PLAUSIBLE QUOTATIONS AND REVERSE CREDIBILITY IN ONLINE VERNACULAR COMMUNITIES
Cyberspace includes information that lacks vetting by traditional gatekeepers such as editors and librarians. One growing type of online information is unsourced quotations attributed to well-known individuals. After summarizing the history of textual fabrication as semantic misinformation, this art...
| Veröffentlicht in: | ETC: A Review of General Semantics. - Institute of General Semantics. - 69(2012), 2, Seite 216-234 |
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| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
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2012
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | ETC: A Review of General Semantics |
| Schlagworte: | Political science Applied sciences Behavioral sciences Information science Social sciences Philosophy Economics |
| Zusammenfassung: | Cyberspace includes information that lacks vetting by traditional gatekeepers such as editors and librarians. One growing type of online information is unsourced quotations attributed to well-known individuals. After summarizing the history of textual fabrication as semantic misinformation, this article traces the origin and rapid spread of a quotation misattributed to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. The quotation spread from online sources to print and even at least one peer-reviewed academic journal—all without ever being sourced. The same quotation was widely used by both the political Right and Left to support opposing ideologies. Cyberspace provides an arena for creating seemingly credible but unverified persuasive messages that confirm the existing assumptions of online communities of discourse. The essay concludes with suggestions for verifying unsourced online quotations attributed to otherwise "credible" people. |
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| ISSN: | 21689245 |