The ultimate goal of this research project is to provide libraries with actionable information to help them support citizens in finding trustworthy sources for societally relevant technical and scientific knowledge. We are focusing on three topics: COVID-19; climate change; and the role of artificial intelligence in the future of human labor. For each topic, we will analyze publicly available multimedia documents and interview a diverse set of people. We particularly aim to understand how journalists, librarians, Wikipedia editors, activists and other knowledge brokers assess the quality of information. Our research will result in a model of how knowledge brokers assess technical and scientific information and a toolkit of services for public libraries. This will help public libraries support everyday citizens and knowledge brokers in finding high-quality information. The project is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences for 2021 through 2024 as an Early Career Development project.
Project Team