Reports

Global synthesis

Global Assessment Report

Global Assessment Reports provide a periodical global comprehensive synthesis of state-of-the-art research at the nexus of information and democracy.

Global synthesis

Information ecosystem and troubled democracy

This inaugural report of the Observatory is a critical review of state-of-the-art research in three areas, with a cross-cutting theme of mis- and disinformation: media, politics and trust; artificial intelligence, information ecosystems and democracy; and data governance and democracy.

Summaries

Report Summaries

These reports are intended to provide a high level summary of our meta-analysis and guidance to specific audiences on what we can learn from landmark research on often intractable challenges posed by rapid changes in information and communication spaces.

Report summary

Écosystèmes de l’Information et Menaces à la Démocratie: Résumé Exécutif

Résumé Exécutif - Synthèse globale de l'état des connaissances sur les médias d'information, la gouvernance de l'information et des données.

Report summary

Information Ecosystems and Troubled Democracy: Executive summary

A Global Synthesis of the State of Knowledge on News Media, Al and Data Governance

Report summary

Information Ecosystems and Troubled Democracy: Report Summary

A Global Synthesis of the State of Knowledge on News Media, AI and Data Governance

Report summary

Information ecosystems and troubled democracy: Research Priorities

A Global Synthesis of the State of Knowledge on News Media, AI and Data Governance

Report summary

Information Ecosystems and Troubled Democracy: Guidance for Policy Makers and Big Tech Companies

A Global Synthesis of the State of Knowledge on News Media, Al and Data Governance

Thematic syntheses

Thematic Reports

The thematic reports focus on specific topics of the Observatory’s meta analysis. For the first research cycle of the Observatory, they also work as specific chapters of the Global Assessment.

Thematic report

Information ecosystems and democracy (chapter 1)

This chapter begins with an introduction that frames the central themes of the report, covers the key concepts and definitions, delves into the challenges facing democracies focusing on mis- and disinformation, acknowledges the limitations of the report and provides an outline of the report.

Thematic report

News Media, Information Integrity and the Public Sphere (chapter 2)

This chapter examines what research tells us about the multiple causes and consequences of changes in legacy and online news media, and what can be done to promote information integrity and a democratic public sphere.

Thematic report

Artificial Intelligence, Information Integrity and Democracy (chapter 3)

This chapter examines research on the properties of AI systems (specifically machine learning algorithms) and how they are embedded in online content governance systems.

Thematic report

Big Tech and Governing Uses of Data (chapter 4)

This chapter examines evidence on the relationships between the power of big tech companies and approaches to governing the practices of data extraction and use – that is, processes of datafication.

Thematic report

Awareness of Mis- and Disinformation and the Literacy Challenge (chapter 5)

This chapter focuses on people’s knowledge about the presence of mis- and disinformation in the information ecosystems they participate in, and literacy training initiatives that enable people to identify these types of information and to protect themselves from harmful consequences

Thematic report

Governing Information Ecosystems: Legislation and Regulation (chapter 6)

This chapter provides an account of selected legislative and regulatory tools that are available to governments to mitigate the harms of mis- and disinformation and to govern the way mainly big tech companies operate.

Thematic report

Combating Mis- and Disinformation in Practice (chapter 7)

This chapter looks in detail at specific governance measures to combat mis- and disinformation by civil society organizations and governments.

Thematic report

Towards Data Justice in Information Ecosystems (chapter 8)

This chapter examines how the monopolistic power of big tech companies – permitted by state and co-regulatory measures and pursued by big tech companies – creates biases and harmful discrimination and exclusions, infringes on people’s human rights in a data economy that thrives on data extraction and monetization, and diminishes the health of information ecosystems.

Thematic report

Conclusion: Information Ecosystems and Troubled Democracy (chapter 9)

This chapter provides a summary of the overall state-of-the-art research indicated by our analysis of research in the preceding chapters, and emphasizes the politics of undertaking research in the areas covered by this report and the risks facing researchers, as well as providing key insights from each of the chapters, overall lessons for researchers and other stakeholders as well as outlining the limitations of the report. 

Reports – Interactive Map

Developed using GarganText by the OID in partnership with CNRS Institute for Complex Systems.

This map represents a statistical summary of the thematic content of the report. The network graph represents relations between the words in the report, placing them closer to each other the more they are related. The bigger the node, the more present the word is, signalling its role in defining what the report is about. The colors represent words that are closely related to each other and can be interpreted as a topic.

The map is generated by the OID using GarganText – developed by the CNRS Institute of Complex Systems –on the basis of the repot’s text. Starting from a co-occurrence matrix generated from report’s text, GarganText forms a network where words are connected if they are likely to occur together. Clustering is conducted based on the Louvain community detection method, and the visualisation is generated using the Force Atlas 2 algorithm.