Information Literacy: critical thinking and practical skills - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Information Literacy:

critical thinking and practical skills

TERESA SCHMIDT MERCER PUBLIC LIBRARY SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Week 3

IDENTIFYING BAD INFORMATION

Ground Rules

▪ Listen respectfully, without interrupting. ▪ Listen actively and with an ear to understanding others'

• views. (Don’t just think about what you are going to say

while someone else is talking.) ▪ Criticize ideas, not individuals. ▪ Commit to learning, not debating. Comment in order to share information, not to persuade. ▪ Avoid blame, speculation, and inflammatory language. ▪ Allow everyone the chance to speak. ▪ Avoid assumptions about any member of the class or generalizations about social groups. ▪ Do not ask individuals to speak for their (perceived) social group.

University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning & Teaching, https://crlt.umich.edu/publinks/generalguidelines

Fake news (and the fear of it) is not new!

“Once the news faker obtains access to the press wires all the honest editors alive will not be able to repair the mischief he can do. An editor receiving a news item over the wire has no opportunity to test its authenticity as he would in the case of a local report. The offices of the members of The Associated Press in this country are connected with

• ne another, and its centers of news gathering and distribution by a

system of telegraph wires that in a single circuit would extend five times around the globe. This constitutes a very sensitive organism. Put your finger on it in New York, and it vibrates in San Francisco.”

• Harper’s, 1925

Combating Fake News: An Agenda for Research and Action – May 2017

дезинформация

dezinformatsiya - disinformation

Changing media

Influential people have been buying and using media since we’ve had media. Altruistic motives? Personal/political influence? Consolidation of local media outlets ▪ Sinclair Broadcast Group: 193 television stations ▪ Nexstar Media Group: 197 television stations ▪ iHeartMedia, Inc.: 850 AM and FM radio stations Changing models: newspaper baron → advertising → subscriber

https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/08/why-do-billionaires-decide-to-buy-newspapers-and-why-should-we-be-happy-when-they-do/ https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/business/media/the-return-of-the-newspaper-barons.html

“ O T H E R P O L L S T E R S C O M P L A I N A B O U T D E C L I N I N G R E S P O N S E R A T E S , B U T O U R P O L L S H O W E D T H A T 9 6 % O F R E S P O N D E N T S W O U L D B E ‘ S O M E W H A T L I K E L Y ’ O R ‘ V E R Y L I K E L Y ’ T O A G R E E T O A N S W E R A S E R I E S O F Q U E S T I O N S F O R A S U R V E Y . ” https://xkcd.com/2357/

Fact-checking

LET SOMEONE RELIABLE DO THE WORK

Duke Reporters’ Lab

reporterslab.org

Fact-checking resources

PoliticFact.com

Focused on political statements from candidates and parties, rumors about political candidates and parties. Rating system: “True” to “Pants on Fire”

Snopes.com

Began with fact-checking of urban legends, now offers all kinds of topics including political fact-

• checking. Rates “True” to “False” plus other labels like scam, satire, outdated, misattribution, etc.

Fact Checker – The Washington Post

Ratings based on number of Pinocchios.

AP Fact Check

Fact checks, articles, and “Not real news” weekly summaries.

https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/when-are-readers-likely-to-believe-a-fact-check/ https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2016/5-ways-fact-checkers-can-address-reader-concerns-about-bias/

Finding good sources

BALANCE IS KEY!

https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

AllSides

AllSides is a news aggregator – providing articles from the left, center and right on a variety of topics. Their Media Bias Chart ONLY considers bias; it does not attempt to rate accuracy or credibility.

AdFontes Media

Media Bias Chart considers both bias and reliability.

Journalism vs. Punditry

A pundit is a person who offers to mass media their opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences, technology or sport) on which they are knowledgeable (or can at least appear to be knowledgeable) or considered a scholar in said

• area. The term has been increasingly applied to

popular media personalities. - Wikipedia Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash

Photo by Matthew Guay on Unsplash

Purposeful Media Consumption

Social Media “News”

According to Pew, adults who get their news from social media:

• Are less engaged with major news stories
• Are less knowledgeable about the news than those who use
• ther sources
• Are more likely to hear conspiracy theories about the

pandemic

https://www.journalism.org/2020/07/30/americans-who- mainly-get-their-news-on-social-media-are-less-engaged-less- knowledgeable/

Getting out of your bubble

Reduce social media use. Try DuckDuckGo when searching. Use incognito browsing to reduce tracking. Make an effort to add sources from both sides to your news routine Use news aggregators (like AllSides) with caution Watch out for news apps like Flipboard

• r Apple News that say they’ll get better
• ver time.

Fact-check things YOU agree with!

Talking to others

IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET PEOPLE TO STOP SHARING (AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, BELIEVING) FAKE NEWS?

Techniques that work?

“Deep Canvassing” – emphasis on listening and finding a human connection

• Make sure you understand the truth or fiction of the item

BEFORE you do anything.

• Don’t engage on the social media post – public calling out

rarely works and reacting or commenting on a post only boosts that post’s visibility.

• Show that you relate to the person’s views, if you honestly can.
• Change social norms.

Fake news “inoculation”

Spotthetroll.org – help people recognize fake accounts Getbadnews.com – learning how to build a social media following is instructive! Celeste Headlee – 10 ways to have a better conversation

1. Don’t equate your experience with theirs 2. Don’t multitask 3. Don’t pontificate 4. Use open-ended questions 5. Go with the flow 6. If you don’t know, say that you don’t know 7. Try not to repeat yourself 8. Stay out of the weeds 9. Listen

• 10. Be brief

Pro-Truth Pledge

I Pledge My Earnest Efforts To:

Share are trut uth

• Verify: fact-check information to confirm it is true before accepting and sharing it
• Balance: share the whole truth, even if some aspects do not support my opinion
• Cite: share my sources so that others can verify my information
• Clarify: distinguish between my opinion and the facts

Honor truth uth

• Acknowledge: acknowledge when others share true information, even when we disagree otherwise
• Reevaluate: reevaluate if my information is challenged, retract it if I cannot verify it
• Defend: defend others when they come under attack for sharing true information, even when we disagree otherwise
• Align: align my opinions and my actions with true information

Encoura urage ge truth uth

• Fix: ask people to retract information that reliable sources have disproved even if they are my allies
• Educate: compassionately inform those around me to stop using unreliable sources even if these sources support my opinion
• Defer: recognize the opinions of experts as more likely to be accurate when the facts are disputed
• Celebrate: celebrate those who retract incorrect statements and update their beliefs toward the truth

Next week

DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Readin ing: g: feuniversity.org/information-literacy-fall-2020/

Thank you!

TERESA SCHMIDT Mercer Public Librar y director@mercerpubliclibrar y.org 715.476.2366 feuniversity.org/information- literacy-fall-2020/