“Do Your Own Research”: Everyday Misinformation and Conspiracy in Online Information Worlds

Burnett, Gary; Williams, Shannon

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117216 Copy

Description

Title

“Do Your Own Research”: Everyday Misinformation and Conspiracy in Online Information Worlds

Author(s)

• Burnett, Gary
• Williams, Shannon

Issue Date

2024

Keyword(s)

• Conspiracy Theories
• Information Worlds
• Interpretive Acts
• Facebook

Geographic Coverage

United States

Abstract

This chapter explores patterns of misinformation in online conspiracy theory information worlds such as QAnon, as seen in publicly accessible Facebook pages. In particular, it examines issues related to expertise, authority, and gatekeeping; overt acts of “misreading”; the concept of “connecting the dots,” or seeing patterns and interconnections between often widely disparate phenomena; and interpretations of the “symbolism” in everyday life phenomena such as gestures, corporate logos, and celebrity photographs. It argues that, through its ubiquity and persistence, conspiracy theory misinformation functions as an “everyday” activity, melding deeply serious interpretive acts with elements of gaming and sense-making.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Series/Report Name or Number

Cambridge Studies on Governing Knowledge Commons

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

• NSF: SES
• Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences
• #2017495

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