The truth is out there!

This was the tagline of the TV-series the "X-Files"and it is important to know what we are sourcing and what the information stands for.
Here are some guidelines named by Christian Kreutz on his blog "Exploring the Web for change"

A typical situation: You sit with friends together and discuss; a fact is cited, but you do not believe it and want to prove it is wrong, so you quickly check it  in the Internet. We increasingly rely on our digital backbone, which now it is even ubiquitous available through mobile phones. The net becomes our extended memory – not in any case it is easy to find an answer quickly, but is getting easier thanks to sources such as Wikipedia.
But how do we trust these sources? Sources can have very different approaches, trusted behind the information they offer:

• Wikileaks anonymously "publishes and comments on leaked documents alleging government and corporate misconduct."
• Bloggers stand with their reputation behind an information.
• Demand Media attempts to deliver thousands of answers each month from amateur writers and film-makers.
• Wikipedia relies on voluntarily work and editors to deliver accurate information or highlight it if it is not the case.
• Newspapers have a reputation of professional journalism.

But how do we decide in our daily information research source whether it is trusted or untrusted? There are many nuances between these two poles and various personal criteria on how to assess a source. I am curious to know what is desicive for you.  Here is a list of questions, which might apply or not:
Source Criteria:

• Who is behind the source?
• Is it a well-known institution or person?
• Where does it originally come from?
• Does it indicate an author?
• Is the article old or up-to-date?
• Does it have comments? How many comments?
• Has the website a commercial intention or is the information service a common good?
• Is the article personally or objectively written?
• Does it have many or none citation to other sources?
• How well written is the article?
• How open is the person behind a presented page? For example, does the author have a biography or a Twitter account?

Network factor:

• Who has recommended the source? Is it a friend, colleague or peer?
• Is it a link from  a well-known or unknown blog post to the source?
• Does the source have many readers/subscribers?
• Is it often cited? Can it be checked for example through a Twitter search or Technorati rank, in case of a blog.

Appearance:

• Is the website professionally designed?
• Do you like the design? Would you trust an information source with an appalling design?
• Does it focus on content or rather advertisement?
• Can you navigate easily or are there obstacles to find your information?
• Is it a rather closed site or does it link to a website?

These are only some examples showing how tricky it is to evaluate a source and set the needed range of skills to assess an information from different angles. How can these skills be learnt?

Today I want you to look at three kinds of internet sources and give comments which you can email me afterwards.
Information .
Check out the homepage of the BBC
www.bbc.co.uk

Look at the news section.
What are the main headline stories?
How does the BBC divide its reporting of the news.
Compare with SVT's homepage.
What differences do you notice.
Now check out a major national newspaper such as
The Independent
Their job is to give the news but also to sell "copy".
Look at their homepage. Can you see any differences between the kind of stories they publish compared to the BBC?

Education
A lot of news sites have an educational/pedagogical aim.
Check out CNN Student news
In what way are CNN using the news to "educate"?
What aspects of English can you learn from their reporting?
How is this different from the above news sites?

What is the focus of their news? (USA, world events etc)
Are they presented "objectively"? How can you tell?

Propaganda
Look at the following article.
How much of the information you access is in fact misinformation?
Check out some sites dealing with 9/11
The film "Loose change" and the articles around it.
Here is an article from Slate magazine dealing with the issue.

How do you find out if things are true or not on the internet.

Finally look at one of the clips from Vsauce.
How do you know the information is factual?
In a TED Talk there is a live audience who are "scrutinising" what is being said.
Who stands for the information in Vsauce and how reliable is it?
Students from SA13.
Work on your documents for Uganda!!