Some of the ideas that show up in the news media or come up over coffee conversations can seem laughable. That’s because ideas or theories that have long been discredited in research—or have no evidence-backing at all, are frequently presented as “facts” in popular and social media (while evidence-based information is sometimes referred to as “fake facts”). The stakes for misinformation (false information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead) and disinformation (the intentional spreading of misinformation) are high. And our current state of ‘infodemic’ (or ‘mis-infodemic,’ the rapid spread of misinformation) is no laughing matter.
When the public hears false information, they likely worry about what it means for their health, families and communities at-large. Decision-makers also face challenge – even those with a savoir faire for making evidence-informed decisions. Using research to inform management and policy is already difficult notwithstanding when popular culture supports measures that are counterintuitive to the best research evidence.
In this third session in the series, we will explore ways to help citizens judge what others are claiming or more generally find (and receive) reliable information on a topic. The webinar series is hosted by three groups working together to ‘put evidence at the centre of everyday life,’ including Cochrane (the world’s largest producer of evidence syntheses and home to the Cochrane Consumer Network), the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges (with one if its three implementation priorities being ‘putting evidence at the centre of everyday life,’ which is being overseen by the Citizen Leadership Group), and the World Health Organization’s Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) with its new work on Citizen Engagement in Evidence-informed Policymaking.