Infodemic: The New Informational Reality of the Present Times

Abstract

This text discusses elements and characteristics of contemporary informational reality, that is, the ways of producing, circulating, organizing, using, and appropriating information in the current context. Initially, seven terms and concepts used to describe this reality are discussed: fake news, false testimonials, hate speech, scientific negationism, disinformation, post-truth, and infodemic. Next, an attempt is made to present a framework for such phenomena as an object of study in information science. Therefore, this scenario is characterized based on the three main models of information science study: physical, cognitive, and social. The contribution of each of them to the study of contemporary informational reality is analyzed, identifying aspects such as the bubble effect, clickbaits, confirmation bias, cults of amateurism, and post-truth culture. Finally, it presents the discussion of a possible veritistic turn in the field, in order to think about elements not covered so far by information science in its task and challenge of producing adequate understanding and diagnoses of current phenomena. In conclusion, it is argued that only accurate and comprehensive diagnoses of such phenomena will allow information science to develop services and systems capable of combating their harmful effects.