In a contemporary democratic society, information has not only become a “currency” that is used daily, but also the very foundation of the democratic system itself. In knowledge society, peoples’s information vulnerability can rapidly accumulate into a systemic vulnerability, which on its turn complicates relations between the government and the people and weakens the capacity to react to arising threats of various nature.
This project aims to distinct social factors that are related to information vulnerability in LIthuania, and to prepare a tool for diagnosing information vulnerability. Information vulnerability is understood as an increased risk for people to fall victim to fake news and conspiracy theories.
The project will apply Principal Component Analysis, Multiple Regression and Hierarchical Linear Modeling research methods. Based on the data gathered by a survey, it will perform an analysis of factors that correlate and influence information vulnerability.
Project funding:
Research Council of Lithuania (RCL), National Research Programme “Welfare Society”
Project results:
The research results will be published i two academic articles (in Lithuania and abroad), presented in two international academic conferences and issued as a policy recommendation paper to policy-maker institutions in Lithuania. The project will also create a public access tool that will help assess information vulnerability in the society. This reaserch will allow for a clearer and more effective formulation of a strategy for information resilience in the country, and to adequately adapt educational tools of media literacy.
Period of project implementation: 2021-02-01 - 2022-12-31
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
