How to separate fact and fiction online | Markham Nolan

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: 俊偉 盧 審譯者: Cheno Chen

I've been a journalist now since I was about 17,

我從17歲開始當記者到現在

and it's an interesting industry to be in at the moment,

現在從事這行很有趣

because as you all know, there's a huge amount of upheaval

因為正如各位所知道的

going on in media, and most of you probably know this

這個世代的媒體型態已有了很大的變動

from the business angle, which is that the business model

在座的各位大概都知道

is pretty screwed, and as my grandfather would say,

以商業的角度來看，這個産業已經玩完了

the profits have all been gobbled up by Google.

正如我爺爺所說的，利潤都被谷歌(Google)吃吞噬掉了

So it's a really interesting time to be a journalist,

所以現在從事記者這行變得很有趣

but the upheaval that I'm interested in is not on the output side.

不過在這遽變中，我比較感興趣的不是輸出端

It's on the input side. It's concern with

而是輸入端

how we get information and how we gather the news.

也就是我們取得資訊和新聞的方法

And that's changed, because we've had a huge shift

因為新聞媒體和觀眾之間的力量消長

in the balance of power from

已經有了大幅的改變

the news organizations to the audience.

所以一切都變得不一樣了

And the audience for such a long time was in a position

過去長久以來

where they didn't have any way of affecting news

觀眾無法影響新聞或做任何改變

or making any change. They couldn't really connect.

因為觀眾無法與媒體取得聯繫

And that's changed irrevocably.

不過現在已經産生了不可逆的轉變

My first connection with the news media was

我第一次聯繫新聞媒體是在1984年

in 1984, the BBC had a one-day strike.

當時BBC的員工罷工一天

I wasn't happy. I was angry. I couldn't see my cartoons.

當時我很不滿、很生氣，因為我看不到卡通

So I wrote a letter.

所以我寫了一封信

And it's a very effective way of ending your hate mail:

信件的結尾我是這樣寫的：「4歲的忠實觀眾Maekham」

"Love Markham, Aged 4." Still works.

我覺得這招真很有用，現在依然管用

I'm not sure if I had any impact on the one-day strike,

我不知道我對那天的抗議事件是否帶來任何的影響

but what I do know is that it took them three weeks to get back to me.

不過我知道的是，三個月後他們才回我的信

And that was the round journey. It took that long for anyone

這就是信件往返的時間

to have any impact and get some feedback.

一般人要花這麼久的時間才能産生影響力和收到回覆

And that's changed now because, as journalists,

不過這一切已經改變了

we interact in real time. We're not in a position

因為身為記者，我們的互動是即時的

where the audience is reacting to news.

我們的角色不再是等待觀眾的反應

We're reacting to the audience, and we're actually relying on them.

我們要反應觀眾，因為我們依賴觀眾

They're helping us find the news. They're helping us

觀眾幫我們挖掘新聞

figure out what is the best angle to take and what is the stuff that they want to hear.

幫我們找到報導的最佳角度，以及他們想要聽到的東西

So it's a real-time thing. It's much quicker. It's happening

這就是即時性，迅速且同步

on a constant basis, and the journalist is always playing catch up.

身為記者就是要捕捉這些訊息

To give an example of how we rely on the audience,

舉個例子讓大家知道我們有多依賴觀眾

on the 5th of September in Costa Rica, an earthquake hit.

9月5日哥斯大黎加發生地震

It was a 7.6 magnitude. It was fairly big.

地震規模7.6，相當大

And 60 seconds is the amount of time it took

震波經過60秒後

for it to travel 250 kilometers to Managua.

抵達250公里外的馬納瓜

So the ground shook in Managua 60 seconds after it hit the epicenter.

從震央發生地震到馬納瓜開始晃動隔了60秒

Thirty seconds later, the first message went onto Twitter,

而推特(Twitter)在地震後30秒就出現了地震的消息

and this was someone saying "temblor," which means earthquake.

