How “News Literacy” Gets Web Misinformation Wrong – Mike Caulfield – Medium I have a simple web literacy model. When confronted with a dubious claim: Check for previous fact-checking workGo upstream to the sourceRead laterally That’s it. We call these things moves. The reason we present these in sequence in this way is we don’t just want to get students to the truth — we want to get them there as quickly as possible. To give an example, here’s a story from Daily Kos: And here’s what students will say, when confronted with this after years of “close reading” training: Who is this Hunter guy? They might even go to Hunter’s about page and find that the most recent story he has recommended has, well, a very anti-Trump spin on it: They can spend hours on this, going to the site’s about page, reading up on Hunter, looking at the past stories Hunter wrote. Except it doesn’t. What matters is this: What you see above, in the first paragraph of the story, is a link to the Wall Street Journal, the source of the claim. Once we get to the Wall Street Journal, we’re not done. 1.
3 Fast, Free Lesson Plans to Fight Fake News The fake news epidemic is disturbing. How do we fight it? Well, we can take a hint from how the medical community fights the flu or any other virus. We inoculate ourselves. Just as the flu shot exposes a person to enough of the dead “harmless” virus to cause immunity, we can also expose students to things that have already been verified or shown to be fake. How does a “fake news” lesson flow? First, you ask students to research to see if something is true or not. When students come to class, they get a copy of the bellringer and have a timer (usually 4-5 minutes — there should be some time pressure) set for them to give their recommendations. I’m including screenshots in this post, but if you fill out the form at the bottom, I’ll email you the PDF copy of these three lesson plans. Example #1: Breaking News Bellringer In this case, we share a tweet and some “news sources.” Breaking News Bellringer Answer I like this example because it hits on several current topics: The Video In Summary
A Brief History of Facts The concept of ‘the fact’ first appears in Renaissance Latin, but the word only entered common usage in the 1660s. The Royal Society, founded in November 1660, was dedicated to experimental knowledge and declared that it would concern itself with ‘facts not explanations’. ‘Facts’ became part of a modern vocabulary for discussing knowledge – also including theories, hypotheses, evidence and experiments – which emerged in the 17th century. All these words existed before, but with different meanings: ‘experiment’, for example, simply meant ‘experience’. Alongside this new conception of facts, a philosophical discussion developed about what they actually were. That true statements about the real world have always existed is beyond dispute. But if true and precise statements are not new, why does the word ‘fact’ – and its definition as something that is true – matter? Why did authorities decline and become replaced by facts? Why is this happening?
What Are You Doing to Teach Students to Spot Fake News Stories? | CTQ #CTQCollab Posted by Bill Ferriter on Sunday, 11/20/2016 One of the most interesting conversations currently taking place around Donald Trump's surprise victory in our Presidential election has been the role that fake news peddled and promoted in Facebook news streams may have played in swaying voters. Mark Zuckerberg -- Facebook's charismatic founder -- has called the notion that fake news is a problem on his site "a pretty crazy idea" and argued that a clear process is in place that allows users to flag suspicious or hateful content for further review. But that position was openly challenged over and over again all week long. Buzzfeed, a popular online source covering digital media and technology, opened the criticism by publishing the frightening results of an analysis of the election stories generating the most engagement -- think likes, shares and comments -- on Facebook in the final three months of the election. Turns out, the process isn't consistent, thorough or reliable. It's not pretty:
Can You Tell Fake News From Real? Study Finds Students Have 'Dismaying' Inability Stanford researchers assessed students from middle school to college and found they struggled to distinguish ads from articles, neutral sources from biased ones and fake accounts from real ones. Gary Waters/Ikon Images/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Gary Waters/Ikon Images/Getty Images Stanford researchers assessed students from middle school to college and found they struggled to distinguish ads from articles, neutral sources from biased ones and fake accounts from real ones. If the children are the future, the future might be very ill-informed. That's one implication of a new study from Stanford researchers that evaluated students' ability to assess information sources and described the results as "dismaying," "bleak" and "[a] threat to democracy." As content creators and social media platforms grapple with the fake news crisis, the study highlights the other side of the equation: What it looks like when readers are duped. "The photograph had no attribution.
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear or Read | Teaching with the Library of Congress Mars Peopled by One Vast Thinking Vegetable! Salt Lake Tribune, October 13, 1912 In the most recent “Right to the Source” column in NSTA’s magazine The Science Teacher, Michael Apfeldorf discusses reactions in the early 20th century to reports of life on Mars. He explains that as early as 1894, scientists noted that conditions on Mars would not support life, but wild theories persisted in popular media. That reminded us of the Library’s many April Fools’ Day posts featuring primary sources that should not be taken at face value. Looking for other ways to help students analyze sources and evaluate information? Analyzing primary sources can help students become better critical thinkers who are willing to evaluate information and dig deeply to find the answers to questions. How will you use primary sources to encourage students to look for the story behind the source?
