| Response sheet 3, for class, Tuesday | |
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This week, and next, we will be investigating historical background for four places in the world that recently have suddenly become prominent in the news, for new reasons. Investigating such historical background is necessary because most news and commentary addresses the current moment without providing any historical background. And it is necessary because access to professional journalism has been shrinking so dramatically in American life, and has been supplanted by increasingly saturating disinformation — i.e., deliberately false content meant to deceive. It is furthermore necessary because most content on the World Wide Web tends not to reveal its sources or its protocols. Infinitely worse, the current rise of “artificial intelligence” presents source-less content built upon mountains of misinformation and disinformation. “Artificial intelligence” is neither intelligent nor information. 1. So, our starting point must be: What you have been taught about how to evaluate websites in order to determine whether their content constitutes actual information rather than disinformation?2. Beyond what you were once taught, what are your own current routine working procedures for evaluating websites? 3. What fact-checking websites do you consult? This past couple of weeks I have been consulting extensively with Indiana University’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning precisely about this important modern challenge — what they term “information literacy.” We will be investigating information literacy necessarily at the same time as we investigate historical background on the four places. So, we will be adding plenty of in-class research to today’s response sheet.... |