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Short Learning Progamme: Part 1 - Building Blocks of Information Literacy: Unit 6 Digital Literacy

Verify online information

Verifying online information is crucial because the internet is a vast space where misinformation can spread rapidly. Without verification, false or misleading content can be mistaken for truth, impacting decisions, beliefs, and actions. Verifying ensures the accuracy of information, promotes informed decision-making, and helps maintain a reliable and trustworthy digital environment.

Fake News

Fake News is the mischievous cousin of real news, spreading lies disguised as trustworthy stories. Crafted to grab attention, it often plays on emotions or biases. Found online or on social media, detecting Fake News involves fact-checking, critical thinking, and digital savvy.

Digital Footprint

Your digital footprint is your record of everything you do online. In other words, you leave a trail of the things you do online. Examples are: your social media activities, your personal information, browsing history, online subscriptions and photo and video galleries (Future of Learning 2018).  How do you establish a good reputation online?

Check level of language, grammar and spelling errors.

Identify primary sources:

Using primary sources is valuable when judging information because they offer direct and firsthand evidence. Primary sources are created at the time of the event or by individuals involved, providing authenticity and reliability. Relying on primary sources enhances the accuracy of information, minimizes bias, and allows for a more nuanced understanding of historical, scientific, or cultural contexts. 

  • Newspaper articles
  • Research articles
  • Diaries
  • Artefacts
  • Biographies

 

Is this site real? Do octopi live in trees? When you open this site, it appears as any other legitimate website, with author,  publication date, navigation tabs with information relating to science and marine biology etc. However:

  •  Where do the hyperlinks take you?  Are the hyperlinks linked to credible sources which can be verified. or to information with a similar tone and content?
  • Does the author provide his/her credentials/affiliations contact details?

Source: Central Michigan University Libraries

Does the image appear as if this might be a source you can trust? 

  • Does this hospital really exist?
  • Does https://www appear in the URL? When you hover over the URL in the top 
  • Be aware of "not secured"  appearing in the URL
  • Where do the hyperlinks take you? Pages that cannot be found?
  • Is there a copyrighted date?

Source: Central Michigan University Libraries

Image: Startbloggingonline.com

  • .Gov is a government website. Best place to start to look for reliable information on government policies, legislation and other policies.
  • .Org contains organisational information, such as Greenpeace https://www.greenpeace.org/  which is a non-profit organisation. Be cautious of biased information towards the organisation's mission and goals when using .org information.
  • .Edu contains educational information, such as universities. Look for citations when dealing with .edu websites.
  • .Com contains commercial information.  Anyone can write and publish information on the Internet and is the most popular. Apply the evaluation criteria when searching for information on these sites.
  • .Net comes from the word "network", such as networking technologies.

Peer review is a process of evaluation by experts of someone's research for publication in an academic journal (Merriam Webster dictionary c2019).  This system exists to validate academic work and to help improve quality of published research (Elsevier c2019). Rather consult  peer reviewed articles which you can access through the university's library journal databases

Digital Footpring


 

Ensure your social media pages have appropriate pictures and content that you are proud to share.

Image source: picturesso.comClipartmax

Source: Permission granted: Kathleen Morris:

Source: Permission granted: Kathleen Morris: 

Image: Wikimedia commons

A negative digital footprint:

  • Gives the wrong impression about yourself to others;
  • You come across as untrustworthy and unprofessional;
  • You have poor communication skills;
  • Influences future employment prospects as a suitable candidate.

Source:  Government Polytechnic, Nagpur

Image: Wikimedia commons

A positive digital footprint:

  • Shows your professionalism;
  • Trustworthiness and credibility;
  • Enhances your chances of being employed;
  • Good communication skills.

The following link explains why establishing a good digital footprint is so important. 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Examples of individuals who have been fired due to inappropriate Facebook posts.

Image: CCO Public Domain

Google yourself. This will give you an idea of your online reputation.

Fact Check

  • Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart: Ad Fontes not only rates different media outlet’s biases but also their reliability and accuracy in an interactive chart.
  • AllSides Media Bias Ratings: AllSides uses multiple methods to rate the biases of media outlets. Their goal is to help people discover their own biases the break out of their filter bubbles.
  • Botometer: Another tool developed through the OsoMe project, the Botometer, will check a Twitter account to determine the likelihood of it being an actual persona or a bot created to spread fake news.
  • FactCheck.org: FactCheck.org is a nonprofit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They monitor U.S. political figures for accuracy to increase public knowledge and reducing confusion about U.S. politics.
  • Hoaxy: Developed through the OSoMe project at Indiana University, Hoaxy will show you how fake news spreads through tweets on Twitter using conceptual mapping.
  • Media Bias Fact Check: MBFC is an impartial website that rates biases, integrity, and truthfulness of online news sources. They have over 3900 news entities and journalists in their database and continuously add to those names.
  • PolitiFact: Politifact focuses on reviewing published statements and information surrounding political figures in the United States for truthfulness. Their “Truth-O-Meter” uses 6 levels to rate stories from True all the way to “Pants on Fire.”
  • RealorSatire.com: Copy and paste the URL in their search box to determine if it is a legitimate news site or a satirical site.
  • Snopes.com: Snopes started in 1994, investigating urban legends and folklore. Their expertise in fact-checking has grown into one of the largest and well-known fact-checking sites online.
  • TinEye: Just like Google Image, TinEye is a reverse image search. It will find the image as it was originally posted online to determine if it has been manipulated.

Source: Waldenu University