A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference

Neville Calleja; Abdelhalim Abdallah; Neetu Abad; Naglaa Ahmed; Dolores Albarracin; Elena Altieri; Julienne N Anoko; Ruben Arcos; Arina Anis Azlan; Judit Bayer; Anja Bechmann; Supriya Bezbaruah; Sylvie C Briand; Ian Brooks; Lucie M Bucci; Stefano Burzo; Christine Czerniak; Manlio De Domenico; Adam G Dunn; Ullrich K H Ecker; Laura Espinosa; Camille Francois; Kacper Gradon; Anatoliy Gruzd; Beste Sultan Gülgün; Rustam Haydarov; Cherstyn Hurley; Santi Indra Astuti; Atsuyoshi Ishizumi; Neil Johnson; Dylan Johnson Restrepo; Masato Kajimoto; Aybüke Koyuncu; Shibani Kulkarni; Jaya Lamichhane; Rosamund Lewis; Avichal Mahajan; Ahmed Mandil; Erin Mcaweeney; Melanie Messer; Wesley Moy; Patricia Ndumbi Ngamala; Tim Nguyen; Mark Nunn; Saad B Omer; Claudia Pagliari; Palak Patel; Lynette Phuong; Dimitri Prybylski; Arash Rashidian; Emily Rempel; Sara Rubinelli; Pierluigi Sacco; Anton Schneider; Kai Shu; Melanie Smith; Harry Sufehmi; Viroj Tangcharoensathien; Robert Terry; Naveen Thacker; Tom Trewinnard; Shannon Turner; Heidi Tworek; Saad Uakkas; Emily Vraga; Claire Wardle; Herman Wasserman; Elisabeth Wilhelm; Andrea Würz; Brian Yau; Lei Zhou; Tina D Purnat

doi:10.2196/30979

A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference

Neville Calleja, Abdelhalim Abdallah, Neetu Abad, Naglaa Ahmed, Dolores Albarracin, Elena Altieri, Julienne N Anoko, Ruben Arcos, Arina Anis Azlan, Judit Bayer, Anja Bechmann, Supriya Bezbaruah, Sylvie C Briand, Ian Brooks, Lucie M Bucci, Stefano Burzo, Christine Czerniak, Manlio De Domenico, Adam G Dunn, Ullrich K H EckerLaura Espinosa, Camille Francois, Kacper Gradon, Anatoliy Gruzd, Beste Sultan Gülgün, Rustam Haydarov, Cherstyn Hurley, Santi Indra Astuti, Atsuyoshi Ishizumi, Neil Johnson, Dylan Johnson Restrepo, Masato Kajimoto, Aybüke Koyuncu, Shibani Kulkarni, Jaya Lamichhane, Rosamund Lewis, Avichal Mahajan, Ahmed Mandil, Erin Mcaweeney, Melanie Messer, Wesley Moy, Patricia Ndumbi Ngamala, Tim Nguyen, Mark Nunn, Saad B Omer, Claudia Pagliari, Palak Patel, Lynette Phuong, Dimitri Prybylski, Arash Rashidian, Emily Rempel, Sara Rubinelli, Pierluigi Sacco, Anton Schneider, Kai Shu, Melanie Smith, Harry Sufehmi, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Robert Terry, Naveen Thacker, Tom Trewinnard, Shannon Turner, Heidi Tworek, Saad Uakkas, Emily Vraga, Claire Wardle, Herman Wasserman, Elisabeth Wilhelm, Andrea Würz, Brian Yau, Lei Zhou, Tina D Purnat

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: An infodemic is an overflow of information of varying quality that surges across digital and physical environments during an acute public health event. It leads to confusion, risk-taking and behaviors that can harm health and lead to erosion of trust in health authorities and public health responses. The global scale and high stakes of the emergency have made responding to the infodemic related to the COVID-19 pandemic particularly urgent. Building on diverse research disciplines and expanding the discipline of infodemiology, more evidence-based interventions are needed to design infodemic management interventions and tools, and implement them by health emergency responders.

Objective: WHO organised the first global infodemiology conference, entirely online during June-July 2020, and a follow up August-October 2020, to review current multidisciplinary evidence, interventions and practices that can be applied to the COVID-19 infodemic response. This resulted in a public health research agenda for managing infodemics.

