MediaWho

MediaWho is a hypothetical open data platform designed to catalog and verify media publications, providing provenance, authorship, publication date, and distribution channels. It aggregates entries from multiple outlets and user contributions, aiming to illuminate how content travels across platforms.

The architecture and data model of MediaWho rely on a graph-based structure, with nodes representing articles, authors, outlets, and events, and edges detailing relationships such as authorship, publication, and cross-posting. Metadata standards drawn from Dublin Core, IPTC, and schema.org are used to encode information, and the platform offers an API and downloadable datasets for researchers and developers.

Key features include provenance tracking, revision history, and cross-platform linking that help trace the lineage of a given item. Advanced search and filtering enable queries by topic, outlet, author, date, or geographic region, while a trust scoring system assesses source reliability and corroboration signals.

Governance and licensing aspects envision an open-source reference implementation with community-driven development. Data may be published under an open license, and contribution guidelines outline how users can submit corrections or new entries. Privacy safeguards are considered in the handling of sensitive information and user contributions.

Usage and reception of MediaWho, in this hypothetical context, point to applicability for journalists, researchers, and educators studying media ecosystems and misinformation patterns. Limitations include incomplete data coverage, potential biases in submissions, and the ongoing need for curation, verification, and governance to maintain data quality.

See also: misinformation, media literacy, provenance, fact-checking.