Red Bank Public Library: Fake News Rsources Nowadays, finding information on an almost limitless number of issues is as easy as opening a browser on your computer or phone, typing the question you want answered on the subject about which you want to learn, and waiting a second or two for a list of links to be displayed. At this point it is up to the individual to determine which of the links contain accurate, verifiable information, and which contain misleading or outright false information. Some of these determinations are easy. However, it is not unusual for purveyors of false information to cleverly disguise their intentions and deceptive content. Although it has always been a wise practice for consumers of news to approach the task with a degree of skepticism, the increase in the number of media outlets has made it necessary to find ways of determining the validity of the information obtained from the source. Ideas for E.L.L.s: Finding Reliable Sources in a World of ‘Fake News’ New York Times, January 26, 2017. Fake or Real?
*SIFT (The Four Moves) How can students get better at sorting truth from fiction from everything in between? At applying their attention to the things that matter? At amplifying better treatments of issues, and avoiding clickbait? Since 2017, we’ve been teaching students with something called the Four Moves. Our solution is to give students and others a short list of things to do when looking at a source, and hook each of those things to one or two highly effective web techniques. Stop The first move is the simplest. First, when you first hit a page or post and start to read it — STOP. Second, after you begin to use the other moves it can be easy to go down a rabbit hole, going off on tangents only distantly related to your original task. Please keep in mind that both sorts of investigations are equally useful. Investigate the source We’ll go into this move more on the next page. Now, you don’t have to do a Pulitzer prize-winning investigation into a source before you engage with it. Find better coverage
Don't Get Faked by the News Recently California State Assemblyman Gomez introduced AB 155, which states: “This bill would require the Instructional Quality Commission to develop, and the state board to adopt, revised curriculum standards and frameworks for English language arts, mathematics, history-social science, and science that incorporate civic online reasoning, as defined.” The impetus of this bill is the proliferation of fake news, as evidenced in 2016. While fake news has always been part of the (dis)information picture, social media and campaign documents have highlighted its impact. The 2016 Stanford report on evaluating information found that most students, even in higher education, have difficulty discerning online media such as fake news. Schools need to insure that their students become information and communications technology (ICT) literate. As part of my work, I manage California State University’s ICT Literacy Project, which facilitates faculty incorporation of ICT literacy into the curriculum.
News literacy vs. media literacy - Columbia Journalism Review Three years ago, pioneer media literacy scholar Renee Hobbs published a short critique of what she viewed as troubling trends emerging in news literacy education. She argued on the site Nieman Reports against teaching news literacy in a way that romanticizes the industry or merely transforms a Journalism 101 class into a news literacy one, teaching students the fundamentals and ideals of the craft. In the comments, there is a lengthy rebuttal from Dean Miller, director of Stony Brook’s Center for News Literacy. “Dr. Hobbs’ critique of News Literacy would be devastating if it described the way News Literacy courses are actually taught,” he wrote. “But, what a perfect lesson in the need for News Literacy,” he continued. The exchange represents the existence of ongoing factions in the news literacy world, which have become starker as access to news literacy training grows. Yet regardless of where participants fall ideologically, they will have their work cut out for them.
Web Evaluation: Does This Website Smell Funny to You? | Knowledge Quest One of my friends spent this past weekend working with her 2nd grade daughter on a research project. While her daughter flew through the arts and crafts portion and was able to handwrite the “sloppy copy” of her presentation, she struggled when it came to typing the final draft. She didn’t know where the period was. She didn’t know how to use the shift key (and then declared that turning caps lock on and off was far superior and easier than using the shift key). This reminded me how easy it is to overestimate our students’ abilities when it comes to technology. One of my favorite things to work on with students in this area is website evaluation. When working with older students (8th through 12th grade), I’ve always relied on the CRAAP Test (pdf) from California State University Chico. As wonderful a tool as it is, the CRAAP Test has a sophistication (despite its name) that makes it inaccessible for the 5th through 7th grade. F: Is the site Friendly to the eyes? Like this:
Sifting Through the Pandemic – Information hygiene for the Covid-19 infodemic Web Evaluation: Does This Website Smell Funny to You? One of my friends spent this past weekend working with her 2nd grade daughter on a research project. While her daughter flew through the arts and crafts portion and was able to handwrite the “sloppy copy” of her presentation, she struggled when it came to typing the final draft. She didn’t know where the period was. She didn’t know how to use the shift key (and then declared that turning caps lock on and off was far superior and easier than using the shift key). Typing was taking a lot longer than expected and it was tiring her out. My friend ended up sharing the typing duties with her daughter (who had to dictate from her “sloppy copy”). This reminded me how easy it is to overestimate our students’ abilities when it comes to technology. One of my favorite things to work on with students in this area is website evaluation. When working with older students (8th through 12th grade), I’ve always relied on the CRAAP Test (pdf) from California State University Chico. Like this:
Fake “News” in a “Post-truth” World | Building a Culture of Collaboration® In the wake of a contentious U.S. presidential election cycle, researchers and educators are shining a spotlight on critical “information literacy” skills. Determining authority, accuracy, and bias have long been essential aspects of analyzing content and sources of information. Today, this is no easy task for students (and adults as well) when authors of “information” do their best to deceive readers or hide their identity behind domains, such as .org, factual-seeming but phony statistical data, and authoritative-sounding language based on “pants of fire” lies. In her 2014 book, It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, researcher danah boyd wrote, “becoming literate in a networked age requires hard work, regardless of age” (177). While the amount of fake “news” has increased exponentially, the problem of determining authority and validity in information sources has been a critical skill since the early days of the Internet. • Consider the source. Works Cited boyd, dana.
Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education | Association of College & Research Libraries Filed by the ACRL Board on February 2, 2015. Adopted by the ACRL Board, January 11, 2016. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. PDF Version Print copies may be purchased from the Association of College and Research Libraries for $15.00 for a package of 10, including standard postage. Payments with a check should be sent to: Association of College and Research Libraries Attn: Standards Fulfillment 225 N. If you have additional questions about ordering the Framework, please contact us at 312-280-5277, or email acrl@ala.org. ACRL has a history of supporting librarians in understanding and using the association’s standards and guidelines. Check for upcoming ACRL eLearning webcasts and online courses. ACRL’s Standards, Guidelines, and Frameworks are provided as a free resource to the academic library community. Contents IntroductionFrames Appendix 1: Implementing the Framework Appendix 3: Sources for Further Reading Notes 1. 2.
Evaluating Sources using IMVAIN with the Middle Schoolers at New York’s IS303 | Stony Brook Center for News Literacy Lesson Outline When it comes to judging the credibility and reliability of news reports, news consumers have two main concerns: evidence and sources. Evaluating the reliability of information sources involves rating them based on a number of objective criteria. A simple memory aid called IMVAIN helps these sixth, seventh and eighth grade students at IS303, a middle school in Coney Island, New York, remember how to evaluate sources they are exposed to in their weekly News Literacy classes. It can help you too! Key Concept: Source Evaluation Using the IMVA/IN mnemonic: Independent vs. Video Guiding Questions: Can you think you think of a recent news story in which IMVA/IN would come in handy? Additional Resources:
On student scrutiny: two strategies We’re focusing a lot of attention these days of helping students determine credibility. For many of us, this is not a hot new topic. I dug around a bit and dusted off a couple of tools that, I think, stand the test of time. You are welcome to make copies and retool them for you own needs. This Current Events Analysis Scaffold forces thinking beyond the Ws. And then there’s my magic bullet. Evaluative, annotated works cited sections require and inspire the development of critical research and evaluation skills. Here’s the document we used to guide students through their annotations: Evaluative, Annotated Works Cited (High School) Annotations frequently include brief, two-sentence summaries. Check with your teacher to see which of the following elements you should include in your annotations: Author’s credentials (these may be contextual–relative to the format, situation or information need)Intended audience (For whom was this work produced and why?) Example of an evaluative annotation: Save
Evaluating News Sources | Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers Evaluating news sources is one of the more contentious issues out there. People have their favorite news sources and don’t like to be told that their news source is untrustworthy. For fact-checking, it’s helpful to draw a distinction between two activities: News Gathering, where news organizations do investigative work, calling sources, researching public documents, checking and publishing facts, e.g. the getting the facts of Bernie Sanders involvement in the passage of several bills.News Analysis, which takes those facts and strings them into a larger narrative, such as “Senator Sanders an effective legislator behind the scenes” or “Senator Sanders largely ineffective Senator behind the scenes.” Most newspaper articles are not lists of facts, which means that outfits like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times do both news gathering and news analysis in stories. Narratives are a different matter.
Social Media Superstar Finalists Announced! Acknowledging the role social media plays in school library promotion, AASL has launched a new recognition program – Social Media Superstars. Nominated and endorsed by their peers, the program will recognize school library professionals who enrich the profession and its work on behalf of students by sharing information, expertise, ideas, encouragement, dialog and inspiration widely via a variety of social media channels. After an open nomination period, the Social Media Recognition Task Force is proud to announce the following finalists in each category. Through April 14, members of the school library community and the public are invited to post endorsements of their personal superstar by leaving a comment on each category’s post. Be sure to visit each of the seven hyperlinked category postings to read information about all the finalists and get links to their social media platforms. We want to hear from you! Sensational Student Voice Advocacy Ambassador Tech Troubadour Program Pioneer