{"626928":{"#nid":"626928","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Create Database for News Quality","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn this era of \u0026ldquo;fake news,\u0026rdquo; it is often the responsibility of the reader to determine what is accurate. Yet a new data project puts the onus back on the industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENews Quality Aggregator (NewsQA) is a database for news veracity. The database aims to enable media and technology stakeholders to see what factors create high-quality journalism while also preserving freedom of expression and ensuring journalism continues to be economically viable.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe work is showcased in the paper \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cra.org\/ccc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/The-NewsQA-project.pdf\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMisinformation Needs a Data Community: the NewsQA project\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, for which School of Computer Science Professor \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/~ewz\/Welcome.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEllen Zegura\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E and Hacks\/Hackers - Credibility Coalition\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cstrong\u003EConnie Moon Sehat \u003C\/strong\u003Ewon the Computing Research Association\u0026rsquo;s Best Overall Paper award in a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cra.org\/ccc\/cs-social-good-white-paper-competition\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECS for Social Good\u003C\/a\u003E competition for their paper. The award includes a $10,000 grant from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/schmidtfutures.com\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchmidt Futures\u003C\/a\u003E, a computing for good venture facility.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The effort to create the database, and a community around it, is an effort to contribute to understanding and addressing this misinformation problem at scale,\u0026rdquo; said Sehat.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Project\u0026rsquo;s Goals\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWorking with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.journalism.cuny.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECraig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York\u003C\/a\u003E, the project has three objectives:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECreating a database\u003C\/strong\u003E to determine the extent of the problem. From this data, it would be easier to see patterns of information (or \u0026ldquo;signals\u0026rdquo;), such as inflammatory language, award-winning reporting. and fact-checked stories.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStarting a collaborative discussion\u003C\/strong\u003E on characteristics of quality news and the role of freedom of expression with different communities.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInviting all stakeholders\u003C\/strong\u003E, including readers, journalists, and technological platforms, to the discussion in order to build solutions.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENewsQA Progress\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENewsQA currently has identified about 90 signals from more than 12,500 U.S.-based news and information sites that are being reviewed by advisors to the project. Signals include everything from internet traffic data to self-reported journalist correction policies.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKey to the project is a strong group of advisors and stakeholders who represent all areas of media generation and consumption, and that can provide data. NewsQA\u0026rsquo;s advising group includes researchers from technological platforms, private artificial intelligence companies, non-profit organizations, and advertisers, such as members from the Facebook Journalism Project, Google Research, and Alphabet Jigsaw.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENewsQA is also establishing partnerships with news misinformation organizations such as Duke University \u0026nbsp;Reporters\u0026rsquo; Lab and ClaimReview, TED\u0026rsquo;s civic initiative, First Draft News, and more.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe goal of the project is to grow the database and the stakeholders participating in it. The researchers plan for NewsQA to scale across languages, countries, and topics, and to grow their community of users, researchers, and advisors.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUltimately NewsQA aims to preserve freedom of expression while ensuring news is accurate across the internet. The database will show how misinformation enters the news cycle and how it can be mitigated, which will help focus research efforts and inform how media platforms design sites and algorithms. This affects everyone in the news ecosystem, from journalists who want to see their reporting prioritized to consumers who value fair news.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Democracies need a shared set of facts around which to have constructive conversation,\u0026rdquo; Sehat said. \u0026ldquo;Disagreement and conflict are absolutely a part of this, but we need to have confidence in basic narratives and our ability to describe reality, and our technologies should try to support this.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"News Quality Aggregator (NewsQA) is a database for news veracity."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2019-09-30 19:36:11","changed_gmt":"2019-09-30 19:44:55","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"626933":{"id":"626933","type":"image","title":"Fake News","body":null,"created":"1569872533","gmt_created":"2019-09-30 19:42:13","changed":"1569872533","gmt_changed":"2019-09-30 19:42:13","alt":"Woman reading fake newspaper","file":{"fid":"238700","name":"pexels-photo-1327218.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pexels-photo-1327218.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pexels-photo-1327218.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":618143,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/pexels-photo-1327218.jpeg?itok=maG9KOUw"}}},"media_ids":["626933"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50875","name":"School of Computer Science"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}