Training

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First Draft’s mission has moved to the Information Futures Lab at Brown University. This website was last updated in January 2023 and is hosted in perpetuity by the Internet Archive.

Training Resources

Latest training articles

A guide to prebunking: a promising way to inoculate against misinformation

Prevention, not cure, may be a more effective way to combat misinformation.

The unproven lab leak theory, Wuhan lab and virus origin: Reporting best practices

Ongoing investigations into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic have created a minefield for journalists and audiences.

Misinformation markers

We are looking at the new frontiers of misinformation labeling, including tools such as overlays, to help those working on misinformation use labels effectively.

Overlays: How journalists can avoid amplifying misinformation in their stories

Applying an overlay to images of misinformation prevents further amplification of harmful content.

How to map the spread of misleading memes across the web

Learn how to track memes peddling climate change misinformation using CrowdTangle and the Google Cloud Vision Cloud API.

Cross-platform construction of a conspiracy theory: URL analysis

This recipe details how you can use URLs to see how communities on 4chan, 8kun and Reddit construct conspiracy theories and false narratives on the web.

Tracking the cross-platform spread of harmful and misleading narratives

The recipe gives journalists and researchers the tools to investigate misinformation being spread across 4chan, 8kun and Reddit.

Misinformation networks on YouTube: recommended videos

This recipe gives you the tools to explore conspiracy theories, misinformation or other networks of polluted content that are linked by YouTube’s recommendation system.

How to find misleading YouTube videos on fringe platforms

This recipe teaches you how to scrape YouTube URLs from 4chan, 8kun and Reddit for your online investigations without any code.

How we investigated the spread of Covid-19 vaccine misinformation on Facebook

The platform recently announced a ban on false Covid-19 and vaccine claims, so we used technical methods to see whether it’s working.

Tracking YouTube videos across the web

Learn how to track misinformation, conspiracy theories and banned content from YouTube and other platforms across the web.

Digital Investigation Recipes

This series aims to take misinformation off the menu by revealing the secret ingredients of advanced digital investigation. The recipes provide researchers and journalists with the tools, methods and know-how needed to carry out advanced investigations of their own.

Try our top training courses from years gone by:

→ Quick Start to Verifying Online Media (2017)

Available in: English, Portuguese, French, German, Bahasa, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Russian

→ Advanced Verification Training for Journalists (2017)