Dictionary.com的年度詞彙

This year the editors at Dictionary.com nailed the word of the year with their choice of “misinformation.”

今年詞典在線的編輯們選擇了“misinformation”（錯誤信息）作爲其年度詞彙。

However, why 'misinformation' and not 'disinformation'?”

然而，爲什麼選擇“misinformation”而不是“disinformation”（虛假信息）呢？

Dictionary.com defines misinformation as “false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead.” Disinformation, on the other hand, is defined as “deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda.”

詞典在線把“misinformation”定義爲“不論其是否是故意誤導而傳播的錯誤信息，”，而“disinformation”則被定義爲“被故意誤導或有偏見的信息；被操縱的敘述或事實；鼓吹”。

Note that the definition of “misinformation” still leaves open the possibility that the spreader has an intent to mislead. In other words, “disinformation” implies a definite intent to mislead, while “misinformation” makes no implication about intent.

要注意的是，根據“misinformation”的定義，它並未明確信息傳播者故意誤導的可能性。也就是說，“disinformation”明確暗示有故意誤導之意，而“misinformation”並未暗示其意圖。

It’s possible for a message to start out as disinformation and turn into misinformation. When it comes to the Russian troll who posts on Facebook about Black Lives Matter members hating on Hillary, that post is disinformation. But for the person who shares the message because it agrees with or affirms his existing world view (aka, confirmation bias), that’s misinformation.

一則信息最初被故意誤導，而之後被誤傳是有可能的。當談到俄羅斯有人在臉書上惡意挑釁，表示“Black Lives Matter”（黑人的命也是命）組織的成員討厭希拉里，這就是故意誤導。但有人因爲認同其觀點，或爲了申明其個人世界觀（也就是確認偏誤）而轉發這則信息，這就是誤傳。

The choice of misinformation as word of the year is brilliant for lots of reasons. Disinformation isn’t dangerous unless it’s propagated as misinformation.

因爲很多原因，選擇“misinformation”作爲年度詞彙是很成功的。除非“disinformation”被傳播爲“misinformation”，否則“disinformation”並不危險。

The term also captures the tragic flaw in today’s dominant form of communication–social media. Facebook was just a nice way to keep in touch with old friends and share baby pics with grandma.

“misinformation”這個詞還抓住了現今主要交流方式“社交媒體”的悲劇性缺點。臉書曾只是與老朋友保持聯繫、與奶奶分享寶貝照片的一種很好的方式。

Now our social networks–especially Facebook–are vast and lightning-fast influence platforms that often deal in hate and half-truths. And there’s no built-in mechanism in social networks for shutting down misinformation, no immediate sanction for spreading it.

而如今，我們的社交網絡，特別是臉書，已成爲影響力巨大且傳播迅如閃電的平臺，它往往會擴散仇恨和半真半假的陳述。而且，社交媒體並沒有建立禁止傳播錯誤信息的機制，也沒有應對傳播錯誤信息的即刻處罰措施。

（翻譯：Dlacus）