Fake News & Misinformation: How to Spot and Verify

Alison J. Head, Barbara Fister, and Margy MacMillan (January 15, 2020), Information literacy in the age of algorithms, Project Information Literacy Research Institute, https://projectinfolit.org/publications/algorithm-study.
This report presents findings about how college students conceptualize the ever-changing online information landscape, and navigate volatile and popular platforms that increasingly employ algorithms to shape and filter content. Findings suggest that a majority of students know that popular websites, such as Google, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, use algorithms to collect massive amounts of their personal data, but still find sites too useful to abandon. Many are indignant about websites that mine their clicks to sell them products, but resigned to the powers of an unregulated media environment. Some students, however, used practical strategies to protect their privacy and “confuse algorithms,” learned more often from peers than in classes. (January 15, 2020)

It’s not always easy to tell fake news from real news. A recent Stanford University study concluded that many middle school, high school and college students cannot distinguish the two from one another. In a series of 56 exercises, the study’s lead researchers concluded that information literacy needs to be added to classroom curricula at all levels of education. Students were unable to tell the difference between ads and real news articles, nor were they always able to detect bias.

The goal of the project is to share "provocative facts about big issues to help Americans debunk myths, hold better conversations, get involved, and make choices as smarter citizens." "Veteran editors" and "professional fact-checkers" screen the information published on the site.

From Journalist’s Resource, a project of the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center and the Carnegie-Knight Initiative; an open-access site that curates scholarly studies and reports.

A nonpartisan effort working to address the problem by helping online users distinguish between reliable journalism and promotional content or misinformation. The Trust Project has released eight Trust Indicators created by leaders from over 75 news organizations that will offer additional transparency about an organization’s ethics and practices.

MakeTechEasier RSS Feed, Andrew Braun, 17 May 2018.

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Blog

Tips for how, in the wake of a big, tragic story, you can sort good information from bad. Provides a printable .pdf handout. On the Media Blog, New York Public Radio.

Willaim Poundstone, posted Nov 22, 2016 in Psychology Today

I. Oh and K. Vongkiatkajorn, posted Nov. 22, 2016 in Mother Jones. Presents a timeline of the key moments leading to the spreading of fake news on Facebook.

ACRLog. February 21, 2021.
Candice Benjes-Small, Head of Research at William & Mary, and Nathan Elwood, Library Administrator at the Missouri Legislative Library.

Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource, January 13, 2020.
A sampling of the research published in 2019 — seven journal articles that examine fake news from multiple angles, including what makes fact-checking most effective and the potential use of crowdsourcing to help detect false content on social media

Experts are evenly split on whether the coming decade will see a reduction in false and misleading narratives online. Those forecasting improvement place their hopes in technological fixes and in societal solutions. Others think the dark side of human nature is aided more than stifled by technology.

Chris Meserole, May 9, 2018. Brookings Institution.

"One can never wear out Walter Lippmann's observation that journalists traffic in stereotypes, not only because they enable "economy of effort." The stereotypes we embrace also assure us of our own status, such that "any disturbance of the stereotypes seems like an attack upon the foundations of the universe....” Source:
Jenkins, Holman W., Jr. "How the News Became Fake." Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed., Jan 26 2019, ProQuest. Web.

TED Ed Blog: Lessons Worth Sharing

HAPGOOD blog. Mike Caulfield's latest web incarnation. Networked Learning, Open Education, and the Wiki Way.

Barbara Fister. February 3, 2021. “ As “research it yourself” becomes a rallying cry for promoters of outlandish conspiracy theories with real-world consequences, educators need to think hard about what’s missing from their information literacy efforts.”

Head, A. J. (7 April 2021).
"The ability to read analytically and deeply should be one of the most important takeaways from college. But are educators equipping students with the skills they need for today?"

Hapgood Blog, Michael Caufield. Feb, 18, 2018

Science 09 Mar 2018: Vol. 359, Issue 6380, pp. 1094-1096.
DOI: 10.1126/science.aao2998

April 27, 2018. NPR, Article and Podcast on All Things Considered

Alan Levinovitz, Slate.com. Instructive Twitter exchange.

Commentary articles published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

"Post-truth—adjective; relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."(Oxford Dictionary).

An essay from the Chronicle of Higher Education, written by Daniel T. Rogers, emeritus professor of history at Princeton University

PBS NewsHour Extra. On January 18, 2019 a video sparked outrage online showing a confrontation between Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann and his classmates, and Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips on Friday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

"One can never wear out Walter Lippmann's observation that journalists traffic in stereotypes, not only because they enable "economy of effort." The stereotypes we embrace also assure us of our own status, such that "any disturbance of the stereotypes seems like an attack upon the foundations of the universe....This has been nicely demonstrated in the controversy over the Covington Catholic High School students at the Lincoln Memorial." Source:
Jenkins, Holman W., Jr. "How the News Became Fake." Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed., Jan 26 2019, ProQuest. Web.

"Next time there’s a viral story, I’ll wait for more facts to emerge......If the Covington Catholic incident was a test, it’s one I failed—along with most others. Will we learn from it, or will we continue to roam social media, looking for the next outrage fix? Next time a story like this surfaces, I’ll try to sit it out until more facts have emerged. I’ll remind myself that the truth is sometimes unknowable, and I’ll stick to discussing the news with people I know in real life, instead of with strangers whom I’ve never met. I’ll get my news from legitimate journalists instead of from an online mob for whom Saturday-morning indignation is just another form of entertainment." Zimmerman, Julie Irwin. The Atlantic, online, 21 Jan. 2019.

Flanagan, Caitlin. The Atlantic, online, 23 Jan. 2019.

STLCC Campus Life hosted a virtual seminar with the director and producer of the documentary film on Sept. 30, 2020.

Eric Dodson, YouTube. (18:36)
Definition from Oxford Languages: noun: virtue signalling - the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.
"it's noticeable how often virtue signaling consists of saying you hate things"