有人發文"temblor"，意思就是地震

So 60 seconds was how long it took

震波以物理的方式傳遞

for the physical earthquake to travel.

需要花上60秒的時間

Thirty seconds later news of that earthquake had traveled

而地震的消息只花了30秒的時間

all around the world, instantly. Everyone in the world,

便同步傳遍世界各地

hypothetically, had the potential to know that an earthquake

理論上每個人都有可能得知

was happening in Managua.

馬納瓜發生地震的消息

And that happened because this one person had

這情況之所以會發生是因為這個人習慣作記錄

a documentary instinct, which was to post a status update,

也就是更新個人的最新狀態

which is what we all do now, so if something happens,

就像現在大家都會更新個人狀態一樣

we put our status update, or we post a photo,

不論發生什麼事，我們只要更新狀態、上傳照片和影片

we post a video, and it all goes up into the cloud in a constant stream.

這些資訊便不斷的透過雲端更新

And what that means is just constant,

這代表有很多的資料

huge volumes of data going up.

無時無刻在更新

It's actually staggering. When you look at the numbers,

我們看看這些數據的確很嚇人

every minute there are 72 more hours

每分鍾有72小時的影片

of video on YouTube.

上傳到YouTube

So that's, every second, more than an hour of video gets uploaded.

也就是說，每秒鐘有超過一個小時的影片上傳

And in photos, Instagram, 58 photos are uploaded to Instagram a second.

圖片方面，每秒有58張照片上傳到Instagram

More than three and a half thousand photos go up onto Facebook.

有超過3500張照片上傳到臉書(Facebook)

So by the time I'm finished talking here, there'll be 864

從我開始演說到結束這段期間

more hours of video on Youtube than there were when I started,

YouTube會多出864小時的影片

and two and a half million more photos on Facebook and Instagram than when I started.

臉書和Instagram上會多出250萬張照片

So it's an interesting position to be in as a journalist,

所以投入記者這一行很有趣

because we should have access to everything.

因為我們應該有管道可以知道所有的事

Any event that happens anywhere in the world, I should be able to know about it

我應該可以即時得知世界各地發生的大事

pretty much instantaneously, as it happens, for free.

這一切不用花到半毛錢

And that goes for every single person in this room.

在座的各位也辦得到

The only problem is, when you have that much information,

問題是，當訊息太多時

you have to find the good stuff, and that can be

要在這麼龐大的資訊量裡

incredibly difficult when you're dealing with those volumes.

要找出有用的訊息實在不容易

And nowhere was this brought home more than during

最明顯的例子就是颶風桑達(Sandy)

Hurricane Sandy. So what you had in Hurricane Sandy was

桑達是個超級颶風

a superstorm, the likes of which we hadn't seen for a long time,

這個百年難得一見的超級颶風

hitting the iPhone capital of the universe -- (Laughter) --

讓蘋果的股價嚴重受創（笑聲）

and you got volumes of media like we'd never seen before.

我們看到很多從未看過的媒體資訊

And that meant that journalists had to deal with fakes,

這表示記者得去求證

so we had to deal with old photos that were being reposted.

我們必須分辨那些照片是舊照重新上傳

We had to deal with composite images

那些是借用先前的颶風照片

that were merging photos from previous storms.

合成出來的圖片

We had to deal with images from films like "The Day After Tomorrow." (Laughter)

像是這張借用「明天過後」的照片（笑）

And we had to deal with images that were so realistic

我們也得處理一些看起來非常真實

it was nearly difficult to tell if they were real at all.

很難確定是否為真的照片

(Laughter)

（笑）

But joking aside, there were images like this one from Instagram

玩笑歸玩笑，這張出現在Instagram的照片

which was subjected to a grilling by journalists.

讓很多記者爭論不休

They weren't really sure. It was filtered in Instagram.

沒人能確定，所以Instagram過濾了這張

The lighting was questioned. Everything was questioned about it.

有人質疑光影，幾乎每樣東西都有人質疑

And it turned out to be true. It was from Avenue C

結果後來發現這張照片是真的

in downtown Manhattan, which was flooded.

