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1. Rumors Have Rules

   https://doi.org/10.58875/CXGL5395  

   Spiro, Emma; Starbird, Kate (April 2023, Issues in Science and Technology)

   Decades-old research about how and why people share rumors is even more relevant in a world with social media. 

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2. On the persistent rumors of the programmer’s imminent demise

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-023-01136-y  

   Mohammadi, Hessam; Ghardallou, Wided; Brick, Elijah; Mili, Ali (December 2023, Software and Systems Modeling)

   Since the dawn of programming, several developments in programming language design and programming methodology have been hailed as the end of the profession of programmer; they have all proven to be exaggerated rumors, to echo the words of Mark Twain. In this paper we ponder the question of whether the emergence of large language models finally realizes these prophecies. 

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3. Keeping Rumors in Proportion: Managing Uncertainty in Rumor Systems

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300876  

   Krafft, Peter M.; Spiro, Emma S. (January 2019, CHI '19 Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems)
4. Incentive Mechanisms for Crowdblocking Rumors in Mobile Social Networks

   https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2019.2930667  

   Lin, Yaguang; Cai, Zhipeng; Wang, Xiaoming; Hao, Fei (September 2019, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology)
5. “I Heard That COVID-19 Was...”: Rumors, Pandemic, and Psychological Distance

   https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211066026  

   Kwon, K. Hazel; Pellizzaro, Kirstin; Shao, Chun; Chadha, Monica (January 2022, American Behavioral Scientist)

   The spread of misinformation through a variety of communication channels has amplified society’s challenge to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. While existing studies have examined how misinformation spreads, few studies have examined the role of psychological distance in people’s mental processing of a rumor and their propensity to accept self-transformed narratives of the message. Based on an open-ended survey data collected in the U.S. ( N = 621) during an early phase of the pandemic, the current study examines how psychological distance relates to the transformation and acceptance of conspiratorial narratives in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two instances of misinformation are examined, both of which were widely heard at the time of data collection: the role of (a) Bill Gates and (b) government during the outbreak of the pandemic. This study uses topic modeling techniques to capture distinctive topical attributes that emerged from rumor narratives. In addition, statistical analyses estimate the psychological distance effects on the salience of topical attributes of a rumor story and an individual’s propensity to believe them. Findings reveal that psychological distance to the threats of COVID-19 influences how misinformation evolves through word-of-mouth, particularly in terms of who is responsible for the pandemic and why the world finds itself in the current situation. Psychological distance also explains why people accept the message to be true. Implications for misinformation and rumor psychology research, as well as avenues for future research, are discussed. 

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