Online Information Evaluation and Pluralistic Media Literacy in the Age of Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories

The pandemic of COVID-19 has created a pandemic of disinformation known as an infodemic. In Japan, disinformation has been circulating on social media and SNS, and it often affects our health. However, there are various types of online disinformation, and depending on the nature of the disinformation, there may be different ways to respond to it. It is safe to say that the pandemic and the U.S. presidential election have revealed the threat of conspiracy theories. The year 2020 could be said to be the year of conspiracy theories, and I have seen people around me who have been pushed around by them. The anxiety brought about by the pandemic seems to have accelerated conspiracy theories. Today, the question is not just about disinformation, but about dealing with the threat of conspiracy theories.This paper outlines the online information evaluation education in Japan and considers the checklist-based online information evaluation as a stage of "awareness of information evaluation". Specifically, the "Imagination Switch" practice by Kenichi Shimomura, the practice using NHK\u27s "Media Times" TV program, and the practice in school libraries will be discussed. However, there is a challenge in these online information evaluation practices, because it is difficult to acquire the skills for actual evaluation through awareness alone. The next step after "awareness of information evaluation" is "exploration of information evaluation". One way to do this is through the "Civic Online Reasoning" curriculum developed by the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) and a method of exploring information called "lateral reading." I conducted the "lateral reading" practice in addition to the checklist method at Hosei Daini Junior High School in January 2020.This was the first step towards the practice of online information assessment using computers in Japan. However, is this kind of "exploration of information evaluation" really effective as a countermeasure to the problem of disinformation, including conspiracy theories? It seems to me that there is more to the problem than just online information evaluation. What are the basic principles of education to counter disinformation and conspiracy theories in the pandemic? This paper ultimately seeks to answer that question, and considers media and information literacy as pluralistic literacy based on the value of human trust and dignity as one way of thinking about it