public Awareness and Response (ISCC-2020). http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4434429]

INFORMATION
• Information is what we call
things that are accurate to the
best of our current knowledge.
For instance, COVID-19 stands for
coronavirus disease 2019 and is
caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
One of the difficulties with any new
pathogen, like this coronavirus, is
that information changes over time
as we learn more about the science.

MISINFORMATION
• Misinformation, on the other hand, is
false information. Importantly, it is false
information that was not created with
the intention of hurting others.
Misinformation is often started by
someone who genuinely wants to
understand a topic and cares about
keeping other people safe and well. It is
then shared by others who feel the same.
Everyone believes they are sharing good
information – but unfortunately, they are
not. And depending on what is being
shared, the misinformation can turn out
to be quite harmful.

DISINFORMATION
• At the other end of the spectrum is
disinformation. Unlike misinformation,
this is false information created with
the intention of profiting from it or
causing harm. That harm could be to
a person, a group of people, an
organization or even a country.
Disinformation generally serves some
agenda and can be dangerous. During
this pandemic, we are seeing it used to
try to erode our trust in each other and
i n o u r g o v e r n m e n t a n d p u b l i c
institutions.

MISINFORMATION Vs. DISINFORMATION

INFODEMIC
• Infodemic refers to a large increase in the volume of information associated
with a specific topic and whose growth can occur exponentially in a short period of
time due to a specific incident, such as the current pandemic COVID-19.
• As stated by the WHO, the COVID-19 outbreak and response has been
accompanied by a massive infodemic: an overabundance of information – some
accurate and some not – that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources
and reliable guidance when they need it.
• In this situation, misinformation and rumors appear on the scene, along with
manipulation of information with doubtful intent. In the information age, this
phenomenon is amplified through social networks, spreading further and faster like a
virus.

Contribution of Infodemic in Spreading Misinformation
• Increased global access to cell phones with an Internet connection, as well as social
media, has led to the exponential production of information and the number of
possible paths for getting it, creating an information epidemic or infodemic. In
other words, we have a situation where a lot of information is being produced and
shared to every corner of the world, reaching billions of people. How much of this
information is accurate? Just some of it
• It is key to break this dangerous cycle: misinformation expands at the same pace
as content production and distribution paths grow. So the very same infodemic
accelerates and perpetuates misinformation
• Access to the right information, at the right time, in the right format IS
CRITICAL!

SPREADING OF MISINFORMATION

SPREADING & AVOIDING MISINFORMATION
Ø We are all being exposed to a huge amount of COVID-19 information on a daily basis, and not all
of it is reliable. Here are some tips for telling the difference and stopping the spread of
misinformation.

TOP TIPS TO NAVIGATING THE INFODEMIC

WHO: INFODEMIC
“‘We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an
infodemic’...”
- Aleksandra Kuzmanovic, Social Media Manager,WHO (Department of Communications)
• She Further stated,
– “fighting infodemics and misinformation is a joint effort between our technical risk
communications [team] and colleagues who are working on the EPI-WIN platform, where
they communicate with different...professionals providing them with advice and guidelines
and also receiving information”
(EPI-WIN: WHO Information Network for Epidemics)
– “...I am in touch with Facebook, Twitter,Tencent, Pinterest, TikTok, and also my
colleagues in the China office who are working closely with Chinese social media
platforms...So when we see some questions or rumours spreading, we write it down, we
go back to our risk communications colleagues and then they help us find evidence-
based answers”.

WHO: INFODEMIC
– Another thing we are doing with social media platforms, and that is something we are
putting our strongest efforts in, is to ensure no matter where people live….when
they’re on Facebook, Twitter,or Google, when they search for ‘coronavirus’ or
‘COVID-19’ or [a] related term, they have a box that…directs them to a reliable
source: either to [the] WHO website to their ministry of health or public health
institute or centre for disease control”

The COVID-19 social media infodemic
Upper panel: activity (likes, comments, reposts, etc.) distribution for each social media. Middle panel: most discussed topics about COVID-19 on
each social media. Lower panel: cumulative number of content (posts, tweets, videos, etc.) produced from the 1st of January to the 14th of
February. Due to the Twitter API limitations in gathering past data, the first data point for Twitter is dated January 27th. (Cinelli et al, 2020)

How Infodemic Make this Pandemic Worse?
• Makes it hard for people, decision makers, and health workers to find trustworthy
sources and reliable guidance when they need it. Sources may be apps, scientific
organizations, websites, blogs, “influencers,” and more
• People may feel anxiety, depression, overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and
unable to meet important demands
• It can affect decision-making processes when immediate answers are expected
and not enough time is allotted to deeply analyze the evidence
• No quality control on what’s published, and sometimes, on what’s used to take
action and make decisions
• Anybody can write or publish anything on the web (podcasts, articles, etc.), in
particular on social media channels (individual and institutional accounts)

Target SampleGroup: Library Professionals
Survey Medium: Onine
Questionnarire Platform: Google form
No of Question: 10
Survey Date: 28 Novermber - 12 December, 2020
No of Responses: 183
Selected Sample Size : 150

Research Sample Size & Category
57%
37%
0%
6% Woman
Man
Other
Prefer not to
say
85
55
0
10
Total Respondant = 150
60%
30%
7%
3%
Library
Assistant
Assistant
Librarian
Deputy
Librarian
Librarian
Gender Wise Designation Wise
Total Respondant = 150

Comparative Percentage of Social Media Activeness
2%
12%
61%
19%
6%
0%
18%
71%
9%
2%
0%
30%
70%
0% 0%
0%
40%
60%
0% 0%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 to 2 2 to 4 4 to 6 6 to 8 > 8
Library Assistant Assistant Librarian Deputy Librarian UniversityLibrarian

