Being web literate is important because it is important to be aware of the information you are taking in. In the social media age, information is constantly being shown to us. A web literate person uses critical thinking skills and evaluates the media that they are taking in.
Being critical about the sources in which you get your information both in your everyday life and in your academic papers makes you a better scholar and a better citizen.
Just as if you were looking to see if your source is credible for a research paper, you can also check to see if your source if your everyday information is credible as well.
The SIFT section was adapted from Mike Caulfield's "Check, Please" course. This can be found at http://lessons.checkplease.cc.
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Information Now, Second Edition by
Today's information environments are complex, and learning how to find relevant and reliable information online, as well as how to fact-check and evaluate that information, is essential. Enter Information Now, a graphic guide that uses humor and sequential art to teach students about information, research, and the web. This second edition of the popular guide incorporates critical analysis of information systems, asking students to think about the biases and problems in how databases and search engines are designed and used. It also addresses how different populations of people are disproportionately affected by the algorithmic biases built into information systems. And it includes revised critical thinking exercises in every chapter. Written and revised by library professionals, Information Now is a fun and insightful tool for high school and college students, writers, and anyone wanting to improve their research skills.
Fake News and Alternative Facts by
Listen to a podcast with the author now! Talk of so-called fake news, what it is and what it isn't, is front and center across the media landscape, with new calls for the public to acquire appropriate research and evaluation skills and become more information savvy. But none of this is new for librarians and information professionals, particularly for those who teach information literacy. Cooke, a Library Journal Mover & Shaker, believes that the current situation represents a golden opportunity for librarians to impart these important skills to patrons, regardless of their age or experience. In this Special Report, she demonstrates how. Readers will learn more about the rise of fake news, particularly those information behaviors that have perpetuated its spread; discover techniques to identify fake news, especially online; and explore methods to help library patrons of all ages think critically about information, teaching them ways to separate fact from fiction. Information literacy is a key skill for all news consumers, and this Special Report shows how librarians can make a difference by helping patrons identify misinformation.
When looking at information, stop and ask yourself if you know or trust the author. Do you know the publisher or trust the publisher? Is it a website? Do you trust the source? Don't share the information or trust the website until you do. Is the information up to date (when was it published, posted, printed)? Who published it? Do they have something to gain from this information (money, persuasion, media clicks)?
Who created the content that you are looking at and are they really qualified to share and comment on the information? Use the internet to find how who the person is who wrote the information. Use the stop verification step. This is where you answer the questions you asked yourself in stop. This is where you will begin to read "laterally" across multiple sources instead of a single source ("vertically").
Simply find other sources. Can you find other information that corroborates the information? This will help you find if the information is true.
And sometimes you still might not know. And that is OK! This is where the better coverage comes in. If you want to know about the claim and less about the source, then is there better information out there about it from trusted resources? Don't sink time in something that is coming up with worms and hop on to finding more.
One of the most important aspect of the internet is knowing that a lot of the information we are given (especially on social media) is stripped from context. Things can be intentionally misleading, videos clipped out of context, or quotes gotten wrong. Tracing contexts back to the source can be easily done with the technology available to you!