The Evolution of Expertise

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This project will investigate the causes and manifestations of declining trust in expertise in the digital age, and whether new models of trust could help to alleviate the situation or take its place. Using digital research from our pioneering Centre of the Analysis of Social Media (CASM), Demos will capture the views of thousands of British citizens, to identify what drives trust and mistrust online, and how that changes by age, education and other demographic information. We will then test the findings on social media, to see how well they reflect the spread of information through media networks online.

The project will provide an empirical understanding of how and why the landscape of trust is changing, and produce new ideas for how both new and conventional institutions should and could react to these changes.