What these teens learned about the Internet may shock you! When the AP United States history students at Aragon High School in San Mateo California, scanned the professionally designed pages of www.minimumwage.com, most concluded that it was a solid, unbiased source of facts and analysis. They noted the menu of research reports, graphics and videos, and the “About” page describing the site as a project of a “nonprofit research organization” called the Employment Policies Institute. But then their teacher, Will Colglazier, demonstrated how a couple more exploratory clicks—critically, beyond the site itself—revealed that the Employment Policies Institute is considered by the Center for Media and Democracy to be a front group created by lobbyists for the restaurant and hotel industries. “I have some bright students, and a lot of them felt chagrined that they weren’t able to deduce this,” said Colglazier, who videotaped the episode last January. “They got duped.” Or, as one student put it, loudly, “fudge nuggets!”
How Photos Fuel the Spread of Fake News Even rudimentary skills aren't required to create, say, a meme of Seddique Mateen, whose son Omar Mateen fatally shot 48 people at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that allegedly shows him visiting Hillary Clinton’s office at the State Department this year. Never mind that Clinton resigned from the job three years before. Photos play a key role in making fake news stories go viral by bolstering the emotional tenor of the lie. They elicit an emotional response, which makes it far more likely that someone will click the link, then share it. “That emotion may be anger, outrage or joy,” says Mandy Jenkins, the head of news at social content provider Storyful. “It triggers something in the readers that says, ‘I have to share this with everyone I know who likes the things I like.’” Such images can reinforce existing prejudices. These dirty tricks work because most people believe a photograph represents reality.
Fake News Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts : All Tech Considered Guido Rosa/Getty Images/Ikon Images Fake news stories can have real-life consequences. On Sunday, police said a man with a rifle who claimed to be "self-investigating" a baseless online conspiracy theory entered a Washington, D.C., pizzeria and fired the weapon inside the restaurant. So, yes, fake news is a big problem. These stories have gotten a lot of attention, with headlines claiming Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump in November's election and sites like American News sharing misleading stories or taking quotes out of context. Stopping the proliferation of fake news isn't just the responsibility of the platforms used to spread it. The idea is that people should have a fundamental sense of media literacy. Sam Wineburg, a professor of education and history at Stanford and the lead author of the study, said a solution is for all readers to read like fact checkers. That's the framework for professionals, but there are ways for everyone to do a bit of fact checking themselves.
Lesson Idea: Media Literacy and Fake News Overview: In a world filled with rapid pace communication through a variety of platforms, we have an abundance of information available at our fingertips. Discerning fact from fiction can be complex. Knowing the source can be challenging, and the messages being delivered can be received in different ways, effecting certain populations of people as well as our country. Procedure: STEP 1. STEP 2. Handout: Media Literacy and Fake News (Google Doc) "Fake News" Sites and Effects on Democracy (4:44) New York Magazine's Max Read discusses his piece examining the rise of “fake news” and whether the internet is a reliable tool for furthering democracy. STEP 3.
The Smell Test: Educators can counter fake news with information literacy. Here’s how. Illustration by Steve Brodner Discerning fact from fiction in news and online content has never been more challenging. From “pizzagate”—false reports of a child sex ring operating in a DC pizza parlor—and creepy clown attacks to retweeted election headlines touting events that never happened, fake news is rampant. Twenty-three percent of Americans say they have shared fabricated reports, knowingly or not, according to a December Pew Research Center report. Librarians have an opportunity to take leadership in the current crisis. As proven authorities on information literacy, library professionals can help students analyze news authenticity. That requires expertise—and perseverance. “Our ‘digital natives’ may be able to flit between Facebook and Twitter while simultaneously uploading a selfie to Instagram and texting a friend,” state the researchers from the Stanford History Education Group. Lessons to combat fake news Frank W. Librarians on the front lines Resources and tools Legislation
Battling Fake News in the Classroom In this post-election period, there has been a lot of discussion about fake news, particularly about how it is spread and shared online, and whether it influenced the recent presidential election. On November 22, Stanford University released an influential study showing that middle and high school students—and even some in college—have trouble distinguishing which online resources are credible. The inescapable fact is that young people need to be prepared for the Wild West of information that they live in and will grow up in. It is also imperative that we, as educators, prepare young people for the important job of responsible and informed citizenship. Media Literacy and “Crap Detection” Teaching media literacy is not new, but with the explosion of social media and the lightning speeds at which information is shared, critical evaluation skills have never been more important. The Role of Educators So how can educators address this emerging crisis in digital literacy? What’s Next?