這張是曼哈頓C街淹水的景象

And the reason that they could tell that it was real

這張照片之所以認定為真

was because they could get to the source, and in this case,

是因為他們找到照片的來源

these guys were New York food bloggers.

這張照片來自紐約的美食部落客

They were well respected. They were known.

這群部落客很有名，頗受尊重

So this one wasn't a debunk, it was actually something that they could prove.

這張照片不是假的，而是經過證實的

And that was the job of the journalist. It was filtering all this stuff.

記者的工作就是過濾訊息

And you were, instead of going and finding the information

記者的工作不是找資料

and bringing it back to the reader, you were holding back

不是提供資料給讀者而已

the stuff that was potentially damaging.

還要把可能造成負面影響的東西剔除

And finding the source becomes more and more important --

所以追朔可信的來源變得越來越重要

finding the good source -- and Twitter is where most journalists now go.

很多記者從推特(Twitter)尋找來源

It's like the de facto real-time newswire,

如果運用得當，推特等同可靠的新聞網

if you know how to use it, because there is so much on Twitter.

因為上面有非常多的訊息

And a good example of how useful it can be

2011年的埃及革命是個很好的例子

but also how difficult was the Egyptian revolution in 2011.

讓我們知道在推特上獲得訊息的優點與困難

As a non-Arabic speaker, as someone who was looking

身為來自都伯林(Dublin)的局外人

from the outside, from Dublin,

我不會講阿拉伯語

Twitter lists, and lists of good sources,

推特清單(Twitter List)有很多不錯的訊息來源

people we could establish were credible, were really important.

有很多可靠且重要的人可以加入清單

And how do you build a list like that from scratch?

那我們要如何從無到有建立一個清單？

Well, it can be quite difficult, but you have to know what to look for.

這不容易，因為你得找對方法

This visualization was done by an Italian academic.

有位名為André Pannison的義大利學者

He's called André Pannison, and he basically

將訊息的聯結視覺化

took the Twitter conversation in Tahrir Square

他將穆巴拉克(Hosni Mubarak)下台那天

on the day that Hosni Mubarak would eventually resign,

來自解放廣場(Tahrir Square)的對話集結起來

and the dots you can see are retweets, so when someone

圖上的點代表推文

retweets a message, a connection is made between two dots,

當有人推一則訊息時，兩個點之間會産生聯結

and the more times that message is retweeted by other people,

如果越多人推這則訊息

the more you get to see these nodes, these connections being made.

則産生的點越多，於是聯結就形成了

And it's an amazing way of visualizing the conversation,

這種將對話視覺化的方法真的很神奇

but what you get is hints at who is more interesting

可以從中知道那些人的推文比較有趣

and who is worth investigating.

那些人值得調查

And as the conversation grew and grew, it became

隨荖互動越來越密集

more and more lively, and eventually you were left

狀態變得越來越熱絡

with this huge, big, rhythmic pointer of this conversation.

最後你就可以從中找到很多有規律的線索

You could find the nodes, though, and then you went,

你可以從點開始

and you go, "Right, I've got to investigate these people.

然後想：「嗯，我想調查一下這些人，

These are the ones that are obviously making sense.

這些消息看來很可靠，

Let's see who they are."

我們來看看這些人是誰。」

Now in the deluge of information, this is where

在一片資訊洪流中

the real-time web gets really interesting for a journalist like myself,

這即時訊息網站對記者來說很有趣

because we have more tools than ever

因為我們更勝以往

to do that kind of investigation.

擁有更多調查的工具

And when you start digging into the sources, you can go

當你著手調查訊息來源的時候

further and further than you ever could before.

你可以做到更深入的程度

Sometimes you come across a piece of content that

有時你會遇到很吸引人的題材

is so compelling, you want to use it, you're dying to use it,

你非常非常想用

but you're not 100 percent sure if you can because

可是你無法百分之百確定是否能用

you don't know if the source is credible.

