The Mercator Working Group (MWG) endeavours to assist digital citizens and their policy makers in better understanding the threat that disinformation poses to civil participation. We adopt an analytical and investigative approach to mapping coordinated and incidental threats to self-determination in the digital world.
Follow them on https://mappingdisinformation.org/ and @MapDisinfo on Twitter
Reframing Facebook (April 29)
Karina Meerman wrote down her personal experience with Facebook and how the platform suggests it is built for our benefit, instead of theirs. Read the full blog on why we have to change the way we look at Facebook on Medium: medium.com/@karinameerman/reframing-facebook-a4c66d0f65fb
Social Media Self-Defense 101 (May 6)
How can we spot disinformation and what to do against it? Daniel Bauer suggests 'when in doubt, do without'. Find out what this means in the full blog on Medium: medium.com/@danielbauernl/social-media-self-defense-101-38cf1072fdd1
What if nobody likes you? (June 18)
The power of social media likes: why you live for them. Follow the likes: medium.com/@karinameerman/what-if-nobody-likes-you-b99c525182c0
Dutch Municipalities websites put citizens privacy at risk (July 19)
An analysis of Dutch municipal websites and their data relationship with social media. Read it on Medium: medium.com/@karinameerman/dutch-municipalities-websites-put-citizens-privacy-at-risk-9857365ae869
The Mercator Working Group (MWG) endeavours to assist digital citizens and their policy makers in better understanding the threat that disinformation poses to civil participation. We adopt an analytical and investigative approach to mapping coordinated and incidental threats to self-determination in the digital world.
Our current focal points include: Exploring the complex incentive structure that drives coordinated disinformation campaigns and visualise their manifestations in an international context.Uncovering systematic and strategic efforts to bias individuals’ access to information and the consequences for the well-being of European citizens, effective governance by policy makers, and our democracy in general.Investigating how programmatic micro-targetingcan influence online content and the consequences of algorithmic decision making that prioritises profit over individual and societal well-being. We are a group of experts aiming to provide creative solutions for understanding, analysing, and combating the epidemic of digital disinformation by leveraging the competences and perspectives of our interdisciplinary team.
Working Group Members
The Mercator Working Group is an interdisciplinary collective of experts founded in Amsterdam (NL). If you are interested in participation or collaboration, please reach out to us.
Martin Lopatka, Mozilla (NL)
Arpad Gerecsey, A-Lab (NL)
Karina Meerman, SlimDing (NL)
Claudio Agosti, Tracking.Exposed (DE)
Ron Broeders, VersPers (NL)
Bec Connelly
Ingrid Gercama
Daniel Bauer
Stefania Milan, ALEX (NL)
Davide Beraldo, ALEX (NL)
Jeroen de Vos, ALEX (NL)
For updates and more info: follow https://mappingdisinformation.org/ and @MapDisinfo on Twitter