Infodemiology and Infoveillance: What Are They? and How Might They Change the World?

This session will provide key insights and practical examples around the new and emerging field of infodemiology, with particular attention to the technologies and practices supporting infoveillance. Attendees will hear thought leaders present the latest research, developments, and outcomes, including summaries from the very first WHO Infodemiology conference held in 2020. The goal of the session is to prompt the scholarly communications community to think about how to contribute more proactively to a transparent and accurate health information ecosystem, encouraging trust and reliable guidance and using a systems approach to science communication for social impact. Infodemiological practices have also been applied to a range of areas where misinformation and disinformation abound. As background from the WHO, an infodemic is an overabundance of information—some accurate and some not—occurring during an epidemic. It makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it. Even when people have access to high-quality information, there are still barriers they must overcome to take the recommended action. An infodemic cannot be eliminated, but it can be managed. To respond effectively to infodemics, WHO calls for adaptation, development, validation, and evaluation of new evidence-based measures and practices to prevent, detect and respond to mis- and disinformation. In the context of this meeting,"infodemiology" is defined as the science of managing infodemics. Learning Level: Mixed-Learning