因為你不曉得來是否可信

You don't know if it's a scrape. You don't know if it's a re-upload.

你不知道訊息是否完整，是否為重新上傳的舊聞

And you have to do that investigative work.

所以你要做調查工作

And this video, which I'm going to let run through,

接下來我要播的影片

was one we discovered a couple of weeks ago.

是我們幾個禮拜前發現的

Video: Getting real windy in just a second.

影片：才一秒鐘風就變得很大

(Rain and wind sounds)

（實際風雨聲）

(Explosion) Oh, shit!

（爆炸聲）哇哩咧！

Markham Nolan: Okay, so now if you're a news producer, this is something

Markham Nolan：如果你是新聞製作人

you'd love to run with, because obviously, this is gold.

你一定會想播這段，因為真的很精彩

You know? This is a fantastic reaction from someone,

你知道嗎，這個人的反應實看來很真實

very genuine video that they've shot in their back garden.

看起來真的是在自家後院拍的

But how do you find if this person, if it's true, if it's faked,

不過你如何知道這個人是真是假？

or if it's something that's old and that's been reposted?

或者是不是舊影片重新上傳？

So we set about going to work on this video, and

所以我們就去研究這段影片

the only thing that we had to go on was the username on the YouTube account.

我們唯一的線索是YouTube上的使用者名稱

There was only one video posted to that account,

這個帳號只有上傳一支影片

and the username was Rita Krill.

使用者名為Rita Krill

And we didn't know if Rita existed or if it was a fake name.

我們不知道Rita是不是確有其人，或者只是假名

But we started looking, and we used free Internet tools to do so.

不過我們仍藉由免費的網路工具尋找

The first one was called Spokeo, which allowed us to look for Rita Krills.

我們首先使用Spokeo來尋找Rita Krills這個人

So we looked all over the U.S. We found them in New York,

我們搜尋整個美國，結果發現紐約、

we found them in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Florida.

賓州、內華達州、佛州都有人叫作Rita Krills

So we went and we looked for a second free Internet tool

所以我們接下去使用第二套免費工具

called Wolfram Alpha, and we checked the weather reports

叫作Wolfram Alpha來查詢氣象報導

for the day in which this video had been uploaded,

看看是否和影片拍攝上傳時的天氣吻合

and when we went through all those various cities,

我們查詢這幾個州的天氣

we found that in Florida, there were thunderstorms and rain on the day.

結果發現佛州當天有發生大雷雨

So we went to the white pages, and we found,

接下來我們打開電話簿

we looked through the Rita Krills in the phonebook,

搜尋所有名為Rita Krills的資料

and we looked through a couple of different addresses,

結果我們找到了幾個地址

and that took us to Google Maps, where we found a house.

接下去我們用谷歌地圖(Google Maps)找到了一間房子

And we found a house with a swimming pool that looked

這間房子有一個游泳池

remarkably like Rita's. So we went back to the video,

看起來和影片中的很像，所以我們回頭看影片

and we had to look for clues that we could cross-reference.

找尋可能的線索交叉比對

So if you look in the video, there's the big umbrella,

影片中這裡有個雨傘

there's a white lilo in the pool,

泳池中間有張白色的氣墊床

there are some unusually rounded edges in the swimming pool,

泳池的邊角是圓角

and there's two trees in the background.

而且後院有兩棵樹

And we went back to Google Maps, and we looked a little bit closer,

回到谷歌地圖拉近一點

and sure enough, there's the white lilo,

的確有張白色的氣墊床

there are the two trees,

有兩棵樹和一支傘

there's the umbrella. It's actually folded in this photo.

這支傘在圖片裡是收合狀態

Little bit of trickery. And there are the rounded edges on the swimming pool.

巧合的是泳池的邊角也是圓角

So we were able to call Rita, clear the video,

所以我們就打電話給Rita

make sure that it had been shot, and then our clients

確定影片是由她所拍攝的

were delighted because they were able to run it without being worried.

