WhatsApp project on misinformation during infectious disease outbreaks

Dr. Santosh Vijaykumar at Northumbria University's Department of Psychology is starting a project on how the chat service WhatsApp potentially spreads misinformation among elderly during infectious disease outbreaks. The research is funded by a WhatsApp Research Award for Social Science and Misinformation.

Public health agencies globally are facing a new challenge for managing the spread of Infectious Disease Outbreaks (IDO) – the parallel spread of rumours and misinformation via social media. WhatsApp played a significant role in this phenomenon during the May 2018 outbreak of the Nipah virus in South India, which claimed 17 lives, leaving health agencies struggling to manage public anxiety. Research on misinformation effects has shown that older adults are more vulnerable to misinformation compared to younger age groups. Diminishing cognitive abilities and memory recall limit their capacity to differentiate between various attributes of misinformation and original information, such as its source and authenticity.These problems can be exacerbated in a context like India where a confluence of cultural, religious and political norms can combine with misleading information resulting in competing narratives of the ‘truth’.

This project will examine WhatsApp as a ‘vector’ for the spread of misinformation about IDOs amongst older adults in South India, focusing on ‘forwards’- messages with original sources other than the sender (whether or not accompanied by a personal message). As part of this, it will analyse the information vulnerabilities associated with this age group, to inform strategies for combatting the problem. This study will be situated in the southern Indian city of Bangalore (Bengaluru), known as India’s IT hub, which has recently grappled with IDO scares including Nipah and H1N1.

Image credit: Voidworks

Testing new technologies in modular housing with Home Group

Northumbria University is collaborating with Home Group, one of the biggest housing associations in the UK, in a new research project on independent living and modular housing.

In this project we will be testing a variety of new technologies, including wearable sensors and video communication. The goal is to explore the potential of future technologies that can support independent living, as well as the infrastructure that will be required. In the project, a multi-disciplinary team will explore the potential for providing digital technology support within modular housing to promote residents’ independence through monitoring connectivity and activity. Our programme of work will involve 4 monthly cycles of technology deployment and evaluation. This innovation and evaluation project will use mixed methods, involving analaysis of data from sensors, qualitative methods, including interviews and observational fieldwork.

The project is carried out in Home Group's Gateshead Innovation Village. In the Innovation Village, the company is testing a number of different modular housing approaches. With these new building techniques, it is possible to build an entire house in a factory and transport the finished structure to the building site, where it is assembled in a single day! Northumbria has been given access to a new modular home for one year, which will be used as a real-world testbed for the duration of the project, with a variety of end-users spending time and living on-site.

The project is led by Professor Glenda Cook from the Department of Nursing with Professor David Kirk (Computer and Information Science) and Professor Lars Erik Holmquist (Design).