Nieman Foundation at Harvard
Sensing (correctly) that people are fatigued with online trainings, First Draft has rolled out “Protection from deception,” a free two-week text message course to help people prepare for election misinformation ahead of November.
The course’s aim is to teach people about the tactics and techniques of disinformation, and help them talk to family and friends, said First Draft’s Claire Wardle. While the course will ultimately be translated into multiple languages, it’s being tested in English first. When you sign up, you choose the time of day you want to receive the messages and whether you want to get them via SMS, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp.
So because everyone is utterly zoomed out, and most people don't love training in the traditional way, we're trying out a new format. A 14-day text message course. Name a time & a message appears every day with extra links etc https://t.co/eT6RbYzVdd pic.twitter.com/kbOYEMAXOv
— Claire Wardle (@cward1e) July 9, 2020
First Draft will be looking at ways to test the effectiveness of the course, Wardle said. If it works, other companies might follow suit — and who knows, there just might be fewer Zooms in your future.
