DESORDEM INFORMACIONAL COMO SISTEMA ADAPTATIVO COMPLEXO: Modos visuais na desinformação sobre universidades

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the visual modes present in disinformation about universities, along with the related comments, in order to understand how imagery contributes to the process of associating information with the idea of truth, as well as the implications of its use. Based on this objective, four specific goals were established: (I) to identify the visual modes used in the construction of disinformation about universities; (II) to examine how visual modes are organized within disinformation to construct meaning, based on the analytical framework proposed by the Grammar of Visual Design (GVD); (III) to understand how the visual modes present in disinformation interact with the written mode to produce meaning; and (IV) to investigate the implications of the use of visual modes in disinformation, considering sensitivity to initial conditions, based on the analysis of users’ comments on posts containing disinformation. For this purpose, the study draws on Wardle and Derakhshan (2023) to discuss information disorder and disinformation; on Morin (2011) and LarsenFreeman and Cameron (2008) to address Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS); and on Hodge and Kress (1988) to discuss Social Semiotics (SS). The empirical material consisted of three disinformation posts about universities that were fact-checked by the agencies AFP, E-farsas, and Lupa, as well as users’ comments related to these posts. The Grammar of Visual Design (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) was used as an analytical tool. The analysis of the comments took into account sensitivity to initial conditions, an essential feature of Complex Adaptive Systems. The results suggest that images play a significant role in meaning-making within multimodal disinformation compositions, contributing to the construction of an appearance of truth. Thus, these images mobilize emotions and may reinforce beliefs, increasing readers’ cognitive fluency and favoring their acceptance of the content.