User:Francg/expub/thesis/thesis-outline-26.10.17

Thesis Outline

26.10.17

My Thesis will investigate information overload alongside with a particular political issue

News on the web can be edited quickly as new facts arrive, and more is learned. Information is quickly corrected–but content can also be modified for a multitude of purposes. Often these changes instantly render the previous version invisible. Many newspapers use their website as a place for their first drafts, which allows them to craft a story in near real time, while being the first to publish breaking news. News travels fast in social media as they are continuously shared across all kinds of networks.

What if that initial, perhaps flawed version goes viral, and it is the only version you ever read? It’s not necessarily fake news, because there’s no explicit intent to mislead or deceive, but it may not be the best, most accurate news either. Wouldn’t it be useful to be able to watch how news stories shift in time to better understand how the news is produced? how do we understand the news before truth arrives?