"UB-Led Team Receives $5 Million to Help Older Adults Spot Online Scams, Disinformation"

According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), more than 92,000 US adults aged 60 and up reported being victims of online scams last year. Their losses amounted to nearly $1.7 billion. In an effort to combat this problem, a research team led by the University at Buffalo was awarded a two-year, $5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator phase 2 cooperative agreement to develop digital tools that can help older adults better identify and protect themselves from online deceptions and other forms of disinformation. A multidisciplinary team of experts will develop a suite of digital literacy tools for older adults to use in recognizing, resisting, and spreading awareness of online deceptions and disinformation. The UB Center for Information Integrity (CII) is leading the Deception Awareness and Resilience Training (DART) project, which was launched in late 2021. DART builds on an NSF phase 1 grant that the team received in 2021, when they began meeting with older adults in Western New York and South Carolina to better understand how they are tricked online. The NSF's Convergence Accelerator, a program launched in 2019 to support "basic research and discovery to accelerate solutions toward societal impact," is funding both projects. In order to make learning more enjoyable, the DART platform employs digital games, including engaging and realistic social media scenarios. The goal is to make DART simple to use so that older adults can learn on their own, in communal settings like adult homes or libraries, or with the assistance of a caregiver. Many digital literacy tools are available, but many are not designed for older adults, limiting their effectiveness. DART intends to address this limitation by incorporating various online schemes that older adults encounter. As schemes evolve, the team will update the learning materials. While primarily aimed at older adults, the DART platform is being designed to be adaptable for use by teenagers and other groups vulnerable to online deception. This article continues to discuss the support and goals behind the DART platform. 

UB reports "UB-Led Team Receives $5 Million to Help Older Adults Spot Online Scams, Disinformation"