With so many desperate for information regarding the recent devastation of the east coast resulting from Hurricane Sandy's wrath, media itself was, as per usual, desperate itself to provide that information not only first, but as dramatically as they could. False reports rushed in as quickly as the floods--some news outlets even reported that the Stock Exchange floor had been covered in three feet of water before doing any fact checking of their own. News channels and new media all used photoshopped and outright faked or unrelated images in their reporting of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.
The question is this: have we as a society been so ready to accept information without first doing further research? How can media of this sort--whether journalism or advertisement--impact our actions as teachers and affect the way our students think?
Further information:
The Verge: Three Feet of Muck: How the Floor of the New York Stock Exchange Became a Troll Jackpot
The Verge: During Hurricane Sandy, Misinformation and Fact-checking Clash on Twitter
We as teachers need to teach our students that not all sources can be reliable, or accurate. It is vital that we teach our students how to check reliability as well as not believing everything we read/see. This problem becomes an issue when teachers believe the false information and then teaches their class according to their assumptions.
ReplyDeleteAs we begin to integrate technology into education we need to be aware that not everything is reliable. This article also brought to light that just because you find multiple sources with the same information, it still may not be true. Even getting articles from news sources may be unreliable. Finding reliable information will be even harder. It will be important to find multiple reliable sources of information. Reliable may also mean finding sources that contradict the information you are looking for as well. It will be important to make sure that you have reliable information but also that students know how to find and use information that they find through technology, wether it be the internet, social media etc.
ReplyDeleteThis guy says it perfectly!
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/blogs/newsmakers/reddit-co-founder-defends-site-and-internet-freedom-of-speech.html