Mapping the media landscape

Media landscape as ecological metaphor

"A lot of research has focused on fact-checking and debunking individual claims: is something you read true, and how can you find out?" explains Jeroen. "While that's very important, the approach has its limitations. One drawback is that it actually focuses attention on a claim, reinforcing its effect. So, in our study, we've used the ecological metaphor of 'the media landscape' as our starting point. This is a new way of looking at media literacy, pioneered in You are Here, a book by Whitney Phillips and Ryan M Milner. All the features of the media landscape are connected to one another. Users make their way around the landscape, making choices as they go, and sometimes getting mired in disinformation."

Mapping the existing landscape

Jeroen's team linked up with the Institute for Sound and Vision, the National Library and media users to map the existing media landscape. "With the aim of finding out what people need in order to understand and navigate the landscape, we developed a number of tools for media users," he says. "The tools are designed to help people tell the difference between disinformation and reliable information."

Creative tools

"For example, we literally mapped the media landscape: we created a map of the landscape surrounding the subject of weight loss. How does information about weight loss appear on various platforms, and what connections are there? We also used generative AI to tell the stories of the journeys that users made across the media landscape. One thing that quickly became clear was that AI isn't always entirely neutral. We also got together with VersPers to develop a digital magazine: specifically, an escape magazine that placed the reader in a confined area of the media landscape and challenged them to puzzle their way out by making choices."

Everywhere on the internet

"Much of what we know about disinformation comes from American research," observes Elise van Schaik, Project Coordinator at SIDN Fund. "The HvA project helps us to understand the Dutch context better. Disinformation is everywhere on the internet, not just on one platform. The researchers have shown how disinformation about weight loss is distributed across the various platforms. A map is a very apt and effective way of visualising that distribution."

Reflecting on behaviour and media use

Together, the various tools form a reflective framework that invites users to view the media landscape in a different way and to think about their role within it. "When we talked to media users, we discovered that they quickly start fact-checking when confronted by disinformation," continues Jeroen. "Fact-checking implies the media user taking responsibility for finding out whether a particular claim is correct. However, what happens in practice is more dynamic. The relationship between the media user and certain content is actually more important. With our tools, we aim to encourage media users to reflect on their own behaviour and media use, so that a different form of media literacy ultimately develops. Our study was a relatively small, exploratory project, but it provides a good basis for further research."

Support from SIDN Fund

The question of how users can be empowered to shape and strengthen their relationships with the media landscape is one that concerns SIDN Fund as well. "SIDN Fund played an important part in enabling our exploratory research and in securing the involvement of partners active in the field," says Jeroen. "As well as receiving financial support, we were brought into contact with other people doing research that interfaced with our own to some extent. SIDN Fund also helped us to share our initial insights, which led to us forging ties with people who assisted the project later on."