Methods: As part of the conference, a structured expert judgement synthesis method was used to formulate a public health research agenda. One hundred and ten participants represented diverse scientific disciplines, from over 35 countries and global public health implementing partners. The conference used a laddered discussion sprint methodology by rotating participant teams, and a follow-up managed process to assemble a research agenda based on the discussion and structured expert feedback. This resulted in a five-work-stream frame of the research agenda for infodemic management and 166 suggested research questions. The participants then ranked the questions for feasibility and expected public health impact. The expert consensus was summarised in a public health research agenda which included a list of priority research questions.

Results: The public health research agenda for infodemic management has five work-streams: (i) measuring and continuously monitoring the impact of infodemics during health emergencies; (ii) detecting signals and understanding the spread and risk of infodemics; (iii) responding and deploying interventions that mitigate and protect against infodemics and their harmful effects; (iv) evaluating infodemic interventions and strengthening the resilience of individuals and communities to infodemics; and (v) promoting the development, adaptation and application of interventions and toolkits for infodemic management. Each work-stream identified research questions and highlights 49 high priority research questions.

Conclusions: Public health authorities need to develop, validate, implement and adapt tools and interventions for managing infodemics in acute public health events in ways that are appropriate for their countries and contexts. For that to be possible, infodemiology provides a scientific foundation. This research agenda proposes a structured framework for targeted investment for the scientific community, policymakers, implementing organizations and other stakeholders to consider.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	e30979
Journal	JMIR Infodemiology
Volume	1
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2196/30979
Publication status	Published - 15 Sept 2021

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Infodemic
Digital Health
COVID-19
Public Health
Misinformation
Internet
Information overload
Disinformation
Social Media
Health communication

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10.2196/30979Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

https://infodemiology.jmir.org/2021/1/e30979Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

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The role of Good- Governance and the Rule of Law in Building Trust in Data-Driven Responses to Public Health Emergencies
Pagliari, C.
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A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference
Calleja, N., Abdallah, A., Abad, N., Ahmed, N., Albarracin, D., Altieri, E., Anoko, J. N., Arcos, R., Azlan, A. A., Bayer, J., Bechmann, A., Bezbaruah, S., Briand, S. C., Brooks, I., Bucci, L. M., Burzo, S., Czerniak, C., De Domenico, M., Dunn, A. G., Ecker, U. K. H., & 52 othersEspinosa, L., Francois, C., Gradon, K., Gruzd, A., Gülgün, B. S., Haydarov, R., Hurley, C., Astuti, S. I., Ishizumi, A., Johnson, N., Johnson Restrepo, D., Kajimoto, M., Koyuncu, A., Kulkarni, S., Lamichhane, J., Lewis, R., Mahajan, A., Mandil, A., Mcaweeney, E., Messer, M., Moy, W., Ndumbi Ngamala, P., Nguyen, T., Nunn, M., Omer, S. B., Pagliari, C., Patel, P., Phuong, L., Prybylski, D., Rashidian, A., Rempel, E., Rubinelli, S., Sacco, P., Schneider, A., Shu, K., Smith, M., Sufehmi, H., Tangcharoensathien, V., Terry, R., Thacker, N., Trewinnard, T., Turner, S., Tworek, H., Uakkas, S., Vraga, E., Wardle, C., Wasserman, H., Wilhelm, E., Würz, A., Yau, B., Zhou, L. & Purnat, T. D., 15 Sept 2021, In: JMIR Infodemiology. 1, 1, p. e30979
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Open Access
Digital Health Ethics, Governance and Public Health Best Practices: Digital Health & Wearables Series, Episode 35
Pagliari, C. & Bocas, J. (ed.), 9 Sept 2021
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Digitally-enabled primary care: Past, present and prospects
Pagliari, C., 2 Jul 2021, In: Journal of Global Health. 11, 01005, p. 1-9 9 p., 01005.
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Prevention measures in health systems more urgent than ever, say experts
Claudia Pagliari
27/05/22
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Why misinformation on WhatsApp can be a worry for older adults
Claudia Pagliari & Santosh Vijaykumar
3/12/18
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Dr Claudia Pagliari highlights ethical gaps in research using social media data
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The many faces of inequality in a digitised world: thoughts on deprivation devices, data, deception, disruption and dialogue.
Claudia Pagliari (Invited speaker)
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Assessing European countries' capacities for integrated digital surveillance systems
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Advances in Social Listening for Public Health
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Cite this

Calleja, N., Abdallah, A., Abad, N., Ahmed, N., Albarracin, D., Altieri, E., Anoko, J. N., Arcos, R., Azlan, A. A., Bayer, J., Bechmann, A., Bezbaruah, S., Briand, S. C., Brooks, I., Bucci, L. M., Burzo, S., Czerniak, C., De Domenico, M., Dunn, A. G., ... Purnat, T. D. (2021). A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference. JMIR Infodemiology, 1(1), e30979. https://doi.org/10.2196/30979

