Is false information intentionally or accidentally spread? How should the distribution of false information be minimized? Perhaps civilized societies should become more cognizant and develop initiatives to help reduce the dissemination of misinformation. Wedlake et al. adopt a sociocultural approach to investigate the sources and factors of disseminated misinformation.

The authors review literature focused on participants in game studies who have no way of distinguishing misinformation. They succinctly outline the differences between autonomous and sociological views of information. Indeed, carefully structured educational games might be used to provide social experiences for recognizing false information. Consequently, the authors fashion an appealing escape room game to promote cooperative problem-solving and peer-mediated learning about the communicative and emotional dimensions of misinformation.

The escape room game requires players to explore whether or not it is safe for authorities to add a “brain-boosting supplement”--according to the company’s claims--to the public water supply. Players mentally process and solve issues, and respond to interrogations about deceptive headlines, dishonest and falsified charts, social media bots, and deep-fake images and videos. Selected players with different political views, from ten diverse populations, participated in the research study. The recorded debriefing and survey data of 211 game players was analyzed to ascertain the effectiveness of applying sociocultural perspectives for investigating the spread of false information. The web-based software ATLAS.ti was used for an inductive and deductive approach to thematic analysis.

The results show that the game players (1) articulated a better understanding of the role online technologies can play in the deliberate and unconscious dissemination of misinformation; (2) occasionally became vulnerable to fake videos despite their mistrust of online information; and (3) often recognized their role in the spread of false information.

The authors clearly acknowledge the study’s limitations when it comes to generalizing the results: a lack of control over the selection of representative game participants and libraries in the US and the world. Nevertheless, the paper offers great insights into the role of games for promoting knowledge and the range of technologies used for disseminating false information.

This paper contains creative new ideas for overcoming the spread of false information. Librarians, psychologists, social scientists, information technologists, and statisticians should read it. Future work includes all-in inclusive algorithms and strategies for minimizing or eliminating the worldwide dissemination of false information.