What's Up With the Mis- and Dis-?

My younger son recently sent me a link about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (see link). The name is ridiculous. The website is decent. It’s almost as good as the one by the anti-globalists! The tree octopus was used by his English teacher as an example of disinformation in the WWW.

It inspired me to travel (virtually) to Canada to obtain definitions, if for no other reason, than I like how they spell Centre. According to the Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity:

• Misinformation: false information that is not intended to cause harm; like calling Pluto a planet.

• Disinformation: false information that is intended to manipulate, cause damage, or guide people, organizations, and countries in the wrong direction; think Olena and Cartier.

• Malinformation: information that stems from the truth but is exaggerated in way that misleads and causes potential harm; anyone remember Magic Johnson and Kaltera?

Disinformation and social media are like vinegar and baking soda in a Ziploc. When mixed, they are messy, explosive and impossible to put back in the bag. The difference is that the vinegar/baking soda experiment is kid-safe. The social media/disinformation experiment is not. If you want to dig into disinformation, read this article by Kai Shu and colleagues. It’s important and, frankly, disturbing.

So, some thoughts…

Don't be arrogant. To know that you don't know something, you need to know something (see Dunning-Kruger effect) and in the wide world of mis-, dis- and mal-, we’re all going to confront stuff we don’t know anything about but act as if we do. The lack of a questioning attitude will only accentuate the problem and confuse the issue at hand.

Be solid in purpose. Jenny Lewis, on AS UNEXPECTED E1, talks about how purpose defined Uber’s action to shut down during the pandemic. Driver safety was priority #1. Whatever was being claimed about Uber, it couldn’t challenge the purpose. This recent Forbes article speaks to it well. Purpose ensures your organization speaks and acts with honesty and authenticity at all times.

AI serves dis-informants and can be used against them. It can allow you to “more quickly triage and categorize claims, find relevant truthful information, and compare the former with the latter” (See Carnegie Endowment report). Don’t hide from AI. Use it to counter the mis-, dis- and mal-.

Last, consider a trip to see the Tree Octopus. Go via teleportation. For real!