#media information literacy medialiteracy informationliteracy

[danimarcelino]

Post #1

(This is probably as creative as I’ll get when trying to come up with catchy titles for my posts. So anyways ---)

HELLO TUMBLR!

So here's a situation: 

Bob is your normal 21st century bloke. Like every other normal 21st century blokes wandering around, Bob is the proud owner of a phone. And through this phone, he can access the biggest treasure trove of information - The Internet. Scrolling through Facebook one day, Bob sees an article shared by one of his friends. His favourite British celebrity, Benadryl Crumplesnitch, has died last week. Bob shares this article, and his fellow Cookiesnatch fans kickstarts one of media's biggest and possibly the most distraught mourning ever. 

 A week later, Bumblebee Custardbath tweets out: "What's this about me being dead? Last time I checked, all my limbs are still in one piece??" 

 Bob, afterwards, is sufficiently embarassed. 

 What just happened? Aside from Mr. Bumbleshack Crackerjack's ever-changing name, what did happen in that strange order of events? 

We could say that our good friend Bob has obviously been the victim of what we call "fake news". Quickly believing the articles detailing the death of Bandicoot Chesterfield, Bob has failed to be literate in both media and information. 

"But Ms. Itsagclasstask, what does that even mean?!" you ask me aggressively. 

Well, young grasshopper, literacy in media and information simply means being able to effectively gather accurate information through the use of media or any other sources of varying trustworthiness. 

 "Oh my god," you exclaim, "How can I become exactly that?" 

DON'T BE LIKE BOB. 

As I'm feeling generous today, here are five ways I swear by to prevent yourself from becoming another one of the Bobs of this world : 

Fact check - I cannot stress enough how important this is. One of the things that led to Bob's eventual downfall is that He. Did. Not. Fact check. He simply believed the words handed to him on a silver platter, without consulting other sources about the validity of the information. And speaking of sources..

Make sure you're getting information from a trustworthy source - Bob failed to do such a thing. He failed to consult news websites like CNN, BBC News, etc. Surely, if someone as great and acclaimed as Bandersnatch Cul-de-sac was to meet his doom, the bigger news broadcasting organisations would mourn for weeks! However, Bob's article probably came from some no-name, unknown website. Tsk, tsk. 

Ask yourself, "Am I on the right platform"? - The Internet, I've observed, tends to take the form of extremes. Either it's extremely helpful, or extremely UN-helpful. Say that Bob didn't find the article on Facebook, but somewhere with a reputation of not taking things seriously. Somewhere like 9Gag, for example. Would you believe it? Bob certainly would. 

Read a lot. Learn a lot. Expand your knowledge. - Alright, stick with me on this one. Wise men say "only fools rush in", thus the best solution to every problem is prevention. If only poor Bob was aware of the existence of fake news and how to spot such things, perhaps he wouldn't have easily believed that one article. Alas, Bob disregarded the sayings of wisemen and rushed in foolishly. 

If all else fails, ask the person concerned directly. - If you've gone through all and every solution you could think of, there's one last thing left to do. Go straight to the dudes involved. In Bob's case, he read an article detailing the doubtlessly gruesome death of Beetlejuice Curdlesnoot. 

Faced with the same situation, head over to his social medias. Tweet at him. Send him PMs. Pester him. Send him letters. Send his manager letters. And y'know what, send Martin Freeman letters. 

Confirm that Bonapart Chucklecheese is well and truly dead before beginning your mourning. 

Wishing you all the best, 

itsaglasstask 

[ejude]

Are you media and information literate?