結果她很開心，因為不用擔心別人的懷疑

Sometimes the search for truth, though,

尋找真象的過程中

is a little bit less flippant, and it has much greater consequences.

態度嚴謹一點會帶來理想的結果

Syria has been really interesting for us, because obviously

我們一直對敘利亞很有興趣

a lot of the time you're trying to debunk stuff that can be

因為當你想要揭露真象

potentially war crime evidence, so this is where YouTube

挖掘戰爭罪行的可能證據時

actually becomes the most important repository

YouTube可以讓我們知道世界上發生的事

of information about what's going on in the world.

儼然成了重要的資料寶庫

So this video, I'm not going to show you the whole thing,

這段影片因為內容太血惺

because it's quite gruesome, but you'll hear some of the sounds.

所以不全部播出來，不過仍可以聽到聲音

This is from Hama.

影片來自哈馬(Hama)

Video: (Shouting)

影片：(叫聲)

And what this video shows, when you watch the whole thing through,

在完整的影片裡可以看到

is bloody bodies being taken out of a pickup truck

這些人將一具血跡斑斑的屍體從貨車上搬下來

and thrown off a bridge.

然後丟到橋下

The allegations were that these guys were Muslim Brotherhood

據說這些人屬於穆斯林兄弟會(Muslim Brotherhood)

and they were throwing Syrian Army officers' bodies

他們正把敘利亞官員的屍體丟下橋

off the bridge, and they were cursing and using blasphemous language,

他們不斷的用褻瀆的言語辱罵

and there were lots of counterclaims about who they were,

不過也有人針對他們的身份提出反駁

and whether or not they were what the video said it was.

認為他們並不是影片中說的那樣

So we talked to some sources in Hama who we had been

所以我們問了幾位住在哈馬的人

back and forth with on Twitter, and we asked them about this,

我們之前常常在推特上往來

and the bridge was interesting to us because it was something we could identify.

因為那座橋可能是線索，所以我們很有興趣

Three different sources said three different things about the bridge.

三個人有三種不同的說法

They said, one, the bridge doesn't exist.

其中一個說根本沒這座橋

Another one said the bridge does exist, but it's not in Hama. It's somewhere else.

另一個說有這座橋，不過不在哈馬，而是在別處

And the third one said, "I think the bridge does exist,

第三個說：「我覺得有這座橋，

but the dam upstream of the bridge was closed,

不過上游的水壩是關著的，

so the river should actually have been dry, so this doesn't make sense."

所以河道應該是乾的，這個看來不合理。」

So that was the only one that gave us a clue.

這就是我們得到的唯一線索

We looked through the video for other clues.

我們再從影片中找尋其它的線索

We saw the distinctive railings, which we could use.

我們看到特別的欄杆可以當作線索

We looked at the curbs. The curbs were throwing shadows south,

路邊石壆的影子投射在南邊

so we could tell the bridge was running east-west across the river.

所以這座橋是東西向跨越河流

It had black-and-white curbs.

石壆是黑白相間

As we looked at the river itself, you could see there's

從河流本身可以看出

a concrete stone on the west side. There's a cloud of blood.

西邊有水泥石塊，河面上有一片血

That's blood in the river. So the river is flowing

從這片血可以得知

south to north. That's what that tells me.

河流的流向是由南向北

And also, as you look away from the bridge,

從橋上往下看

there's a divot on the left-hand side of the bank,

河岸的左邊有一片草皮

and the river narrows.

然後河道漸漸變窄

So onto Google Maps we go, and we start

回到谷歌地圖

looking through literally every single bridge.

我們逐一比對每座橋

We go to the dam that we talked about, we start just

我們從水壩開始尋找

literally going through every time that road crosses the river,

我們找遍所有和道路交叉的河流

crossing off the bridges that don't match.

刪除不吻合的橋樑

We're looking for one that crosses east-west.

我們尋找東西向的道路

And we get to Hama. We get all the way from the dam

我們從水壩一直找到哈馬

to Hama and there's no bridge.

