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Digital Literacy: Tutorial 2: Verify Online Information

By following this guide on digital literacy, users will be able to communicate, use and apply digital technology in multiple formats presented via computers and perform tasks effectively in a digital environment.

Verify online information

Check level of language, grammar and spelling errors.

Identify primary sources:

  • Newspaper articles
  • Original research
  • Diaries
  • Artefacts
  • Biographies

 

Source: BBC News

Quiz: Can you spot the fake stories?

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. 

Fack checking

  • 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