The following article is reproduced courtesy of First Draft News.

Categories, types, elements and phases

The high-resolution graphics below were created to help explain the different categories, types, elements, and phases of information disorder. They are available for use in publications and presentations under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Click the link under each image to download it.

Categories of information disorder

Figure 1: The seven categories of information disorder. Credit: Claire Wardle, 2017. Click here to download high-resolution version.

1. Satire or parody: No intention to cause harm but has potential to fool.
2. Misleading content: Misleading use of information to frame an issue or individual.
3. Imposter content: when genuine sources are impersonated.
4. Fabricated content: New content is 100% false, designed to deceive and do harm.
5. False connection: When headlines, visuals, or captions don’t support the content.
6. False context: When genuine content is shared with false contextual information.
7. Manipulated content: When genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive.

Types of information disorder

Figure 2: Three types of information disorder. Credit: Claire Wardle & Hossein Derakshan, 2017. Click here to download high-resolution version.

1. Misinformation: Unintentional mistakes such as inaccurate photo captions, dates, statistics, translations, or when satire is taken seriously.
2. Disinformation: Fabricated or deliberately manipulated audio.visual content. Intentionally created conspiracy theories or rumours.
3. Malinformation: Deliberate publication of private information for personal or corporate rather than public interest. Deliberate change of context, date or time of genuine content.

Elements of information disorder

Figure 3: Three elements of information disorder. Credit: Claire Wardle & Hossein Derakshan, 2017. Click here to download high-resolution version.

1. Agent
2. Message
3. Interpeter

Phases of information disorder

Figure 4: Three phases of information disorder. Credit: Claire Wardle & Hossein Derakshan, 2017. Click here to download high-resolution version.

1. Creation: When the message is created.
2. (Re) Production: When the message is turned into a media product.
3. Distribution: When the product is distributed or made public.

Note: This material first appeared on First Draft and has been reproduced here with the author’s consent.