不過沒有看到橋

So we go a bit further. We switch to the satellite view,

所以我們進一步用衛星模式尋找

and we find another bridge, and everything starts to line up.

我們找到另一座橋，於是線索開始串連起來

The bridge looks like it's crossing the river east to west.

這座橋看起來像是東西向橫跨河流

So this could be our bridge. And we zoom right in.

看起來像是我們要找的橋

We start to see that it's got a median, so it's a two-lane bridge.

放大後可以看到有分隔島，所以這座橋是雙線道

And it's got the black-and-white curbs that we saw in the video,

而且路壆和影片中的一樣是黑白相間

and as we click through it, you can see someone's

點進去看可以看到很多人上傳的照片

uploaded photos to go with the map, which is very handy,

地圖上多了這些照片很實用

so we click into the photos. And the photos start showing us

點進去就可以看到照片

more detail that we can cross-reference with the video.

照片的細節可以用來和影片交叉比對

The first thing that we see is we see black-and-white curbing,

最先看到的是黑白相間的路壆

which is handy because we've seen that before.

很容易辦識，因為我們先前已經看過了

We see the distinctive railing that we saw the guys

我們可以看到造形獨特的欄杆

throwing the bodies over.

和丟人下去的那一幕一樣

And we keep going through it until we're certain that this is our bridge.

我們繼續搜尋直到確定這就是我們要找的橋

So what does that tell me? I've got to go back now

所以這代表什麼呢？

to my three sources and look at what they told me:

回頭看看那三個人講過的話

the one who said the bridge didn't exist,

一個說沒這座橋

the one who said the bridge wasn't in Hama,

另一個說這座橋不在哈馬

and the one guy who said, "Yes, the bridge does exist, but I'm not sure about the water levels."

最後一個說：「有這座橋，不過我不確定水位。」

Number three is looking like the most truthful all of a sudden,

第三個看起來最接近事實

and we've been able to find that out using some free Internet tools

我們只需坐在都柏林的辦公室

sitting in a cubicle in an office in Dublin

使用免費的網路工具

in the space of 20 minutes.

20分鐘就可以查到結果

And that's part of the joy of this. Although the web

這是調查工作的樂趣之一

is running like a torrent, there's so much information there

雖然網路上的訊息像洪流一樣泛濫

that it's incredibly hard to sift and getting harder every day,

要過濾這些訊息越來越不容易

if you use them intelligently, you can find out incredible information.

不過只要善加利用就能夠得到有用的資訊

Given a couple of clues, I could probably find out

只要給我一點線索

a lot of things about most of you in the audience that you might not like me finding out.

也許我可以找到在座各位不想讓人知道的事情

But what it tells me is that, at a time when

這告訴我們

there's more -- there's a greater abundance of information than there ever has been,

身處在資訊空前豐富的時代，雖然過瀘訊息變得更為困難

it's harder to filter, we have greater tools.

不過我們也擁有更多的工具

We have free Internet tools that allow us,

我們有免費的網路工具

help us do this kind of investigation.

可以幫我們進行調查工作

We have algorithms that are smarter than ever before,

我們有更聰明的演算法

and computers that are quicker than ever before.

以及運算速度更快的電腦

But here's the thing. Algorithms are rules. They're binary.

不過要知道，演算法是以二進位為基礎的運算法則

They're yes or no, they're black or white.

只有是與非，黑與白

Truth is never binary. Truth is a value.

真象是一種價值觀，不能用二位元歸類

Truth is emotional, it's fluid, and above all, it's human.

真象是有情感的、有變化的，最重要的是，真象是人性的

No matter how quick we get with computers, no matter

不論電腦速度進步得多快

how much information we have, you'll never be able

不論你可以得到的訊息有多少

to remove the human from the truth-seeking exercise,

在追求真象的過程中，你用永遠無法將人排除在外

because in the end, it is a uniquely human trait.

因為追求真象是人類獨有的特點

Thanks very much. (Applause)

謝謝各位（掌聲）