Brown University created the in 2022, responding to the urgent need to address the information crisis. The Lab investigates the harms of misinformation, data deficits, outdated communications practices and other barriers to meeting the information needs of communities. It brings together researchers and practitioners across fields to co-design, implement and evaluate solutions, one pilot at a time.
The Information Futures Lab (IFL) is co-directed by Claire Wardle, an international leader and scholar in the field of misinformation and verification, founder of the pioneering misinformation research and training non-profit First Draft, and Professor of the Practice at SPH; and Stefanie Friedhoff, a global health and science journalism leader and innovator with deep expertise in public health, crisis response, media ecosystems and knowledge translation, and a Professor of the Practice at SPH.
IFL champions the idea that quick fixes won鈥檛 solve the harm of bad information. Instead, they provide resources, skills and knowledge to help organizations, communities and leaders build trust and mitigate misinformation. They connect researchers across disciplines and thinkers with doers, and likewise connect funders with innovators and change-agents with peers.
Expanding from the established knowledge of trust and information in the United States, IFL has a worldwide network of collaborators ensures that different cultural, historical, political and religious contexts are taken into account.
Examples of work already under way at the Lab include:
路 a partnership with the World Health Organization to facilitate a global community of Infodemic Communicators who discuss information trends, share best practices, post research, and seek expertise;
路 intervention co-design and research as part of the Equity First Vaccination Initiative, which empowers place-based organizations to help community members navigate an often confusing information environment;
路 a collaboration with Brown鈥檚 Center for Digital Health on the presence and nature of gun-related content on the internet, finding, for example, that 7% of YouTube users consume gun-related content every day;
路 the Covid-19 Testing Communications Toolkit, which provides tutorials, evidence-based messaging, social media campaigns and illustrations to public health communicators and community organizations who offer COVID-19 testing.
A cornerstone of the Lab鈥檚 model is the , an innovative program that provides practitioners with the resources, time, research partners and network to develop new ideas, and design and test novel interventions. of Information Futures Fellows joined in January. You can keep up to date with the work of the Information Futures Lab on .
There is also an interview with Co-Director, Claire Wardle, by Humans In Public Health with Megan Hall which you can listen to .