we live in a time where throughs
presented by reputable authorities are
being shotted down by anonymous outrage
when volume reigns over substance
it’s as if facts don’t matter studies
have shown that people are not as
discerning as to the quality of
information but what they find more
emotionally persuasive people are
hearing what they want to hear and
seeing what they want to see and as
self-published material on the Internet
continues to look more professional this
explosion of user-generated content has
forever changed how we should critically
engage with information and media but
what we should do and what we actually
do are often two different things just
as we should eat a balanced diet rich in
diverse foods in order to be informed
citizens in order to be able to engage
in the rich discourse we want everyone
to engage in we need to actively and
purposefully consume quality information
from a range of sources the 2016 Pew
Research Center survey found that over
60% of people are getting news on social
media by happening upon it this is the
equivalent just driving around to figure
out what you’re gonna have for dinner
you’ve already made your decision there
is no way that you’re gonna end up at
the supermarket and purchasing salmon
and broccoli and rice pilaf
you’re not eating healthy tonight you’re
getting fast food you just don’t want to
admit it yet and just scrolling along
and happening upon headlines is
problematic as even when false
information is later corrected there’s
still misconceptions that linger think
about the one study that linked vaccines
to autism which has repeatedly been
proven false and the author discredited
yet the misconception still lingers a
page to retraction will never undo the
damage of a false headline the 2017 Pew
Research Center survey found that forty
five percent of us
adults get some news from Facebook now
think about who you’re connected to on
Facebook your friends your family many
studies have shown that we are
continually living in more homogenous
communities despite the fact that we are
more diverse as a nation than ever
before according to the New York Times
60% of voters in the last election we’re
living in what are referred to as
landslide counties these are counties
whose margin of victory are greater than
20 percentage points
this trend extends well beyond political
affiliation to many different
demographic measurables and these
measures become especially apparent when
you’re compiling your Facebook friends
roster because you don’t treat this like
you do a hiring process where you look
to see who would add value who would add
diversity of thought diversity of
opinion diversity of insight for your
team without diversity you and the
voices you hear often start to sound
eerily alike because you are eerily
alike especially as Facebook’s algorithm
will highlight and promote posts that
you like and comment on it will even
prioritize posts that you spore spend
more time looking at even if you
eventually don’t like or comment on it
this creates what is referred to as a
self-fulfilling prophecy with people
hearing what they want to hear and
seeing what they want to see and it
comes together in what’s referred to as
an echo chamber these echo chambers
exists across all social media platforms
where like-minded people continually
affirm each other’s views this sounds
positive but it’s actually much more
destructive as conversation is stifled
these conversations can be represented
through something called semantic
language analysis the MIT Media Lab
performs such a study of Twitter during
the presidential election from August
2015 the Election Day 2016
they found distinct liberal and
conservative communities that developed
what was troublesome is that within
these communities they were engaging in
the same topics of Commerce a
but isolated within their own community
these conversations are so distinct that
the Wall Street Journal set up a website
called blue feed red feed now
well the name harkens to dr. Seuss the
reality is not nearly as much fun this
website is a side-by-side comparison of
live liberal and conservative feeds on
topics ranging from private President
Trump to health care to guns to
immigration the information presented on
each feed is drastically different than
the other even though they are on the
same exact topic fake news is not why
this has taken place this is how fake
news takes place there is an existing
division that is being exploited for
advertising revenue more often than not
these sites are being hosted
internationally by teens and
20-somethings with the primary purpose
of making money in the last election the
most effective fake news stories for
either pro Trump or anti Clinton and
they were consumed widely by both sides
they place emphasis on memes and videos
as those are the easiest to process on
Facebook in the three months leading up
to the election the top 20 fake news
stories garnered over 8.7 million shares
reactions and comments on Facebook
compared to 7.3 million for the top 20
real news stories we are in a situation
as a society where fake news can outpace
real news because we are continually
living in more homogenous communities
despite the fact that we are more
diverse as a nation than ever before we
are living in these homogenous
communities in our daily lives as well
as online this dangerously limits our
exposure to differing views as well as
multiple sources of information with
this limited exposure echo chambers
eight are able to foster and incubate
misinformation and fake news people are
then able to take this false information
and use it to affirm a preconceived
worldview all the while these sites are
able to collect the advertising revenue
and what is a multi-billion dollar
industry
so how do we promote truths over
misinformation first support libraries
advocate for school libraries invest in
public libraries the role of librarians
has changed drastically from the
gatekeepers of an information repository
the guides who helped navigate the way
by teaching information literacy at its
core information literacy is about the
ability to find information that
information engage with information to
create new knowledge and do so in an
ethical manner most people are familiar
with the old model of library
instruction which used to focus
primarily on finding information the
information was literally in the
building finding it was a hard part but
