PROJECT NAME
ClueTree
ROLE
UI/UX design, Research, Motion
DESIGNED BY
Keni Wu
COMMITTEE
Adam Smith, Hye-Jin Nae
PROMPT
Help online news readers identify fake news from massive information
PROBLEM
It is difficult for online news readers to identify fake news from massive information on the Internet.
SOLUTION
I’m building a transparent news platform, collaborating with news publishers, to empower online news readers to make more informed and confident judgments on fact-checking by helping them tracking evidence and obtaining detailed information engagingly and understandably.
INTRODUCING CLUETREE
ClueTree includes two parts:
- A website for online news readers to read news, track evidence and make judgments on fact-checking
- An efficient desktop software for news publishers to collect evidence, upload evidence, connect news and evidence, and publish news articles
1. ClueTree website
2. ClueTree software
The website for Online news readers
Objective
See the connection between news and evidence clearly
Clearly showing the relationship between the news, the evidence and articles citing the news by information visualization.
Experience engaging and understandable evidence tracking
Helping users track evidence quickly by an engaging and understandable interactive infographic.
Make informed and confident judgments on fact-checking
Providing reliability, "cited by" information, other users' judgments, evidence with detailed information to help users make confident judgments.
Research
Analysis of current fact-check workflow
Time-wasting
Readers need to spend a lot of time searching online to find related news from massive information.
Difficult to filter useless information
Readers need to compare all the evidence and summarize useful evidence
Interview with online news readers
Interviews were conducted to discovering the pain points and needs of online news readers. The participators were between 17 and 40 years old.
According to the result, insufficient information and the inability to determine the authenticity of the evidence are important reasons why they cannot make confident judgments on fact-checking. Detailed information including the origin of information and dissemination history, pictures, recordings, and videos with detailed information (e.g. when, where, by whom it was provided, whether it has been edited) could help them make confident judgments.
Liam Zhang
23 years old, male, Graduate student
“I want to know the fact, but tracking evidence is so boring and time-wasting.”
Lu Lin
24 years old, female, Graphic designer
"There is too much information on the Internet. Which are the evidence?"
Louie Martin
28 years old, male, Research Analyst
"When, where, by who it was provided, I need detailed information.“
Pain point
Pain point
Pain point
Feel boring and time-wasting to track evidence
Feel confused about how to find evidence
Cannot make a confident judgment without enough information
Persona
News Reader
Kate I. Thomas
“I waste a lot of time doing fact-checking. But I still cannot make the judgment.”
Kate wastes a lot of time searching for evidence online which is really boring. Then, she tries her best to filter out useful information. But she is confused about which are the evidence. Besides, she doesn't have detailed information about the evidence. She cannot make the judgment on fact-checking confidently. She feels so frustrated.
Personal Needs
- Get evidence quickly and easily
- Have detailed information to make a confident judgment
- Make fact-checking engaging and easy-to-understand
How ClueTree works
How could we create an engaging and understandable experience
Homepage — overview
News content — overview
Tracking page — overview
Let's start fact-checking with ClueTree
News Reader
Experience engaging and understandable evidence tracking
Users are able to see the connection between news and evidence clearly by the animated lines.
News Reader
Make more informed and confident judgments
ClueTree provides detailed information about the evidence, reliability and other users' judgment to help users make confident judgments.
The Software for publishers
Objective
Journalist
Prepare evidence quickly
Journalists can quickly collect evidence from other news articles They can also upload their own evidence.
Journalist
Connect news and evidence efficiently
Journalists can connect news and evidence efficiently to provide evidence for the readers.
Editor
Preview and publish news conveniently
Editors are able to clearly preview the news with evidence. Then they can publish the news.
Research
Interview with publishers
Journalist
Wei Chen
27 years old, male
“I want to get information as soon as possible.”
Journalist
Rebecca Davis
32 years old, female
"Timing is everything."
Editor
Liam Zhang
42 years old, male
"News report should be accurate."
Persona
Journalist
Kenneth Sullivan
“I waste a lot of time collecting information for my news report.”
Kenneth needs to collect evidence and background information on the Internet. But massive information on the Internet wastes him so much time. He wants to finish his report as soon as possible. Besides, to publish news on ClueTree, he needs to connect news and evidence for readers. He doesn't want to waste too much time on it.
Personal needs
- Collect evidence as soon as possible
- Connect news and evidence for readers
How journalists work with ClueTree
How could we make it efficient for journalists
Step 1
Create document — overview
Step 2
Collect evidence
Collect evidence — overview
Search page
Search result
News article page
News article page
Let's see how journalists create a new document & collect evidence
Journalist
Quickly collect evidence
Journalists are able to collect sentences and evidence from other news articles quickly.
Step 3
Upload evidence
Upload evidence — overview
Let's see how journalists upload evidence
Journalist
Upload their own evidence conveniently
Journalists can quickly drag the files to the library and see the reliability.
Step 4
Connect evidence
Connect evidence — overview
Let's see how journalists connect evidence
Journalist
Connect news and evidence quickly
Journalists can connect evidence quickly by clicking the connecting button when writing the article
Persona
Editor
Juan Stevens
“I want to make news articles accurate.”
As an editor, Juan needs to review and modify the news completed by journalists. He needs to make sure that the news article is accurate. He is also responsible for publishing the news to audiences.
Personal needs
Review news articles finished by journalists and check its evidence easily
How editors work with ClueTree
Let's see how editors preview and publish the news article
Editor
Check the news article and evidence
Editors are able to clearly review the news with evidence and publish it quickly.
Visual design
Color palette
Icon
Typography
Reliability score system
An easy-to-understand reliability score system is used to help readers have a rough understanding of the authenticity of the news.
Three tree icons are designed to show different reliability. The leafy tree represents it is reliable, the tree without leaves (the yellow one) symbolizes controversial sources, and the Sapling (the red one) means it is unreliable.
Grid system
For news reader
For journalist & editor
1440px * 846px, Margin 64px, Gutter 32px, Column 14
1440px * 900px, Margin 64px, Gutter 32px, Column 14
Wireframe of the website for online news readers
Wireframe of the desktop software for journalists
Wireframe of the desktop software for editors
Conclusion
Through the design process, I successfully solved the problem that it’s hard for online news readers to identify fake news. By collaborating with news publishers to provide evidence for online news readers, I build a transparent news platform. In desktop software, journalists collect evidence, upload evidence, and connect evidence for readers. Editors preview the report finished by journalists and publish it to the public. Then, on the website, readers can read news articles, track evidence, and obtain detailed information about the evidence, which helps them make more informed and confident decisions on fact-checking.
— The End —