Frequency of Encountering Misinformation on Social Media
1%
5%
43%
45%
6%
1%
3%
41%
53%
3%
0%
3%
17%
70%
10%
0%
5%
25%
70%
0%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently All the time
Library Assistant Assistant Librarian Deputy Librarian University Librarian

Top Cited Sources of Misinformation by the Respondents (in %)
84
66
88
95
60
97
34
33
25
5
100
83
98
95
87
99
63
57
40
7
83
77
93
90
77
100
50
43
37
10
90
80
100
75
75
95
85
45
35
0
1) Regular citizens
2) Political leaders, groups &
supporters
3) Attention seeking trolls
4) Profiteers (e.g. people selling
false news, being paid for
spreading false news etc)
5) Propagandistic
6) Heavily partisan news media or
state media
7) Government sponsored networks,
agencies or their spokespeople
8) Celebrities
9) Foreign influence agent
10) Other

Top Cited Social Platforms for Spreading Misinformation (in %)
93
93
100
87
68
51
6
72
99
16
100
93
100
77
85
62
2
96
100
7
100
97
100
83
40
30
0
100
93
0
100
100
100
95
35
10
0
95
95
5
1) Facebook
2) Twitter
3) WhatsApp
4) YouTube
5) Instagram
6) Facebook Messenger
7) Email
8) Google Search
9) TikTok
10) Other

Our Fault & Contribution of Spreading Misinformation (in %)
93
91
99
100
94
68
92
58
4
7
100
100
100
100
84
74
93
75
3
0
93
97
90
100
77
50
60
53
30
10
100
85
100
100
90
60
85
50
35
0
1) Relying more heavily on online
interaction for any communication
mean
2) Relying more heavily on internet-
based unmoderated raw information
3) Relying more heavily on
government sources or official
statements
4) Relying more frequently on social
media communities (e.g., Facebook
Groups, WhatsApp) to surface or …
5) Relying more heavily on user-
generated content (UGC) from social
media
6) Relying more heavily on social
media communities to source case
studies and collaborate on…
7) Relying more heavily on citizen
reporting networks
8) Relying more heavily on
member/insider/subscriber networks
to aid reporting
9) Relying more heavily on research
based scientific e-content
10) Other

Most Harmful Effect due to Spreading of Misinformation (in %)
100
90
100
86
43
11
80
93
37
3
100
73
74
80
49
35
94
90
46
0
100
83
90
60
63
30
57
93
63
0
95
55
100
80
70
55
80
60
25
0
1) Increased anxiety
2) Exhaustion and burnout
3) Insomnia or more difficulty
sleeping
4) A sense of helplessness
5) Nightmares or dark & negative
thoughts
6) Vicarious trauma
7) Unrelenting Stress
8) Experiencing depression
9) High blood pressure
10) Other

Practices to be Adopted to Fight Against COVID-19 Misinformation (in %)
96
92
55
100
69
12
8
42
58
6
98
100
64
100
82
33
9
59
72
0
100
70
13
100
93
80
93
40
83
27
100
100
65
100
95
85
45
60
35
30
1) Update yourself with sufficient
information about the pandemic &
don't get panic
2) Don't trust blindly everything over
internate, specially in social media
3) Used digital verification tools to
expose false
video/images/audio/memes
4) Before sharing anything try to
crosscheck from other authentic
sources
5) Try to adopt basic knowledge of
media literacy to identify
misinformation
6) Don't join unmoderated social
groups
7) Try to follow scientific research
based e-content & websites of
globally authorized body
8) Aware of the guidelines and terms
& conditions of the used social media
platform
9) Report any kind of misinformation
& fake news immediately and aware
others
10) Other

Responsibility of a Library Professional to Stop Spreading Misinformation (in %)
83
89
100
67
80
99
81
96
83
0
93
98
100
97
89
99
100
100
94
6
93
100
97
63
70
100
100
97
80
0
85
90
100
65
65
100
90
100
80
0
1) Conduct virtual outreach
programme
2) Conduct information literacy
programme
3) Spreading awareness about official
and fake websites
4) Provide authentic information
sources with the use of mobile library
services
5) Advice the admin of each social
group for enabling proper moderation
6) Train common people about how to
identify misinformation & fake news
7) Aware common people about how
to report misinformation & fake news
8) Conduct social talk, surveys &
webinars to ensure mental richness
of the user
9) Warn common people about not to
share messages blindly over social
platform
10) Other

CONCLUSION
• Thus, it is evident from the present study that social media has undoubtedly revolutionized
modern-day easy communication system, at the same time, it has also brought with it new
problems. Unmoderated, easy to use, free & highly population rich social is currently
believed to be the main sources of misinformation on COVID-19. The platforms of every
social media now accompanied by a large amount of misleading and false information that
directly give a negative influence on the widespread adoption of health-protective behaviours
in the population. Scientists and other information specialists already work proactively to
solve this issue and provide common people correct information about the pandemic. There
is an urgent need for highly skilled scholars to assume a greater role in moderating
information flow on COVID-19 via established and emerging platforms for scholarly
communication. And in this area library professional, as an information moderator (in the right
way to the right person & in the right time) can contribute his best to stop misinformation from
spreading over social media. The findings of the present study will help the public, in general,
to be cautious about misinformation, and the respective authority of a country, in particular,
for initiating proper safety measures about disastrous misinformation to protect the public
health from being exploited.

Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: the Role of Library Professionals

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: the Role of Library Professionals

Similar to Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: the Role of Library Professionals (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Infodemic during COVID-19 Outbreak: the Role of Library Professionals