Only some visitors to the Quad followed social distancing guidelines on April 1, 2020.

COVID-19 has taken over the world and right now there seems to be no other important topic for friends and family to talk about as they communicate via Zoom.

But this can be hard with misinformation about the virus floating around and, with its dominance of mainstream media, theres bound to be conflicting information.

The Center for the Informed Public (CIP) held a live stream to address the topic of misinformation during the COVID-19 era.

Hanson Hosein, co-director of the University of Washington Communication Leadership program, moderated the event.

Director of Blended and Networked Learning at WSU Vancouver, Mike Caulfield discussed the importance of having accurate information on COVID-19 during what he called an infodemic.

The difference between having the right information and the wrong information can mean the difference between life and death, on an immense scale, Caulfield said.

Kate Starbird, associate professor of human centered design & engineering, said there is something about a crisis that makes people more susceptible to information, whether true or false. She went on to say that disaster sociologists and people who study human behavior have known for a long time that people are uncertain about what to do during disasters.

People feel anxiety about what the best course of action is. To try and resolve this uncertainty people will come together, gather info, share info and come up with explanations for why an event is happening. In this process of trying to make sense of whats going on, people generate a variety of explanations, some that may be true and some that may be false.

Were naturally vulnerable to spreading misinformation during these times, Starbird said. A lot of misinformation Im seeing, even the political misinformation isnt necessarily intentional, its people interpreting the information thats at hand in ways that fit their political objectives.

Each individual needs to be responsible and take measures not to spread the virus, Caulfield said, and be wary of where ones information comes from and who theyre passing it along to.

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You have to stop and you have to ask yourself do I really know what Im looking at? Caulfield said. The web has a way of teleporting information to us in this sort of decontextual way where we believe we know what were looking at, we believe we know what the source is, we believe were being critical, but when we stop and take a second to say Are they in a position to know something about this? We often find we dont have that information.

Caulfield recommended using a site with techniques to help people sift through information that may be inaccurate. He and a group of people have worked on the site to help teach simple tricks.

Porismita Borah, an associate professor in the College of Communication at WSU, said it was important to read multiple sources of information and cross-check them from one another.

With all the misinformation being spread right now, Borah said its important to know what is accurate and what is not. So when someone sees another person spreading false information, it should be pointed out so it doesnt continue to spread.

Its important to have accurate sources so the person pointing out the false information can present their friend with facts. The CIP gave a list of sources that are useful during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Associate professor at the Information School and the director of CIP Jevin West pleaded for people to put in the work to find accurate information.

We dont need any more damage, West said. The biological virus is going to do enough damage, lets do what we can to reduce the damage that can come from information viruses.

While its important to have accurate information, Starbird wanted to advise against people being too harsh on one another for giving false information.

Were all vulnerable to this, Starbird said. So just let yourself off the hook a little bit.

Reach reporter Stevie Riepe at news@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @StevieRiepe

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The danger of misinformation: How to find the facts about COVID-19 - Dailyuw