Multi-institutional team receives NSF grant to fight online disinformation

Anita Nikolich
Anita Nikolich, Director of Research and Technology Innovation and Research Scientist
Rachel Magee
Rachel M. Magee, Assistant Professor
Dan Cermak
Dan Cermak, Games Studies Coordinator

The iSchool at Illinois is part of a multidisciplinary research team that has been awarded $750,000 to develop digital literacy tools to curb the deleterious effects of online disinformation.

The grant is from the National Science Foundation's Convergence Accelerator, a program launched in 2019 that builds upon basic research and discovery to accelerate solutions toward societal impact. 

The research team, led by the University of Buffalo (UB), includes experts in artificial intelligence, the humanities, information science and other fields. In addition to Illinois and UB, partners include Clemson University, Lehigh University, and Northeastern University.

The project—A Disinformation Range to Improve User Awareness and Resilience to Online Disinformation—centers on developing a suite of digital literacy tools, as well as advanced educational techniques, that aim to reduce the harmful effects of online disinformation. Researchers plan to have a prototype ready in June, when they will share it with senior citizens and teenagers, two groups particularly susceptible to online disinformation, according to a growing body of research.

"Just as a vaccine inoculates individuals from a virus, we want to inoculate media consumers from disinformation. Inoculated users form the first line of defense against the spread of corrupted and misleading information," said the grant's principal investigator Siwei Lyu, Empire Innovation Professor of computer science and engineering at UB. 

Disinformation Range will include facilitated discussion sessions and gamified group activities that are interspersed with short lectures. It will also include quizzes and individual exercises. 

Anita Nikolich, research scientist and director of research and technology innovation at the iSchool, is a co-principal investigator. Assistant Professor Rachel M. Magee and Adjunct Lecturer Dan Cermak are also involved with the project. 

"There is a lot of important academic work in this area, but our challenge lies in bringing real-world solutions to people affected by disinformation," said Nikolich. "Creating a game that is fun and engaging but also makes an impact on society is our biggest goal."

A partner on the grant is Buffalo Prep, nonprofit that helps talented underrepresented students prepare for, obtain entrance into, and excel at demanding college preparatory high schools. The research team will share Disinformation Range with teenagers affiliated with the group, said co-principal investigator David Castillo, a professor of romance languages and literatures and director of the UB Humanities Institute.

Co-principal investigator Darren Linvill, associate professor of communication and lead researcher at Clemson's Media Forensics Hub, stressed the need for digital literacy skills among older adults.

"We have known for a long time that media literacy needs to not be taught just in our schools but also in our retirement homes. One of the most vulnerable groups to disinformation is older Americans. Research shows they spread fake news at rates many times higher than college-aged adults," he said.

The research team will share Disinformation Range with senior citizens at Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes.

Disinformation Range was selected in the first phase of the NSF Convergence Accelerator's 2021 cohort. It is one of 12 teams funded under the accelerator's Trust and Authenticity in Communications Systems track.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Debnath datafies "The Bulletin"

MSIM student Tan Debnath, whose interests span data mining, statistical modeling, text mining, and digital humanities, joined the Center for Children's books as a research assistant. He was tasked with building curation processes that would datafy seventy-five years' worth of archival issues of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, one of the nation's leading children's book review journals.

Tan Debnath stands casually with his hands in his pockets and smiles broadly at the camera. It's a sunny day

He receives Amazon Research Award to improve monitoring of Earth’s ecosystem

A new project led by Professor Jingrui He aims to help scientists monitor disruptions to the Earth’s ecosystem, such as climate change. She recently received support for her work through an Amazon Research Award, which includes $60,000 in cash and an additional $40,000 in Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits.

Jingrui He

iSchool undergraduates selected as 2025 Community-Academic Scholars

The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) has selected BSIS student Dhanvi Puttur and BSIS+DS student Lara Terpetschnig as 2025 Community-Academic Scholars. Representing nineteen majors and nine minors in eight colleges and schools at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and two additional universities, the eighteen scholars in this cohort encompass diverse fields of study, from community health to graphic design to statistics. 

BSIS+DS student Lara Terpetschnig and BSIS student Dhanvi Puttur

Scholarship provides validation, motivation for Martinez

BSIS+DS student Fabian Martinez chose his major because he wanted to learn how to help people understand and interpret data and information. While his immediate plans include finding a job in data analytics, business analytics, consulting, or product management, his ultimate goal is "to create meaningful relationships and help make a meaningful impact in the world" in whatever way he can.

Fabian Martinez graduation

Spectrum Scholar Spotlight: Guadalupe Castillo

Twelve iSchool master's students were named 2024–2025 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. MSLIS student Guadalupe Castillo earned her BA in international studies and Spanish and Latin American literature from the University of California, San Diego.

Guadalupe Castillo