Source labeled journalism - an editorial service using blockchain technology for fact checking
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Södertörns högskola - Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 1 898 259 |
| Project duration | September 2019 - November 2020 |
| Status | Ongoing |
| Venture | Collaboration projects in cybersecurity and digital infrastructure |
| Call | Cybersecurity and reliability - Theme: Identity and block chains |
Purpose and goal
In a world where media content flows faster than ever before, it becomes increasingly important to check the facts published in newspapers, websites, and other media channels. The demand for fact-checked and correct content is central within journalism. With the project proposal "Source labeled journalism", we would like to initiate, develop and evaluate an editorial application using blockchain technology to verify data. The application would serve as a permanent record of fact-checked results of different types of digital material, such as documents, images and videos etc.
Expected results and effects
The application would serve as an aid when keeping a permanent record of the fact-checked results in a blockchain registry (distributed ledger). This would include all the fact-check related results (including the account that did the fact-checking, when it was done, the rating and the particular reasons why it failed or succeeded in the fact-checking process) along with information about the content itself (text, images, videos, etc), the author/source and the media platform that published the information.
Planned approach and implementation
The project would be carried out in 5 steps: 1. Prepare for, and build a small-scale prototype with a private blockchain with hyperledger fabric. 2. Develop the infrastructure for the blockchain, and integrate the partner company in the development in order to test the application and store data in the prototype. 3. Run tests of the application together with the partner company, and carry out interviews, evaluations and observations which evalutate the potential of the prototype on a larger scale. 4. Continue the development and launch the solution. 5. Work on final documentation.