Evaluation of COVID-19 related myths on websites in terms of infodemia: A content analysis

Abstract

Objective: Examining websites is critical to combat infodemia at the central of the COVID-19 response. It is aimed to examine the information circulating in digital media about the 10 myth subjects tackled in the COVID-19 pandemic within the spectrum of information irregularity. Methods: It is cross-sectional descriptive research conducted by examining public internet pages that can be accessed through the Google search engine. Necessary ethical and administrative permissions were obtained. In this study, 200 websites were examined in the time range of November 16th-22nd, 2020. Results: In 83 (41.5%) of the websites was found at least an example of information irregularities. The highest number of examples of information irregularities (21.2%) were found on the “supplement” topic (p<0,001). Health service-related institution(HSRI) websites were found to contain at least (16.7%) information irregularities. As a result, 168 information irregularities were identified, of which 50 (29.8%) were disinformation/malinformation. Conclusion: Fewer examples of information irregularities observed on the websites of HSRI indicate the need to improve their activities to increase access to accurate information; in contrast, examples of information irregularities observed on the websites of HSRI indicate the need to improve reporting systems.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• internet
• misinformation

Web sitelerinde yer alan COVID-19 ile ilişkili mitlerin infodemi açısından değerlendirilmesi: bir içerik analizi

Abstract

Amaç: COVID-19 yanıtının merkezindeki infodemiyle mücadelede web sitelerinin incelenmesi kritiktir. COVID-19 pandemisinde mücadele edilen 10 mit konusu ile ilgili dijital medyada dolaşan bilgilerin bilgi düzensizliği spektrumu içinde incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem: Google arama motoru üzerinden ulaşılabilen halka açık internet sayfaları incelenerek gerçekleştirilen kesitsel tipte tanımlayıcı bir araştırmadır. Gerekli etik ve idari izinler alındı. Çalışmada 16-22 Kasım 2020 aralığında 200 web sitesi incelenmiştir. Bulgular: Web sitelerinin 83 (%41.5)’ünde en az bir bilgi düzensizliği örneği saptanmıştır. En fazla bilgi düzensizliği örneklerine (%21.2) “takviye gıda” konusunda rastlanmıştır (p<0.001). Sağlık hizmeti ile ilişkili kurum web sitelerinin en az oranda (%16.7) bilgi düzensizliği içerdiği görülmüştür. Sonuçta 50 (%29.8)’si dezenformasyon/malinformasyon olmak üzere 168 bilgi düzensizliği saptanmıştır. Sonuç: Sağlık hizmeti ile ilişkili kurumların web sitelerinde daha az bilgi düzensizliği örneği görülmesi, doğru bilgiye erişimin arttırılması için bu kurumların faaliyetlerini geliştirmesi; buna karşılık sağlık hizmeti ile ilişkili kurumların web sitelerinde de bilgi düzensizliği örneklerine rastlanması, raporlama sistemlerinin geliştirilmesi ihtiyacına işaret etmektedir.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• mezenformasyon
• internet

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