@article{11b8beff0e3043d7819d37841a6af04b,

title = "A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference",

abstract = "Background: An infodemic is an overflow of information of varying quality that surges across digital and physical environments during an acute public health event. It leads to confusion, risk-taking and behaviors that can harm health and lead to erosion of trust in health authorities and public health responses. The global scale and high stakes of the emergency have made responding to the infodemic related to the COVID-19 pandemic particularly urgent. Building on diverse research disciplines and expanding the discipline of infodemiology, more evidence-based interventions are needed to design infodemic management interventions and tools, and implement them by health emergency responders. Objective: WHO organised the first global infodemiology conference, entirely online during June-July 2020, and a follow up August-October 2020, to review current multidisciplinary evidence, interventions and practices that can be applied to the COVID-19 infodemic response. This resulted in a public health research agenda for managing infodemics.Methods: As part of the conference, a structured expert judgement synthesis method was used to formulate a public health research agenda. One hundred and ten participants represented diverse scientific disciplines, from over 35 countries and global public health implementing partners. The conference used a laddered discussion sprint methodology by rotating participant teams, and a follow-up managed process to assemble a research agenda based on the discussion and structured expert feedback. This resulted in a five-work-stream frame of the research agenda for infodemic management and 166 suggested research questions. The participants then ranked the questions for feasibility and expected public health impact. The expert consensus was summarised in a public health research agenda which included a list of priority research questions. Results: The public health research agenda for infodemic management has five work-streams: (i) measuring and continuously monitoring the impact of infodemics during health emergencies; (ii) detecting signals and understanding the spread and risk of infodemics; (iii) responding and deploying interventions that mitigate and protect against infodemics and their harmful effects; (iv) evaluating infodemic interventions and strengthening the resilience of individuals and communities to infodemics; and (v) promoting the development, adaptation and application of interventions and toolkits for infodemic management. Each work-stream identified research questions and highlights 49 high priority research questions.Conclusions: Public health authorities need to develop, validate, implement and adapt tools and interventions for managing infodemics in acute public health events in ways that are appropriate for their countries and contexts. For that to be possible, infodemiology provides a scientific foundation. This research agenda proposes a structured framework for targeted investment for the scientific community, policymakers, implementing organizations and other stakeholders to consider. ",

keywords = "Infodemic, Digital Health, COVID-19, Public Health, Misinformation, Internet, Information overload, Disinformation, Social Media, Health communication",

author = "Neville Calleja and Abdelhalim Abdallah and Neetu Abad and Naglaa Ahmed and Dolores Albarracin and Elena Altieri and Anoko, {Julienne N} and Ruben Arcos and Azlan, {Arina Anis} and Judit Bayer and Anja Bechmann and Supriya Bezbaruah and Briand, {Sylvie C} and Ian Brooks and Bucci, {Lucie M} and Stefano Burzo and Christine Czerniak and {De Domenico}, Manlio and Dunn, {Adam G} and Ecker, {Ullrich K H} and Laura Espinosa and Camille Francois and Kacper Gradon and Anatoliy Gruzd and G{\"u}lg{\"u}n, {Beste Sultan} and Rustam Haydarov and Cherstyn Hurley and Astuti, {Santi Indra} and Atsuyoshi Ishizumi and Neil Johnson and {Johnson Restrepo}, Dylan and Masato Kajimoto and Ayb{\"u}ke Koyuncu and Shibani Kulkarni and Jaya Lamichhane and Rosamund Lewis and Avichal Mahajan and Ahmed Mandil and Erin Mcaweeney and Melanie Messer and Wesley Moy and {Ndumbi Ngamala}, Patricia and Tim Nguyen and Mark Nunn and Omer, {Saad B} and Claudia Pagliari and Palak Patel and Lynette Phuong and Dimitri Prybylski and Arash Rashidian and Emily Rempel and Sara Rubinelli and Pierluigi Sacco and Anton Schneider and Kai Shu and Melanie Smith and Harry Sufehmi and Viroj Tangcharoensathien and Robert Terry and Naveen Thacker and Tom Trewinnard and Shannon Turner and Heidi Tworek and Saad Uakkas and Emily Vraga and Claire Wardle and Herman Wasserman and Elisabeth Wilhelm and Andrea W{\"u}rz and Brian Yau and Lei Zhou and Purnat, {Tina D}",

year = "2021",

month = sep,

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volume = "1",

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journal = "JMIR Infodemiology",

