Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Mis- and Disinformation During Crisis Events

Clickbait. Viral posts and tweets. Trolls. These words are all part of the modern-day information diet. They are also part of the foundation of Associate Professor Kate Starbird’s research into how social media is used and misused during times of crises. By looking at data from 10,000 feet and tweet by tweet, Starbird breaks down how mis- and disinformation moves across social media platforms and share steps each of us can take to use social media for good.


Presented to students on October 27, 2020.

Photo of Kate StarbirdFeaturing Kate Starbird

Kate Starbird is an associate professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering and director of the Emerging Capacities of Mass Participation Laboratory. She is also adjunct faculty in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and the Information School and a data science fellow at the eScience Institute. She’s a principal investigator with the Center for an Informed Public.