TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing news overload (MNO)
T2 - The COVID-19 infodemic
AU - Ahmed, Sameera Tahira
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), grant number G00002655. I would like to thank the participants of this research for completing the media diaries, reflections and being supportive of the project. I also appreciate the hard work of my Research Assistants, Nur Ahmed and Shihab Ahmad.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the author.
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - A crucial area in which information overload is experienced is news consumption. Ever increasing sources and formats are becoming available through a combination of traditional and new (digital) media, including social media. In such an information and media rich environment, understanding how people access and manage news during a global health epidemic like COVID-19 becomes even more important. The designation of the current situation as an infodemic has raised concerns about the quality, accuracy and impact of information. Instances of misinformation are commonplace due, in part, to the speed and pervasive nature of social media and messaging applications in particular. This paper reports on data collected using media diaries from 15 university students in the United Arab Emirates documenting their news consumption in April 2020. Faced with a potentially infinite amount of information and news, participants demonstrate how they are managing news overload (MNO) using a number of complementary strategies. Results show that while consumption patterns vary, all diaries indicate that users' ability to navigate the news landscape in a way that fulfils their needs is influenced by news sources; platform reliability and verification; sharing activity; and engagement with news.
AB - A crucial area in which information overload is experienced is news consumption. Ever increasing sources and formats are becoming available through a combination of traditional and new (digital) media, including social media. In such an information and media rich environment, understanding how people access and manage news during a global health epidemic like COVID-19 becomes even more important. The designation of the current situation as an infodemic has raised concerns about the quality, accuracy and impact of information. Instances of misinformation are commonplace due, in part, to the speed and pervasive nature of social media and messaging applications in particular. This paper reports on data collected using media diaries from 15 university students in the United Arab Emirates documenting their news consumption in April 2020. Faced with a potentially infinite amount of information and news, participants demonstrate how they are managing news overload (MNO) using a number of complementary strategies. Results show that while consumption patterns vary, all diaries indicate that users' ability to navigate the news landscape in a way that fulfils their needs is influenced by news sources; platform reliability and verification; sharing activity; and engagement with news.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Infodemic
KW - Information overload
KW - Managing news overload (MNO)
KW - News overload
KW - Strategies
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U2 - 10.3390/INFO11080375
DO - 10.3390/INFO11080375
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089520966
SN - 2078-2489
VL - 11
JO - Information (Switzerland)
JF - Information (Switzerland)
IS - 8
M1 - 375
ER -