Ng Lynnette Hui Xian, Loke Jia Yuan
Defence Science and Technology Agency Singapore.
Singapore Management University Singapore.
IEEE Internet Comput. 2020 Dec 11;25(2):84-91. doi: 10.1109/MIC.2020.3040516. eCollection 2021 Mar.
We analyze a Singapore-based COVID-19 Telegram group with more than 10000 participants. First, we study the group's opinion over time, focusing on five dimensions: participation, sentiment, negative emotions, topics, and message types. We find that participation peaked when the Ministry of Health raised the disease alert level, but this engagement was not sustained. Second, we investigate the prevalence of, and reactions to, authority-identified misinformation in the group. We find that authority-identified misinformation is rare, and that participants affirm, deny, and question misinformation. Third, we explore searching for user skepticism as one strategy for identifying misinformation, finding misinformation not previously identified by authorities.
我们分析了一个总部位于新加坡、有超过10000名参与者的新冠疫情相关Telegram群组。首先，我们研究该群组随时间变化的观点，重点关注五个维度：参与度、情绪、负面情绪、话题和消息类型。我们发现，当卫生部提高疾病警戒级别时，参与度达到峰值，但这种参与度并未持续。其次，我们调查该群组中官方认定的错误信息的流行情况及其反应。我们发现官方认定的错误信息很少见，且参与者对错误信息有肯定、否定和质疑的态度。第三，我们探索将寻找用户怀疑态度作为识别错误信息的一种策略，发现了一些当局此前未识别出的错误信息。
