假訊息治理與民主政治

課程進度｜Schedule

Course Prerequisites and Policies:

1. You should read all the required materials prior to attending the classes.
2. At the conclusion of the first class, you should establish a team composed of 3-5 classmates. Each team should assign a member to email me a list, which should include the team members’ names, emails, and university IDs.
3. This course is divided into three sections: (1) Impact of Misinformation on Democracy; (2) Misinformation Spread and Social Media; and (3) Misinformation, Propaganda, and Activist Mobilization. All sections involve discussion classes and a round table class.
4. In the discussion classes, all teams are expected to complete critique papers. For the short paper, a team may opt to cover one or several readings from a week. Regardless of this choice, the student should clearly identify the research question(s), the cause, the effect, theoretical argument, empirical design, and findings, and more importantly, critique the reading(s). Instead of laundry listing the limitations, the critique should rather focus on identifying one central theoretical limitation or one central empirical limitation that has important conceptual implications for the analysis. You should also develop a convincing account of the weakness and provide a plausible argument for possible improvements. Each short paper should consist of 2 single-spaced pages and will be due by 5 pm before the day of the course. Each student is expected to read other teams’ critique papers before the course. Authors are responsible for distributing their short papers to the whole class.
5. During the three round table classes, we will invite speakers to present short speeches. Students should prepare at least three questions with arguments to discuss with the speakers. The questions and arguments can be developed from the critique papers. Additionally, the questions with arguments are due by 5 pm before the day of the course.
6. The final investigation paper should be an original investigation paper on a topic in the field of misinformation. Teams should carefully follow the guidelines released by instructors to properly develop final investigation proposals and papers.

Course Schedule:

Week 1: Introduction to the Course

Section 1: Impact of Misinformation on Democracy

Week 2: Misinformation: Challenges for Democracy

Week 3: Misinformation Regulation and Governance

Week 4: Case Study: China’s Information Operation and Taiwan’s 2020 Election

Guest speakers: Wu, Min Hsuan (Co-founder and CEO of Doublethink Lab)

Week 5: Round Table 1:

Guest speakers: Wu, Min Hsuan (Co-founder and CEO of Doublethink Lab)

Section 2: Misinformation Spread and Social Media

Week 6: Online Misinformation and Social Media

Week 7: Tracking Misinformation on the Internet

Week 8: Conflicts or Cooperation between Misinformation and Mainstream Media

Week 9: Case Study: Tracing control and influence at Guancha news

Guest speakers: Wu, Min Hsuan (Co-founder and CEO of Doublethink Lab)

Week 10: Round Table 2:

Guest speakers: Li, Weiping (Ph. D. Candidate, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland)

Week 11: Final Investigation Paper Proposal Presentation

Section 3: Misinformation, Propaganda, and Activist Mobilization

Week 12: U.S. Right-wing Media and Interactive

Week 13: China's Internet Censors, Misinformation, and Consensus Policies

Week 14: Contentious Politics in US and China

Week 15: Case Study: How Ukraine has been Nazified in the Chinese information space?

Guest speakers: Wu, Min Hsuan (Co-founder and CEO of Doublethink Lab)

Week 16:  Round Table 3:

Guest speakers: Yang, Yunkang (Assistant Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University)

Week 17: Final Presentation