With the plethora of information available to the world and the innumerous number of sources it originates from, there is no doubt when we read that a good amount of “news” today could be fake. The biggest problem for consumers lies in differentiating between fake and authentic information. This calls for a solution to tackle the quandaries.
We are proud to announce that a recent BCoE Case Study, ANSAcheck, is now a teaching case study published in the Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases (JITTC), a peer-reviewed journal. ANSAcheck is a solution deployed on public Ethereum to authenticate the source of a news story—a first step in addressing fake news.
The teaching case explores the advantages and disadvantages of battling fake news with advanced information technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchains. Students will explore the purposes of, proliferation of, susceptibility to, and consequences of fake news and assess the efficacy of new interventions that rely on emerging technologies. Key questions students will explore: How can we properly balance freedom of speech and the prevention of fake news? What ethical guidelines should be applied to the use of AI and blockchains to ensure they do more good than harm? Will technology be enough to stop fake news?
Dr. Mary Lacity’s newly published case, aims to help us think about how to restore trust in online news. Fake news and misrepresentation on social media have undermined trust. Can AI and blockchain be designed ethically to restore trust?
The topicality of this case has caught the eye of practitioners as well as academics. Citing this case, Paul Brody, Global Innovation Leader, Blockchain Technology for EY, said:
Tackling fake news is something people talk a lot about, but actually figuring out how to implement a solution in a way that is scalable and easy to understand is quite challenging. This is a great case study because it sets the context and explains why this is so difficult and looks at a several different approaches. I’m really proud to see our work included here.
Darren Shelton, Quality Systems Director of Moran Shipping Agencies said,
It is interesting to me that this particular use case might become one of the most publicly observable demonstrations of otherwise unseen technological advancement in this hour. I confess that I didn’t see this coming on as strongly, or visibly, as it now appears to be.
Erran Carmel, Professor of Information Technology at American University in Washington D.C. said,
As always, Prof. Lacity is able to pull together concepts with her special clarity. And she artfully reaches back to history to illuminate fake news.
Click here to access the complete case study.
Article written by: Srividya Yellepeddi, Graduate Assistant
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