CEDMO aims to boost original and high-quality research on disinformation. To this end, it places value on basing fresh insights into this phenomenon using rigorous scientific theories, hypotheses and methods. It also encourages the development of interdisciplinary and hybrid approaches that combine methods from the empirical sciences with those of the humanities. Furthermore, CEDMO has transformative ambitions so it focuses on the development and implementation of the latest tools and techniques from data and information science and dynamic systems. CEDMO research will focus on:
The work of independent researchers and analysts who study content that has a potential to cause harm to individuals, groups of people or the whole society is indispensable for democracy. Since the spread of mis- and disinformation became one of the key societal threats, a strong community of experts has emerged with a capacity to study all ABCDEs (actors, behaviours, content, degree and effect) linked to malign content. However capable, the community is still strongly dependent on one factor – data availability (open APIs, web-based repositories) of the platforms where the content, including disinformation, spreads. The degree of openness of data – and the choice of which data would be available for research and in which form (API, dashboard, etc.) – has been dependent upon each platform’s decision.
