The information age began in the middle of the 20th century: a shift from an emphasis on mechanical/industrial production to information technology. Claude Shannon’s information theory quantified information and made it measurable. But, because Shannon’s theory was a quantitative theory of communication, the meaning of information transmitted was a secondary issue. In his landmark 1948 Read More

We need to be clear about what really is ‘information’. Is ‘misinformation’ information or something else? Information scientists have adopted a general definition of information (GDI). According to the GDI, information is data that is well-formed and meaningful [1]. Misinformation and disinformation are not genuine information because they are false, although they may have semantic Read More

Most people agree that misinformation online is a menace to society. But what has been the response? Four different responses to the problem of information disorder and echo chambers have been applied online. The initial response was to do nothing and leave content consumers to discern for themselves. It was argued that the Web is Read More

An increasing problem is that more people are becoming convinced of the argument – an argument particularly espoused by proponents of controversial theories – that a person’s only choices are believing in one entire group of facts over another group, rather than being prepared to check what are currently acknowledged as being facts, by the Read More

Avram Turing’s Global-OAQ is a system (and method) for online content analysis, a descriptive tool. Web-based information (articles, commentary etc.) is analysed then scored based on criteria designed to evaluate the quality of analytical content. Content is then categorised as ‘analytical’ or ‘non-analytical’. Further labelling of the intrinsic nature of the content (e.g. ‘satire’ ‘political’ Read More

Analytical thinking skills are indispensable for misinformation prevention. Analysing content one encounters from the internet requires logical and reasoning skills to filter out sense from nonsense. Surprisingly, analytical/critical thinking skills are not as common as we would expect. In a 2015 paper, Simon Cullen of Princeton University and his co-authors concluded that “the ability to Read More

Three guiding philosophies drive the work that Avram Turing analysts do: Wittgensteinian Ubuntu ‘Harm Principle’ These three approaches are critical: a focus on facts, upholding freedom of speech and the importance of working together with all stakeholders (civil society, social media companies, educational institutions and governments), for misinformation prevention and analysis. Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Read More

Avram Turing is an organization of analysts who read, summarize, label and rate the quality of online written content. We also help online content consumers engage analytically on the World Wide Web. We can work with educators, schools and other institutions of learning. We can also provide advisory work for civil society, public communication platforms Read More