once you found it it was going to be
pretty good quality is why it was in
that curated collection now there’s a
universe of information that is growing
exponentially the size of the internet
doubles every couple of years there are
300 hours of video being loaded onto
YouTube every minute that is almost 2
weeks worth of content every single
second this is why information literacy
not only focuses on the ability to find
information but to vet and engage with
that information in a critical manner
however there is a fundamental
misunderstanding amongst decision makers
that the ease of access to information
is a reason not to need librarians
despite the mountains of evidence that
show the soaring benefits of having a
well resourced and well staffed school
library as such during budget cuts
libraries are often the first thing to
go in Chicago the nation’s third largest
school district seventy-five percent of
students will not have access to a
librarian in the 2017-18 school year
this is a drastic decline since 2012
were nearly every Chicago public school
library was staffed in Los Angeles the
naked nation’s second largest school
system budget cuts for the 2017-18
school year left forty-three elementary
school
libraries on staff in New York City the
nation’s largest school district in
2017-18 it is reported that the
Department of Education failed to
provide librarians 87% of Harlem schools
this trend needs to be corrected school
libraries are crucial and necessary
towards teaching information literacy so
that our students can find evaluate and
use good information in an ethical
manner second purposefully read the news
don’t settle for the easy fast food of
information by passively consuming
headlines
remember the damaging lingering effects
of misinformation even when it’s later
corrected read in a way that will make
you better
purposefully read the news from multiple
sources and make your own critical
assessments engage with information that
you would normally not happen upon
within your own homogeneous community
this will add balance to your
information diet think of it as reading
your vegetables third delve into
discourse you know the large majority of
your Facebook friends in real life you
can talk to them about what they are
posting remember people are not as
discerning as to the quality of
information but what they find more
emotionally persuasive people are
convinced by emotions ask where they’re
getting their information ask about
their sources there will often be a
personal story as to why they are drawn
to that specific piece of misinformation
because they’re making decisions with
emotions empathy is necessary but just
because you’re nice does not mean that
you agree Pope Francis compared fake
news to the crafty serpent in Genesis I
feel to fit in comparison misinformation
is deception it’s a trick
and it said the greatest trick the devil
ever played was convincing the world he
did not exist
do not allow bad information that
privilege we cannot ignore the situation
nor be passive any longer my charge to
you is to actively engage misinformation
support libraries purposely read the
news delve into discourse shine the
light of truths and declare facts do matter thank you
presented by reputable authorities are
being shotted down by anonymous outrage
when volume reigns over substance
it’s as if facts don’t matter studies
have shown that people are not as
discerning as to the quality of
information but what they find more
emotionally persuasive people are
hearing what they want to hear and
seeing what they want to see and as
self-published material on the Internet
continues to look more professional this
explosion of user-generated content has
forever changed how we should critically
engage with information and media but
what we should do and what we actually
do are often two different things just
as we should eat a balanced diet rich in
diverse foods in order to be informed
citizens in order to be able to engage
in the rich discourse we want everyone
to engage in we need to actively and
purposefully consume quality information
from a range of sources the 2016 Pew
Research Center survey found that over
60% of people are getting news on social
media by happening upon it this is the
equivalent just driving around to figure
out what you’re gonna have for dinner
you’ve already made your decision there
is no way that you’re gonna end up at
the supermarket and purchasing salmon
and broccoli and rice pilaf
you’re not eating healthy tonight you’re
getting fast food you just don’t want to
admit it yet and just scrolling along
and happening upon headlines is
problematic as even when false
information is later corrected there’s
still misconceptions that linger think
about the one study that linked vaccines
to autism which has repeatedly been
proven false and the author discredited
yet the misconception still lingers a
page to retraction will never undo the
damage of a false headline the 2017 Pew
Research Center survey found that forty
five percent of us
adults get some news from Facebook now
think about who you’re connected to on
Facebook your friends your family many
studies have shown that we are
continually living in more homogenous
communities despite the fact that we are
more diverse as a nation than ever
before according to the New York Times
60% of voters in the last election we’re
living in what are referred to as
landslide counties these are counties
whose margin of victory are greater than
20 percentage points
this trend extends well beyond political
affiliation to many different
demographic measurables and these
measures become especially apparent when
you’re compiling your Facebook friends
roster because you don’t treat this like
you do a hiring process where you look
to see who would add value who would add
diversity of thought diversity of
opinion diversity of insight for your
team without diversity you and the
voices you hear often start to sound
eerily alike because you are eerily
alike especially as Facebook’s algorithm
will highlight and promote posts that
you like and comment on it will even
prioritize posts that you spore spend
more time looking at even if you
eventually don’t like or comment on it
this creates what is referred to as a
self-fulfilling prophecy with people
hearing what they want to hear and
seeing what they want to see and it
comes together in what’s referred to as
an echo chamber these echo chambers
exists across all social media platforms
