Dirty Little Secret Addressing An Issue

Review at least two of the sources listed below. Your choice! Each source addresses an issue with information on the Web.

1. Americans Favor Protecting Information Freedoms Over Government Steps to Restrict False News Online (Pew Research) (Links to an external site.)

“But 56% support steps from technology companies, even if it means some limits on publishing and accessing information.”

2. Facial recognition’s ‘dirty little secret’: Millions of online photos scraped without consent (NBC News) (Links to an external site.)

“People’s faces are being used without their permission, in order to power technology that could eventually be used to surveil them, legal experts say.”

Check it out: This article includes an interactive tool. Have your Flickr photos been used?

3. When Politicians Cherry-Pick Data and Disregard Facts, What Should We Academics Do? (Links to an external site.)

“When politicians distort science, academics and scientists tend to watch in shock from the sidelines rather than speak out. But in an age of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” we need to step into the breach and inject scientific literacy into the political discourse.”

4. Can You Win an Argument with a Conspiracy Theorist? (Links to an external site.)

“KQED’s ABOVE THE NOISE is a show that cuts through the hype and investigates the research behind controversial and trending topics in the news. Hosted by Myles Bess and Shirin Ghaffary.”

Watch the video, captions available. View video in “full screen” after you hit play. (7 minutes)

5. Search Engines May Seem All-Knowing, But They’re Not. Here’s How to Get More Trustworthy Results. (Links to an external site.)

“Now, the rankings of search engines are the result of inscrutable and anonymous yet authoritative-seeming processes that can sometimes hide falsity and bias. Part of the reason is that search engines are designed to appeal to what they perceive or predict as your values.”

6. This is That: “Thought Leadership” (Links to an external site.) Are you being manipulated by online videos?

Watch the video, captions available. View this video in “full screen” after you hit play. (5 minutes)