Chapter 12 : Being Information Literate In A Post-Truth World☀️

Question 1

Bias

Answer 1

An opinion towards an event, person or group that would commonly be regarded as unfair or prejudicial

Question 2

Conspiracy theory

Answer 2

A pejorative term for a theory that is commonly accepted as false and propagated by sinister groups.

Question 3

Deepfake

Answer 3

A video that makes use of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to make it impossible (or nearly impossible) to be identified as fake.

Question 4

Fact-checking

Answer 4

Verifying information to determine if the information is accurate

Question 5

Fake news

Answer 5

Information that is deliberately misleading

Question 6

Misinformation

Answer 6

False information that does not (necessarily) intend causing harm.

Question 7

News

Answer 7

Accurate and verifiable information that is uncensored and comprehensive, and presented in an unbiased way

Question 8

Post-truth

Answer 8

Post-truth denotes circumstances where objective facts are disregarded in favour of personal belief.

Question 9

Propaganda

Answer 9

Systematic dissemination of information which is often presented in a biased or misleading way, to promote a specific point of view.

Question 10

The five giant evils of the information crisis

Answer 10

Confusion: Citizens are less sure about what is true, and who to believe.’
Cynicism: Citizens are losing trust, even in trustworthy sources
Fragmentation: Citizens have access to potentially infinite knowledge, but the pool of agreed facts on which to base societal choices is diminishing. Citizens are becoming more divided into “truth
publics” with parallel realities and narratives.’
Irresponsibility: ‘Power over meaning is held by organisations that lack a developed ethical code of responsibility and exist outside of clear lines of accountability and transparency.”
Apathy: ‘As a result, citizens disengage from established structures of society and are losing faith in democracy.

Question 11

Social media

Answer 11

Social media platforms tend to present an integrated flow of information. An idea or image is posted on Twitter or Instagram, it is then shared to or extended on Facebook, at any stage links can be
provided to a website where the initial message is elaborated in detail.

Question 12

How are social media platforms being manipulated to spread fake news?

Answer 12

Fake accounts on social media are very common. These accounts are usually created for criminal intent. In the article, 'Everyone's creating fake social media accounts, including homeland security"
Ebbe Kernel (2020), a Swedish data acquisition analyst and consultant, indicates that in today's digital society criminals and imposters can and will use social media platforms to accomplish their aims.
Fake social media accounts are often used to target specific individuals or groups with the intention to influence them to take certain actions (so-called "microtargeting"). The most well-known of these are
the attempts in recent years to influence the USA political scene.

Question 13

What are social media companies doing to combat misinformation?

Answer 13

Social media companies have, for a number of years, been trying to combat fake accounts and the spread of fake news on their platforms. They do this by deleting fake news accounts and by identifying
and tagging or deleting fake news messages.
Twitter, for example, has been combating fake news for a number of years, by suspending or cancelling accounts or tagging specific messages as suspicious.

Question 14

Ethical and legal implications of creating or sharing misinformation and fake news

Answer 14

Creating and sharing misinformation and fake news is ethically and morally wrong and unacceptable. However, from the preceding section it is clear that people disagree about what is misinformation
and fake news. For nearly every situation, there are opposing views and alternative interpretations of events. Individuals express these opinions, whether they rely on objective facts or whether the
opinions are patently false, in all possible ways, from peer-reviewed publications to all forms of social media.

Question 15

How to become information literate to spot fake news

Answer 15

With the availability of an overabundance of information, fake news is one of the biggest problems in our world today, and many examples have been provided in the preceding sections. How can you
ensure that you are not misled by accepting information as factual when it is in fact fake? Following the recommendations in this section can help you, but you should also refer to Chapter 10 again,
which dealt with this issue in detail
Many organisations, news resources, social media sites and governments have drawn up guidelines to help you spot fake news, especially in the social media environment. We summarise these in this
section. Work through them to make your own list of guidelines that will satisfy your information needs.

Question 16

Tips to spot fake news :

Answer 16

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Question 17

Check your source

Answer 17

Is this a reputable source, for example a peer-reviewed article? Is the information reported on a news channel? If so, do you know what the biases are of the specific news channel? If the information
is reported on social media, be very careful, since practically anyone can say whatever they like on social media.

Question 18

Read the full article

Answer 18

Headlines or an introductory paragraph often try to grab the attention of readers by being sensational. Read the full article or social media post before you regard the information as truth or fake. This
is especially important when vou intend to forward a post or comment on a post on social media. And remember, if you forward a fake-news post on social media, you may be breaking the law, which
can have serious consequences.

Question 19

Check your own biases

Answer 19

If the information can in any way be regarded as contentious, does it support your own pre-conceived ideas, or does it challenge you to think differently about the topic? This is probably one of the
most difficult issues to evaluate, especially in terms of social media posts. You may have a specific view on a topic, and if a social media post then reports something that supports or strengthens
your view you will probably view the post as true. However, if it is contrary to your view, you will almost certainly regard it as false. Consequently when faced with such situations, you need to
consider them very critically so that you do not have a knee-jerk response.

Question 20

Are there supporting sources for the information?

Answer 20

To find supporting sources for a specific point of view is easy. Because a wide range of views on just about everything is supported by many people, you will find people who support even the most
outrageous ideas. These you should be able to dismiss fairly easily. In some cases, however, the information might be only slightly dubious or contentious. In such cases, try to find other sources that
discuss both sides of such issues, and think critically about the content before you make up your mind.

Question 21

Check the date the original content was written

Answer 21

Sensational content is often redistributed months or years after the date it was written or the photograph was taken. So, if you don’t check the dates, you may rely on information that is no longer
valid. This happens quite often when individuals post photographs or videos of natural phenomena that happened years ago, for example pictures of natural disasters or strange weather
phenomena

Question 22

Is the story intended to be taken seriously, or is it meant to be sarcastic or humorous?

Answer 22

Some websites are well-known for their sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek or satirical interpretations of events. Make sure that you identify the intent of websites so that you don’t fall for a story that is
intentionally written not to be factual truth.

Question 23

Think before you share

Answer 23

Always think critically about the potential impact of sharing specific information with people in your network. Before sharing, ask yourself whether the information will enlighten them and contribute to
an understanding of the truth or if it is likely to contribute to their feelings of information overload and anxiety? Being a well-informed citizen of the digital world means knowing when to share, what to
share and with whom to share