where like-minded people continually
affirm each other’s views this sounds
positive but it’s actually much more
destructive as conversation is stifled
these conversations can be represented
through something called semantic
language analysis the MIT Media Lab
performs such a study of Twitter during
the presidential election from August
2015 the Election Day 2016
they found distinct liberal and
conservative communities that developed
what was troublesome is that within
these communities they were engaging in
the same topics of Commerce a
but isolated within their own community
these conversations are so distinct that
the Wall Street Journal set up a website
called blue feed red feed now
well the name harkens to dr. Seuss the
reality is not nearly as much fun this
website is a side-by-side comparison of
live liberal and conservative feeds on
topics ranging from private President
Trump to health care to guns to
immigration the information presented on
each feed is drastically different than
the other even though they are on the
same exact topic fake news is not why
this has taken place this is how fake
news takes place there is an existing
division that is being exploited for
advertising revenue more often than not
these sites are being hosted
internationally by teens and
20-somethings with the primary purpose
of making money in the last election the
most effective fake news stories for
either pro Trump or anti Clinton and
they were consumed widely by both sides
they place emphasis on memes and videos
as those are the easiest to process on
Facebook in the three months leading up
to the election the top 20 fake news
stories garnered over 8.7 million shares
reactions and comments on Facebook
compared to 7.3 million for the top 20
real news stories we are in a situation
as a society where fake news can outpace
real news because we are continually
living in more homogenous communities
despite the fact that we are more
diverse as a nation than ever before we
are living in these homogenous
communities in our daily lives as well
as online this dangerously limits our
exposure to differing views as well as
multiple sources of information with
this limited exposure echo chambers
eight are able to foster and incubate
misinformation and fake news people are
then able to take this false information
and use it to affirm a preconceived
worldview all the while these sites are
able to collect the advertising revenue
and what is a multi-billion dollar
industry
so how do we promote truths over
misinformation first support libraries
advocate for school libraries invest in
public libraries the role of librarians
has changed drastically from the
gatekeepers of an information repository
the guides who helped navigate the way
by teaching information literacy at its
core information literacy is about the
ability to find information that
information engage with information to
create new knowledge and do so in an
ethical manner most people are familiar
with the old model of library
instruction which used to focus
primarily on finding information the
information was literally in the
building finding it was a hard part but
once you found it it was going to be
pretty good quality is why it was in
that curated collection now there’s a
universe of information that is growing
exponentially the size of the internet
doubles every couple of years there are
300 hours of video being loaded onto
YouTube every minute that is almost 2
weeks worth of content every single
second this is why information literacy
not only focuses on the ability to find
information but to vet and engage with
that information in a critical manner
however there is a fundamental
misunderstanding amongst decision makers
that the ease of access to information
is a reason not to need librarians
despite the mountains of evidence that
show the soaring benefits of having a
well resourced and well staffed school
library as such during budget cuts
libraries are often the first thing to
go in Chicago the nation’s third largest
school district seventy-five percent of
students will not have access to a
librarian in the 2017-18 school year
this is a drastic decline since 2012
were nearly every Chicago public school
library was staffed in Los Angeles the
naked nation’s second largest school
system budget cuts for the 2017-18
school year left forty-three elementary
school
libraries on staff in New York City the
nation’s largest school district in
2017-18 it is reported that the
Department of Education failed to
provide librarians 87% of Harlem schools
this trend needs to be corrected school
libraries are crucial and necessary
towards teaching information literacy so
that our students can find evaluate and
use good information in an ethical
manner second purposefully read the news
don’t settle for the easy fast food of
information by passively consuming
headlines
remember the damaging lingering effects
of misinformation even when it’s later
corrected read in a way that will make
you better
purposefully read the news from multiple
sources and make your own critical
assessments engage with information that
you would normally not happen upon
within your own homogeneous community
this will add balance to your
information diet think of it as reading
your vegetables third delve into
discourse you know the large majority of
your Facebook friends in real life you
can talk to them about what they are
posting remember people are not as
discerning as to the quality of
information but what they find more
emotionally persuasive people are
convinced by emotions ask where they’re
getting their information ask about
their sources there will often be a
personal story as to why they are drawn
to that specific piece of misinformation
because they’re making decisions with
emotions empathy is necessary but just
because you’re nice does not mean that
you agree Pope Francis compared fake
news to the crafty serpent in Genesis I
feel to fit in comparison misinformation
is deception it’s a trick
and it said the greatest trick the devil
ever played was convincing the world he
did not exist
do not allow bad information that
privilege we cannot ignore the situation
nor be passive any longer my charge to
you is to actively engage misinformation
support libraries purposely read the
news delve into discourse shine the
light of truths and declare facts do matter thank you
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