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Calleja, N, Abdallah, A, Abad, N, Ahmed, N, Albarracin, D, Altieri, E, Anoko, JN, Arcos, R, Azlan, AA, Bayer, J, Bechmann, A, Bezbaruah, S, Briand, SC, Brooks, I, Bucci, LM, Burzo, S, Czerniak, C, De Domenico, M, Dunn, AG, Ecker, UKH, Espinosa, L, Francois, C, Gradon, K, Gruzd, A, Gülgün, BS, Haydarov, R, Hurley, C, Astuti, SI, Ishizumi, A, Johnson, N, Johnson Restrepo, D, Kajimoto, M, Koyuncu, A, Kulkarni, S, Lamichhane, J, Lewis, R, Mahajan, A, Mandil, A, Mcaweeney, E, Messer, M, Moy, W, Ndumbi Ngamala, P, Nguyen, T, Nunn, M, Omer, SB, Pagliari, C, Patel, P, Phuong, L, Prybylski, D, Rashidian, A, Rempel, E, Rubinelli, S, Sacco, P, Schneider, A, Shu, K, Smith, M, Sufehmi, H, Tangcharoensathien, V, Terry, R, Thacker, N, Trewinnard, T, Turner, S, Tworek, H, Uakkas, S, Vraga, E, Wardle, C, Wasserman, H, Wilhelm, E, Würz, A, Yau, B, Zhou, L & Purnat, TD 2021, 'A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference', JMIR Infodemiology, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. e30979. https://doi.org/10.2196/30979

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics

T2 - Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference

AU - Calleja, Neville

AU - Abdallah, Abdelhalim

AU - Abad, Neetu

AU - Ahmed, Naglaa

AU - Albarracin, Dolores

AU - Altieri, Elena

AU - Anoko, Julienne N

AU - Arcos, Ruben

AU - Azlan, Arina Anis

AU - Bayer, Judit

AU - Bechmann, Anja

AU - Bezbaruah, Supriya

AU - Briand, Sylvie C

AU - Brooks, Ian

AU - Bucci, Lucie M

AU - Burzo, Stefano

AU - Czerniak, Christine

AU - De Domenico, Manlio

AU - Dunn, Adam G

AU - Ecker, Ullrich K H

AU - Espinosa, Laura

AU - Francois, Camille

AU - Gradon, Kacper

AU - Gruzd, Anatoliy

AU - Gülgün, Beste Sultan

AU - Haydarov, Rustam

AU - Hurley, Cherstyn

AU - Astuti, Santi Indra

AU - Ishizumi, Atsuyoshi

AU - Johnson, Neil

AU - Johnson Restrepo, Dylan

AU - Kajimoto, Masato

AU - Koyuncu, Aybüke

AU - Kulkarni, Shibani

AU - Lamichhane, Jaya

AU - Lewis, Rosamund

AU - Mahajan, Avichal

AU - Mandil, Ahmed

AU - Mcaweeney, Erin

AU - Messer, Melanie

AU - Moy, Wesley

AU - Ndumbi Ngamala, Patricia

AU - Nguyen, Tim

AU - Nunn, Mark

AU - Omer, Saad B

AU - Pagliari, Claudia

AU - Patel, Palak

AU - Phuong, Lynette

AU - Prybylski, Dimitri

AU - Rashidian, Arash

AU - Rempel, Emily

AU - Rubinelli, Sara

AU - Sacco, Pierluigi

AU - Schneider, Anton

AU - Shu, Kai

AU - Smith, Melanie

AU - Sufehmi, Harry

AU - Tangcharoensathien, Viroj

AU - Terry, Robert

AU - Thacker, Naveen

AU - Trewinnard, Tom

AU - Turner, Shannon

AU - Tworek, Heidi

AU - Uakkas, Saad

AU - Vraga, Emily

AU - Wardle, Claire

AU - Wasserman, Herman

AU - Wilhelm, Elisabeth

AU - Würz, Andrea

AU - Yau, Brian

AU - Zhou, Lei

AU - Purnat, Tina D

PY - 2021/9/15

Y1 - 2021/9/15

N2 - Background: An infodemic is an overflow of information of varying quality that surges across digital and physical environments during an acute public health event. It leads to confusion, risk-taking and behaviors that can harm health and lead to erosion of trust in health authorities and public health responses. The global scale and high stakes of the emergency have made responding to the infodemic related to the COVID-19 pandemic particularly urgent. Building on diverse research disciplines and expanding the discipline of infodemiology, more evidence-based interventions are needed to design infodemic management interventions and tools, and implement them by health emergency responders. Objective: WHO organised the first global infodemiology conference, entirely online during June-July 2020, and a follow up August-October 2020, to review current multidisciplinary evidence, interventions and practices that can be applied to the COVID-19 infodemic response. This resulted in a public health research agenda for managing infodemics.Methods: As part of the conference, a structured expert judgement synthesis method was used to formulate a public health research agenda. One hundred and ten participants represented diverse scientific disciplines, from over 35 countries and global public health implementing partners. The conference used a laddered discussion sprint methodology by rotating participant teams, and a follow-up managed process to assemble a research agenda based on the discussion and structured expert feedback. This resulted in a five-work-stream frame of the research agenda for infodemic management and 166 suggested research questions. The participants then ranked the questions for feasibility and expected public health impact. The expert consensus was summarised in a public health research agenda which included a list of priority research questions. Results: The public health research agenda for infodemic management has five work-streams: (i) measuring and continuously monitoring the impact of infodemics during health emergencies; (ii) detecting signals and understanding the spread and risk of infodemics; (iii) responding and deploying interventions that mitigate and protect against infodemics and their harmful effects; (iv) evaluating infodemic interventions and strengthening the resilience of individuals and communities to infodemics; and (v) promoting the development, adaptation and application of interventions and toolkits for infodemic management. Each work-stream identified research questions and highlights 49 high priority research questions.Conclusions: Public health authorities need to develop, validate, implement and adapt tools and interventions for managing infodemics in acute public health events in ways that are appropriate for their countries and contexts. For that to be possible, infodemiology provides a scientific foundation. This research agenda proposes a structured framework for targeted investment for the scientific community, policymakers, implementing organizations and other stakeholders to consider.

AB - Background: An infodemic is an overflow of information of varying quality that surges across digital and physical environments during an acute public health event. It leads to confusion, risk-taking and behaviors that can harm health and lead to erosion of trust in health authorities and public health responses. The global scale and high stakes of the emergency have made responding to the infodemic related to the COVID-19 pandemic particularly urgent. Building on diverse research disciplines and expanding the discipline of infodemiology, more evidence-based interventions are needed to design infodemic management interventions and tools, and implement them by health emergency responders. Objective: WHO organised the first global infodemiology conference, entirely online during June-July 2020, and a follow up August-October 2020, to review current multidisciplinary evidence, interventions and practices that can be applied to the COVID-19 infodemic response. This resulted in a public health research agenda for managing infodemics.Methods: As part of the conference, a structured expert judgement synthesis method was used to formulate a public health research agenda. One hundred and ten participants represented diverse scientific disciplines, from over 35 countries and global public health implementing partners. The conference used a laddered discussion sprint methodology by rotating participant teams, and a follow-up managed process to assemble a research agenda based on the discussion and structured expert feedback. This resulted in a five-work-stream frame of the research agenda for infodemic management and 166 suggested research questions. The participants then ranked the questions for feasibility and expected public health impact. The expert consensus was summarised in a public health research agenda which included a list of priority research questions. Results: The public health research agenda for infodemic management has five work-streams: (i) measuring and continuously monitoring the impact of infodemics during health emergencies; (ii) detecting signals and understanding the spread and risk of infodemics; (iii) responding and deploying interventions that mitigate and protect against infodemics and their harmful effects; (iv) evaluating infodemic interventions and strengthening the resilience of individuals and communities to infodemics; and (v) promoting the development, adaptation and application of interventions and toolkits for infodemic management. Each work-stream identified research questions and highlights 49 high priority research questions.Conclusions: Public health authorities need to develop, validate, implement and adapt tools and interventions for managing infodemics in acute public health events in ways that are appropriate for their countries and contexts. For that to be possible, infodemiology provides a scientific foundation. This research agenda proposes a structured framework for targeted investment for the scientific community, policymakers, implementing organizations and other stakeholders to consider.

KW - Infodemic

KW - Digital Health

KW - COVID-19

KW - Public Health

KW - Misinformation

KW - Internet

KW - Information overload

KW - Disinformation

KW - Social Media

KW - Health communication

U2 - 10.2196/30979

DO - 10.2196/30979

M3 - Article

SN - 2564-1891

VL - 1

SP - e30979

JO - JMIR Infodemiology

JF - JMIR Infodemiology

IS - 1

ER -

A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference

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