Data Tracking Tools

Radar is a project which uses a combination of algorithms and manual research to find posts related to three themes over a wide variety of social media platforms in Brazil. This allows Aos Fatos to map out the flow of disinformation and make predictions.

The ANCIR iLab uses forensic data science techniques to expose the networks that disseminate and amplify misinformation, disinformation, and toxic content (such as hate speech or extremism) with a special focus on coordinated inauthentic behaviour and other influence/information operations. 
 

Communalytic is a computational social science research tool for studying online communities and discourse. This resource uses advanced text and social network analysis techniques to automatically pinpoint toxic and anti-social interactions, detect bots, assess posts’ sentiments, identify influencers, map shared interests and the spread of misinformation, and detect signs of possible coordination among seemingly disparate actors.

There are two versions:

Within the disinformation and memory studies direction, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) team is developing tools in several ways. Firstly, IDFI research historical roots and disinformation narratives that are weaponized in contemporary times. Secondly, IDFI develops academic courses that are offered to the students in schools of media and social sciences, and to representatives of CSOs and civil servants.

A live dashboard analyzing the top German candidate's presence on multiple social media platforms. The website highlights posts published by the candidates themselves and posts made about the candidate by the general public. In-depth analyses will be published as the campaign period continues until October 2021.

A set of information technology (IT) tools to enable citizens to analyze state budgets, in theory to develop critical thinking to counter politicians’ populist rhetoric on complex economic issues.

(Copied from website)

The Contextus Platform takes in text and images from social media platforms and online communities and uses artificial intelligence to analyze and decode this data for hidden meaning. By tracking the flow of information, it can ultimately help to expose or predict possible threats, hostile intentions, and hate acts.

(independently written)

Who Targets Me are a small group of activists creating and managing a crowdsourced global database of political adverts placed on social media.

We were founded by Sam Jeffers and Louis Knight Webb in 2017 during the UK elections to monitor the use of online political ads in real time and provide analysis of their intended impact. The Who Targets Me plug-in has now been installed by over 30,000 users worldwide in more than 100 countries and 20 languages.

The conversations that trend on internet platforms shape our world in consequential ways, from who we vote for, to what news we read, to how we respond to a pandemic.

But frequently, these conversations don’t trend organically — they’re the result of influence campaigns intended to misinform, radicalize, or polarize. Rather than public opinion influencing the trends, social media trends influence public opinion.

A Collaborative News Site

Mixing crowdsourcing, Wikidata’s rich catalogue of information, and a network that spans thousands of newsrooms, Source Scour will identify key areas where more information is needed and help journalists, researchers, and policymakers quickly spin up well-sourced, verified data sets with the answers the public needs. Source Scour builds on the existing crowdsourcing software (https://www.muckrock.com/assignment/) created by MuckRock/DocumentCloud and used by thousands of newsrooms around the world.