Reliable Sources in the Digital Age

The Internet, Social Media and Artificial Intelligence

Can we trust the information we find online? Do people in China and the West have the same method for deciding if a piece of information can be trusted as accurate? To explore these questions, which can pull us apart and polarize our societies, we delve into the idea of reliability.

Reliable Sources in the Digital Age (RESDA) is a twelve-months research project that aims to compare how people in China and the West analyze sources of information. Our goal is to establish a list of conditions for a common ground where constructive debates can take place. By examining the criteria that shape this trust, we aim for less polarized public discourse in a world that is increasingly interconnected.

Individuals consider many elements and use critical thinking to decide whether a piece of information can be trusted. In the digital age, user-generated content is constantly produced and shared across multiple social media platforms, and the capabilities of artificial intelligence to produce mass content are rapidly evolving. As the trustworthiness of sources change, we need to question the criteria used by consumers to make sure they remain relevant and useful.

To explore the topic of reliable sources between China and the West we will collaborate with : CERTIFY, a research project in Information Systems led by Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo and Basile Zimmermann at the University of Geneva, Supported by an international team of senior researchers, it is focused on the development of a web-based software and has twice secured substantial funding from the Swiss Innovation Agency, Innosuisse.

To introduce research on cultural differences, RESDA will welcome three master's students with different backgrounds between China and the West, who will be responsible for proposing angles of approach to reliability. They will work under the supervision of CERTIFY's senior researcher Steven J. Barela, who is an expert in international law and information wars.

In addition to the core research which will be published on our institute’s Blog scientifique., exchanges with professors and doctoral students of the Remin University School of Journalism and Communication will be organized by the IC to exchange and learn about the similarities and differences across our media landscapes on this question. A series of phone and video interviews will culminate in an online conference within the lecture series “China Tomorrow” 未来中国.