Fake News (overview)

Weeks 7-8 (Oct 22 – Nov 4).
Can we tell the difference between real news and “fake” news? Long before the digital revolution, misinformation and conspiracy was a journalistic concern. If truth is “something that happens to an idea”, the status of truth has always been questionable. But ideas (whether true or not) have consequences, most notably the power to influence behaviours and belief systems.
In a political culture of post-truth in which debate is framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy, we will consider how to develop and promote critical digital literacies in a global intercultural context.

Featured activities:

Read & Twitter chat (organized by Bonnie Stewart @bonstewart) : Zeynep Tufekci (2018) How social media took us from Tahrir Square to Donald Trump

Read & follow-up: Mike Caulfield’s Recognition is futile and then use Four Moves blog – choose one and blog response to the challenge in it, using the Four Moves. If you prefer audio, here is a podcast interview with Mike.

Play game & reflect: “Fake it to make it” game

Play game & reflect: “Bad News” & blog reflections

Studio visit:

Online studio visit and discussion with invited guests (TBD)

Optional resources & activities:

Article/video: Chris Gilliard on Pedagogy and the logic of platforms – or watch this brief video provocation by Chris

Blog/activity: Contribute your own “suspicious news” item for Four Moves blog and analyze it using Four Moves

Podcast: Nishant Shah on different conceptions of safety online

Got a suggested activity, reading or resource?

The fastest way to share and keep your suggestions available to others is to post a comment below.

  • If you suggest an activity please give a brief description and link us to a more detailed description on your own blog or Google doc
  • If you recommend material, please clarify if text, video, audio or game, and provide a link (hopefully open access).
  • If you suggest an adaptation or reflection on the activities above, it might be easier to post those on the post for the particular activity rather than the overview.

Thanks in advance! And feel free to share your ideas for additional activities elsewhere also.

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