Fake News Workshop

In the Spring of 2017 I considered doing a series of workshops for the public library system. I did some research and produced this outline of the program. I pitched it to the library system director whom I known for many years and had worked together with on public information and technology workshops at the time I worked for the public library in the early 90's. 

In the end I decided not to do the workshops. I had not been retired very long and the more I looked into doing this program I realized I was setting myself up for a lot of headaches that I just didn't want. Around the country there were incidents of confrontations between supporters of the president and librarians doing fake news workshops. I was also planning to do this program as a volunteer. It would be better for the paid staff to do those workshops and I went back to enjoying my retirement.

Fake News Workshop

What is fake news? Alternative facts?

History of fake news

• National Enquirer and supermarket tabloids
• Topical newsletters
• Printing and copying machines - distribution
• The beginnings of the Internet
• Who can publish on the Internet – anyone and anything
• Websites and blogs – Opinions vs Facts
• The power of advertising on the Internet
• Click-bait – what are advertisers paying for?         

Academic information literacy

• Citing sources
• Peer reviewed

Journalism

• Fact checking
• Sources
• Opinions

 

Information Literacy is critical for navigating the Internet. It is defined as the ability to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” 1 - American Library Association, Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report (Chicago: American Library Association, 1989)

www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential.

 

Fake News – Sources that intentionally fabricate information, disseminate deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports.

Satire – Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, and false information to comment on current events.  

Bias – Sources that come from a particular point of view and may rely on propaganda, taking information out of context, and opinions distorted as facts. 

Rumor Mill – Sources that specialize in rumors, gossip, innuendo, and unverified claims.

State News – Propaganda sources in repressive states operating under government sanction.

Junk Science – Sources that promote pseudoscience, metaphysics, naturalistic fallacies, and other scientifically dubious claims.

Clickbait – A strategically placed hyperlink designed to drive traffic to sources that provide generally credible content, but use exaggerated, misleading, or questionable headlines, social media descriptions, and/or images.

An increasing number of American adults are getting their news from social media rather than traditional newspapers or TV news programs. Pew Research study says 62% of adult Americans get their news from social media.

Jeffrey Gottfried and Elisa Shearer, “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016,” Pew Research Center, May 26, 2016, accessed Dec. 9, 2016, www.journalism.org/2016/05/26/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2016.

 

 

Facebook and the creation of filter bubbles

 

Wikipedia and verifiability

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability