Fake Media

DIGI10072 Fake Media 20 Semester 2 Undergraduate Level 1 School of Arts, Languages and Cultures 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' First part HE study/Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 What is truly real in the land of the virtual? From questions of truth and misinformation to deep fakes and ‘synthetic’ data, digital media is having to – once again – grapple with reality. Whilst media studies and cognate fields largely jettisoned talk of ‘cyberspace’ and virtual reality in the early 2000s (as social networks and ‘Web 2.0’ took over), they are now firmly back on the agenda. Whether in the form of age-old questions about the veracity and verifiability of information, or through shiny new terminology of AR (augmented reality), MR (mixed reality), and XR (extended reality), it is clear that concepts and theories around reality, virtuality, fakery, imitation, and authenticity are critical to understanding media cultures in myriad forms. Indeed, that many current and emerging models of the digital economy are similarly reliant upon the generation of ‘fake’ data (for simulation, artificial intelligence), as well as building thoroughly ‘real’ tools and architectures to tackle non-human agents (bots). In this course unit, students will be introduced to a range of contexts and case studies that wrestle with how media represent – or purport to represent – the world, people, and perspectives. In addition, students will have the opportunity to develop critical digital skills, including digital literacy skills, to make sense of digital media generally and ‘fake media’ specifically. What is truly real in the land of the virtual? From questions of truth and misinformation to deep fakes and ‘synthetic’ data, digital media is having to – once again – grapple with reality. Whilst media studies and cognate fields largely jettisoned talk of ‘cyberspace’ and virtual reality in the early 2000s (as social networks and ‘Web 2.0’ took over), they are now firmly back on the agenda. Whether in the form of age-old questions about the veracity and verifiability of information, or through shiny new terminology of AR (augmented reality), MR (mixed reality), and XR (extended reality), it is clear that concepts and theories around reality, virtuality, fakery, imitation, and authenticity are critical to understanding media cultures in myriad forms. Indeed, that many current and emerging models of the digital economy are similarly reliant upon the generation of ‘fake’ data (for simulation, artificial intelligence), as well as building thoroughly ‘real’ tools and architectures to tackle non-human agents (bots). In this course unit, students will be introduced to a range of contexts and case studies that wrestle with how media represent – or purport to represent – the world, people, and perspectives. In addition, students will have the opportunity to develop critical digital skills, including digital literacy skills, to make sense of digital media generally and ‘fake media’ specifically. The unit aims to: <ul><li>Introduce students to the significance and effect of fake media in the contemporary world</li><li>Offer students understanding of the varied ways in which truth, reality, and virtuality operate through digital media</li><li>Provide digital skills and knowledge to evaluate real-world case studies and instances of fake media in everyday life</li></ul> Students will be expected to be able to identify a variety of key terms and concepts related to a prevalent, and oftentimes problematic phenomenon, of ‘fake’ images, data, information, and media more generally. Students will be able to compose a written report on a contemporary fake media controversy discussed, debated, and documented within the public sphere. Students will be able to evidence, document, and present specific recommendations for countering or responding to specific controversies, written to appeal to a non-technical, lay audience. <ul><li>Identify key terms and concepts on the topic of fake media. </li><li>Recognize how ideas around reality and virtuality are central to digital media. </li><li>Contextualize and historicize the shifts and transformations in key terms and concepts of fake media.</li></ul> <ul><li>Critically assess the components and features of fake media concepts. </li><li>Compare and contrast different fake media phenomena. </li><li>Appraise and evaluate digital media technologies and systems in relation to key fake media concepts.</li></ul> <ul><li>Demonstrate digital techniques and approaches to interrogate and evaluate fake media concepts. </li><li>Express academic arguments vocally and cogently to peers. </li><li>Examine a wide range of academic and non-academic research material on the topic of fake media.</li></ul> <ul><li>Summarise and present different controversies and verification procedures. </li><li>Develop project management skills. </li><li>Collaborate with peers and contribute to class discussions on fake media stories, controversies, and strategies.</li></ul> The unit will cover a range of topics and perspectives on the topic of ‘fake media’, ranging from mis/disinformation and propaganda to deepfakes and synthetic data. In general, the course unit will consider fake media from a visual, historical, and political economic perspective, offering students the opportunity to understand how questions of reality and artificiality have occurred and recurred, albeit in different ways, throughout time.Through a range of case studies from the rise of ‘fact checking’ organizations to the role of AI in generating statistically-modelled medical data, students will be able to examine how these themes manifest, affecting our ability to trust, know, and rely on digital media at large. The unit consists of 1-hour lectures and 2-hour seminars per week, delivered synchronously and in-person. Lectures will be delivered through presentation format with short individual/group tasks. Lectures will involve the presentation of different fake media topics and phenomena each week, including different ‘controversies’ and ‘strategies’ related to each. Students will be asked to consider how the media/technical component of each fake media topic is designed (how deepfakes are made, how disinformation is spread), as well as asked to discuss the historical and geographical nature of various forms of fake media, from the trickery of photography to the rise of Russian internet propaganda. Seminars will be delivered through a mix of group reading and discussion of key texts, and practical workshop-style activities. Students will have the opportunity to discuss different kinds of fake media ‘controversies’ in group settings, and to write an in-depth account of a fake media ‘controversy’ of their choice. Students will also have the opportunity to conduct a ‘verification strategies’ project in which they provide a critical step-by-step guide, drawing on available academic, technical, and policy literature, to counter a chosen fake media practice. Students may wish to assume the role of a specific persons, organization, or state, in order to develop such a verification strategic, in which they seek to train, or otherwise educate, them to recognize, categorize, or otherwise tackle such an issue. 0 Other 100% <figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Formative Assessment Task</td><td>Length (word count/time)</td></tr><tr><td>Fake media controversy pitch (individual)</td><td>1 minute</td></tr><tr><td>Verification strategies brief (individual)</td><td>500 words</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Summative Assessment Task</td><td>Length</td><td>Weighting within unit (if relevant)</td></tr><tr><td>Fake media controversy report (individual) [written report explaining a contemporary fake media controversy]</td><td>1,000 words</td><td>30%</td></tr><tr><td>Verification strategies project (individual) [written project documenting a specific strategy to ‘counter’ a fake media issue] </td><td>2,000 words</td><td>70%</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> Written, via Canvas within 15 working days. N Baudrillard, J. (1995) The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Corpus Ong, J. and Cabañas, J. V. A. (2018) Architects of networked disinformation: Behind the scenes of troll accounts and fake news production in the Philippines. University of Massachusetts Amherst Communication Publication Series 74: 1-83. https://doi.org/10.7275/2cq4-5396Gaur, L. (2022) (ed.) DeepFakes: Creation, Detection, and Impact. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003231493Gil-Fournier, A. and Parikka, J. (2021) Ground truth to fake geographies: Machine vision and learning in visual practices. AI & Society 36 (4): 1253-1262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-020-01062-3Marres, N. (2015) Why map issues? On controversy analysis as a digital method. Science, Technology, & Human Values 40 (5): 655-686. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243915574602Meikle, G. (2022) Deepfakes. Cambridge: Polity.Monmonier, M. (2018) (3rd edition) How to Lie with Maps. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.Mulvin, D. (2021) Proxies: The Cultural Work of Standing In. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Steinhoff, J. (2022) Toward a political economy of synthetic data: A data-intensive capitalism that is not a surveillance capitalism? New Media & Society 0 (0): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221099217Zimdars, M. and McLeod, K. (2020) (eds.) Fake News: Understanding Media and Misinformation in the Digital Age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11807.001.0001  Lectures 11 Seminars 22 0 167