Truth, Lies, and Digital Fluency
Doug Belshaw,
Google Slides,
Dec 09, 2019
It's hard to find a topic that is more current and more entangled in current events. This set of slides (second source here) from Doug Belshaw makes clear the need to get on top of the various problems of surveillance capitalism and misinformation, and recommends an approach to digital literacies as a response. It's hard to argue against that, but it's also hard to say exactly what should be done. Professional trolls (as reported in this Rolling Stone article) are expert at dodging your cognitive defenses. "The professionals know you catch more flies with honey. They don't go to social media looking for a fight; they go looking for new best friends. And they have found them. Disinformation operations aren't typically fake news or outright lies. Disinformation is most often simply spin." So, what to do then? It's no panacea, but this article in the Verge is better than most. It describes how to check facts, look at sources, and weigh the evidence. It's still not perfect - but it's better than just trusting the authorities.
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