"Do the research" has been a rallying cry of the QAnon movement. For most people, that means looking up a topic on Google or watching a chain of increasingly crazy videos selected by YouTube's algorithm.
We've seen what that leads to.
So what difference would real research have made, had more people taken advantage of the information resources at their libraries? Or received advice from people who research topics for a living?
I've seen a couple of good articles recently that go into some detail on this topic.
First, with a catchy title, Lizard People in the Library. This is an especially salient point.
As Francesca Tripodi has demonstrated, many conservatives read the news using techniques learned through Bible study, shunning secular interpretations of events as biased and inconsistent with their exegesis of primary texts such as presidential speeches and the Constitution. The faithful can even acquire anthologies of President Trump’s infamous Tweets to aid in their study of coded messages.
While people using these literacy practices are not unaware of mainstream media narratives, they distrust them in favor of their own research, tied to personal experience and a high level of skepticism toward secular institutions of knowledge. This opens up opportunities for conservative and extremist political actors and media to exploit the strong ties between the Republican party and white evangelical Christians.
After all, QAnon itself is something of a syncretic religion. While at its core it’s a 21st century reboot of a medieval anti-Semitic trope (blood libel) it has shed some of its Christian vestments to gain significant traction among non-evangelical audiences.
Next from The Atlantic, The Librarian War Against QAnon, which suggests that just traditional research methodology is not enough. They propose several solutions.
First, taking a leaf from an organization formed to advise journalists on how to cover a divisive election, educators should consider ways to frame discussions of knowledge through the lens of democracy rather than through partisan political positions. This means being willing to take a strong stand on behalf of ethical research practices, the voices of qualified experts, and the value of information systems that judiciously vet and validate information, along with a willingness to clearly reject the notion that truth is simply a matter of political allegiance or personal choice.
Second, educators must be explicit about the ethical frameworks and daily practices of truth-seeking institutions such as science, scholarship, and journalism. Social-media platforms enact values that are firmly grounded in beliefs about individualism, capitalism, and consumerism. Educators must make clear how those values differ from the pursuit of truth through other means. Be humble about failures, but avoid allowing cynics to blur distinctions between the values and training of scientists, scholars, and journalists and the values of social-media corporations, television personalities, and internet influencers.
Third, as Mister Rogers famously said, “look for the helpers.” People in educators’ circles have a deep knowledge of intersecting information systems, or at least of parts of them. Scholars have been studying these systems and documenting their findings for years. Journalists too. There’s no need to research them yourself. Find the experts and develop communities to share ideas about teaching practices.
Fourth, the kids are all right. While they may not have much academic knowledge, and their technical understanding may be limited, among students in any given class there is likely to be a lot of knowledge about how information circulates through social media. Some students may have significant experience in measuring the reach of their own media messages. Connecting what they’re learning in class to their lived experience online may encourage students to share what they know and are learning about information systems with their friends and family beyond academia. Indeed, in focus groups conducted by Project Information Literacy in 2019, college students expressed concern about whether the younger people and elders in their life understood how social-media platforms work and how to recognize disinformation.
They make some good points, although I think the last point is somewhat optimistic (see Young Republicans).
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