03 February 2020
A group of four communications studies students at Nanyang Technological University have created a campaign for their final year project called “Sure Anot”, targeted at Singaporeans aged between 50 and 64.
The team chose to focus education efforts on older adults as they found in a pre-campaign survey that most of them have received false information but do not know how to verify it.
As part of the campaign, the team created a three-step approach called “Be Safe, Be Sure” that older adults are recommended to follow when they view messages on WhatsApp.
The first two steps of the recommended process are: Do not forward the message immediately without questioning the material, as many people do. The recipient should then ask: “Sure anot?”, that is, can they be sure the information in the newly-received message is correct. The third and final step recommended by the students involves verifying the message.
The students said users are advised to follow the S.U.R.E framework developed by the National Library Board in 2013. The framework reminds readers to look at the source of the news, understand what they are reading, research on it and evaluate it for themselves.