Avoiding Miss-Guided Information in the Digital Age
The Internet has always been regarded as a complex and dynamic landscape with abundant resources of information. In a hyper-connected world, information travels with unprecedented speed. The benefits of new communication technologies certainly provide the ease to access fast information.
Nowadays generations are capable of communicating and sharing information immediately at a scale larger than ever before. Social media plays a vital role in allowing information to spread around the world within seconds. While this benefit is obviously remarkable, it cannot be inferred that the current hyper-connected world could also permit the viral spread of information that is either intentionally or unintentionally misleading with severe outcomes.
It is still clear in our mind that in 2014, there is a booming phenomenon of the appearance of 7 (fake) Indonesian online news portal that provides disinformation to the society. What is interesting from this fake website is that they imitate the domain name of a real mainstream news website and makes it appear as if they are legitimate. Whether it is political or not, sadly we never know. But one thing that we comprehend from that phenomenon is that information can easily become viral and creates misconception within the society.
Social media also plays a significant role in spreading misleading or provocative information. In the summer of 2012, for example, a Twitter user is mimicking the Russian interior minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, tweeted that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria had been “killed or injured”; crude oil prices rose by over one dollar before traders realized that Assad was alive and well. In September 2012, protests over an anti-Islamic film uploaded onto YouTube killed dozens of people.
It is terrifying to realize that information can spread out easily without having the background and facts properly checked. Famous author Mark Twain once said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on." Furthermore, the dissemination of misinformation on the internet could enable the viral spread of information that could be extremely provocative.
While the situation will require you to actively filtered news and information that is trustworthy, there are indeed several apps that will assist you to discover information that is relevant and released from reputable sources. This kind of apps might be new in Indonesia, but it does really a good job to help you identify topics that matter and based on your own interest.
Take Kurio for instance, which is an Indonesian news application that will help you discover content that can be personalized according to the user needs. In regards to the miss-guided information in the digital age, Kurio offers the solution through the provision of a myriad of sources to learn, as well as new insights from reliable sources. The essence to "KNOW" and become "KNOWLEDGEABLE" seems to be the core value that Kurio is pursuing.
And what is fascinating from Kurio is that it allows you to decide which content do you want to read, explore various options and choose a few topics to regularly read, where this is especially convenient for those who are constantly on-the-go and in need of easy access for information to stay updated as Kurio is also available on Apple Store and Google PlayStore. This app also uses a technology that can learn user behavior and compile content options that are tailored based on the interest of the users. In other words, this app serves as a reliable content curation that provide news that are trustworthy.
If you are curious about Kurio, then you can always click here to learn more about their apps. But more than that, it is always important to remember that the internet can become a double-edged sword if you can't distinguish the different between good information and bad information. The Internet should be used to spread information that matters, not vigilantly spread miss-guided information that is not worthy to read.