With the dawn of the internet age, the world became far more connected and able to share information faster with one another no matter where you were on the planet. Which is great but while the world is full of information not all of it is accurate and some people may try to spread false information to manipulate or deceive you. This makes information literacy all the more important in order to stay informed but also to make sure you don’t spread misinformation even with the best intentions of being helpful.
The American Library Association defines information literacy as a set of abilities that require a person to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” This goes hand in hand with media literacy, or the ability to critically analyze stories presented in the mass media and to determine their accuracy or credibility. When it comes to bad information there are two main types you often hear about: misinformation and disinformation. But what is the difference?
MISINFORMATION is false or inaccurate information. Basically getting the facts wrong by mistake or inaccurate research and sharing.
DISINFORMATION is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead. In other words, information that has been skewed or intentionally inaccurate for the purpose of moving people away from the truth.
So before you share a story on social media or take anything you read as fact, there are a few steps you can take in order to determine the validity of what you are consuming. Purdue University offers an excellent guide for checking the reliability of information, which you can read here. Let's look at the basics:
Identify Who Provided The Information
- Author credentials
- Author reputation
- Institutional affiliation
- Peer review
Acknowledge Any Potential Bias
- Is the framing objective or subjective
- Who funds the organization providing this information
- Who are affiliated with the organization
Check the Purpose of the Information
- Informative or persuasive
- Primary vs. secondary sources
- Intended audience
Verify Citations and References
- Do they cite their sources
- Validity of sources
- How up to date is the information
While the internet is full of bad information it is also full of many helpful resources to combat misinformation and fact check what you are reading. Here are a few handy sources:
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https://www.politifact.com/
- a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials
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https://www.factcheck.org/
- FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics
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https://www.opensecrets.org/
- The Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
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https://www.snopes.com/
- The definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.
Think you have the skills to identify misinformation? Take some of these handy quizzes on misinformation or AI photos to see how you do:
Vetting for Credibility quiz:
