Our Vision.

What is the Infodemic?

Infodemic—a combination of the words “information” and “epidemic”-- is a term first coined by David Rothkpf in 20031 during the SARS epidemic and embraced by WHO in 20202 to denote the abundance of information (facts, half-truth, gossip, rumors) about a problem that makes its solution more difficult3. 

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The Latinx Collaborative envisions an evidence-informed intervention that calls for an in-depth analysis of the nature of Covid-19-related misinformation through the identification of both sources and content misinformation and the design and intervention to counter rumors and erroneous messages.

Goal 1:

To implement systems that monitor and create knowledge to advance an equitable recovery and universal COVID-19 vaccination among Latinx in Massachusetts

Goal 2:

Facilitate the development of strategies and policies to address disparities in vaccine uptake and COVID-related economic and social equity gaps

Objective 2.1

Build a multi-sector network to embody the Knowledge Hub, increase and facilitate cooperation and coordination

How will we accomplish these goals:

The Latinx Collaborative will create a community-based misinformation surveillance system following the steps described below.

Identify content, type, and source of misinformation. The Latinx Collaborative will identify four key informants in each of the top 10 Massachusetts cities with Latinx and Brazilian residents (5 in year 1; 5 in year 2). Key informants will include individuals with daily contact with community residents such as owners of barbershops, hair salons, bodegas, religious leaders, and community health workers. They will be trained to conduct informal interviews with their audience to uncover existing COVID-19 and vaccination misbeliefs. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, a researcher from the Latinx Collaborative will contact them every two weeks to collect the misbeliefs collected by key informants.

The research team will transcribe that biweekly consultation, extract the conversation's key misbeliefs, and enter it into the community-based misinformation surveillance database. 

Create a database. The database will include metadata indicating each message's source, type of informant, community reporting the message, and country of origin. Other categories pertaining to the misinformation (e.g., whether it is related to the COVID-19 virus, COVID-19 testing, or vaccination) will also be recorded. 

Purpose of the database. The content of the database will be publicly shared so that providers, public health officials, policymakers, elected officials, and community leaders can use it to inform the development of effective social media campaigns, public health messages, resource allocation, and effective counter-messaging.

The information in the database is a necessary component of many of the strategies and recommendations issued by entities such as WHO, the LANCET. In a joint statement, the major global health organizations (WHO, UN, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNAIDS, ITU, UN Global Pulse, and IFRC) called for developing strategies and tools to counter the spread of misinformation. The Scientific American Editorial Board recommended the following action steps to address misinformation:

1.      Create a coordinated campaign of influencers supporting science and public health.

2.      Identify and remove markedly false information regarding COVID-19.

3.      Detect, understand and expose COVID-19-related misinformation through data science and behavioral analytics.

In sum, misinformation needs to be identified, acknowledged and understood, before it is countered with compelling messages. The intervention proposed by the Latinx Collaborative provides an essential and fundamental resource that is required to counter misinformation effectively.