Misinformation: It seems to be everywhere, is getting increasingly sophisticated, and can have dangerous consequences. So how do librarians adapt their instruction to keep patrons from falling for false claims?
In 2022, researchers at University of Washington’s (UW) Information School and Center for an Informed Public in Seattle released the first in a set of escape rooms and narrative-based games that teach media and information literacy to teens and adults. Since then, more than 100 academic, public, and school libraries have used UW’s games to offer fun, hands-on experiences to help educate their communities.
The government wants to introduce Euphorigen—a dietary supplement that the wealthiest echelon of society takes to boost brain activity and productivity—into the public water supply. But is the drug safe? And can the claims of Euphorigen’s manufacturer be trusted?
That’s the mystery at the center of The Euphorigen Investigation, the first of several escape rooms and play-based activities our research team at University of Washington (UW)’s Information School and Center for an Informed Public in Seattle has developed to address the growing threat of misinformation. Euphorigen is an hourlong escape room that brings teams of four to six players together to solve puzzles involving social media bots, manipulated evidence, and deepfakes. The game’s interactive and immersive nature allows players to reflect on the challenges of identifying misinformation, their own information literacy blind spots, and the consequences of inadvertently spreading untruths.
Our escape rooms, which can be played online or in person, have the potential to change people’s behaviors in ways that traditional media and information literacy instruction cannot. Whereas traditional methods focus on expanding skills and knowledge, games allow people to learn by trial and error, see multiple perspectives, and make better connections to their own lives.
The project was inspired by the experiences of US librarians. In a 2020 study on the effectiveness of education programs aimed at stemming misinformation, public librarians mentioned the need to address the psychological aspects of misinformation (such as biases and emotions), respect and appeal to people with different worldviews, and—perhaps most importantly—foster conversation, peer learning, and collective sensemaking.
Our approach considers the reasons people believe and spread misinformation. It’s not that people lack the skills to tell truth from fiction; research shows that other factors are at work. For instance, people may think they’re immune to misinformation, or they may accept what matches their preexisting beliefs and reject what contradicts them, known as confirmation bias. Social circles are also influential, as people often align their beliefs to the groups with which they identify. Euphorigen addresses these drivers. Librarians who have offered the game to patrons say its social nature creates a safe space for personal stories and building trust.
Games can create a safe space for personal stories and building trust.
Des Moines (Iowa) University (DMU) Medicine and Health Sciences Library used the Euphorigen game as part of its MisinfoDay last October. Thirty-five students played it in person and online. For the in-person component, small groups were assigned to separate rooms with a timer projected on a screen. Jill Edgerton, assistant director and associate professor of the Center for Educational Enhancement–Library Services at DMU, says that putting students from different degree programs together allowed them to hear new ideas. And while gameplay started out as competitive, the cooperative aspects of the game took over.
Libraries looking to host an escape room can download materials for free at lokisloop.org. Each game comes with instructions for the facilitator, discussion questions, and real-world examples that mirror the games’ fictional ones.
After a group finishes an escape room, the facilitator is encouraged to debrief with players and offer strategies for navigating today’s fractured information ecosystem. Some libraries add learning activities, such as having teens create their own misleading memes.
These games can also be customized. After developing Euphorigen for a general audience, our team co-designed new versions with oncologists and cancer patients, scholars of color, fans of the K-pop group BTS, and groups in several countries that wanted to tailor play for better cultural relevance. For example, in the Czech Republic, co-designers changed plot points so that the Euphorigen supplement was being added to beer rather than the water supply. We have also released the Misinformation Play Pack, a suite of activities for kids ages 8–15.
To combat misinformation, we must do more than just teach how to discern truth from fiction. We must address the sophisticated and varied ways misinformation enters our lives and the reasons people believe and spread it. We hope our games offer libraries a resource that can make a difference in their communities.
