CAREER: Signals for evaluating the credibility of web sources and advancing web literacy

这个项目将实验性地检验这样一个假设，即当用户看到的搜索结果中增加了用于评估网络来源可信度的信号时，他们将加强他们的批判性思维技能，成为更好的在线信息消费者。评估网络资源的可信度是我们数字媒介世界中至关重要的批判性思维技能。我们已经学会了依赖搜索引擎平台向我们展示正确的结果，而忘记了算法是有偏见的，或者它们可以被操纵。这项研究旨在发现人类在决定信任哪些信息源时是否以及如何收回他们的代理权。此外，它将：（1）识别一组人类可理解的信号，这些信号被认为有助于评估网络资源的可信度，并通过用户研究对其进行验证;（2）提出并实施用于计算这些信号中的一些的算法技术，提供关于它们如何工作的透明度的线索，以及（3）开发用于信号的交互式探索的新颖网络平台，以营养事实标签为模型，这将有助于提高广大公众的网络素养技能。关于用可信度信号标记信息源是否会影响年轻人的批判性思维技能的实验证据将为正在出现的关于网络人类系统（如搜索引擎）如何支持基本消费者权利的公共辩论提供信息，这些系统正在塑造我们的思想和社会，即被告知正在被消费的信息的来源。其他广泛影响包括：（1）通过一个互动的网络平台来提高网络素养，该平台解释并提供有关信号的信息，以评估可信度;（2）通过建立一个关于弱势群体结果的搜索引擎结果观察站来监测搜索引擎结果页面（SERP），以发现操纵排名的企图，以及（3）通过关于网络算法决策的文章来教育公众。这项研究还将通过每年的维基百科编辑通村让整个学院的社区参与数字内容的制作，这将丰富和扩大搜索引擎显示的关于妇女，性别和弱势群体的主题的结果。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This project will experimentally test the hypothesis that when users are presented with search results that are augmented with signals for evaluating the credibility of web sources, they will strengthen their critical thinking skills and become better consumers of online information. Evaluating the credibility of web sources is a crucial critical thinking skill in our digitally mediated world. We have learned to rely on search engine platforms to show us the right results, while forgetting that algorithms are biased or that they can be manipulated. This research aims to discover whether and how humans can reclaim their agency when deciding what information sources to trust. Additionally, it will: (1) identify a set of human-understandable signals that are deemed helpful for evaluating the credibility of web sources and validate them through users studies; (2) propose and implement algorithmic techniques for computing some of these signals, providing a trail of transparency about how they work, and (3) develop a novel web platform for the interactive exploration of signals, modeled upon nutrition fact labels, that will contribute in advancing web literacy skills in the broad public.Experimental evidence on whether labeling information sources with credibility signals affects the critical thinking skills of young people will inform the emerging public debate on how cyber-human systems such as search engines, which are shaping our minds and societies, could support a basic consumer right, that of being informed about the source of information that is being consumed. Other broad impacts are: (1) advancing web literacy through an interactive web platform that explains and gives information about signals to evaluate credibility; (2) monitoring search engine result pages (SERP), by establishing a SERP Observatory on results about vulnerable populations to discover attempts to manipulate the ranking, and (3) educating the public through writings on algorithmic decision making on the web. This research will also involve the entire community of the college in the production of digital content through a yearly Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, which will enrich and expand the results shown by search engines on topics about women, gender, and vulnerable populations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.