1.5 Fact Checking Information

Unit 1 – Digital Citizenship

Fact-Checking
Information

Lesson Overview

Learners can:
• identify misinformation
• identify how lateral reading helps verify the accuracy of information online
• apply lateral reading to social media posts to determine their accuracy

Vocabulary:
• artificial intelligence technology (AI) - computer systems that can mimic skills usually done by humans, such as
speech recognition, decision-making, and visual perception.
• Corroboration - comparing what multiple sources say and determining where they agree or disagree.
• deep fakes - manipulated videos in which the image of a real event or person's image or actions is replaced with
other content, thus creating a deceiving depiction of the event or person. There are audio deep fakes as well.
• Disinformation - deliberate spread of information by someone who knows that the information they are presenting
as fact is untrue.
• fact-checkers - people who research claims
• fake news -
• lateral reading – opening multiple sources and reading them at the same time to determine factual information
• Misinformation - is false, flawed, misleading, or inaccurate information that is presented as fact, either intentionally
or unintentionally.

Word Cloud

What do you think of when you hear disinformation?

How can I avoid being fooled
by fake information online?

Photoshopping – A Modern Phenomenon?

• We tend to think of changing images
and altering them as a modern
"digital task", but this has almost
always been a thing.

After Lincoln's death, a historian discovered that the image of Lincoln shown on the far left was a fake. The creator transposed Lincoln's head on the body of South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, who happened to be a supporter of slavery. The historian noticed that the manipulator flipped the profile of another image of Lincoln and that Lincoln's mole was on the wrong side of his face.

What is a
Deep-Fake
Video?

deep fakes: manipulated videos in
which the image of a real event or
person's image or actions is
replaced with other content, thus
creating a deceiving depiction of
the event or person

What are examples of the positive
use of the faking ability of artificial
intelligence technology?

Multiple Select

What are examples of the positive use of the
faking ability of artificial intelligence
technology? (There are 2 correct answers)

• Eliminate misunderstanding in language translation.

• Creating entertaining content.

• Change harmful news patterns.

• Helping people who are unable to communicate by speech.

What are examples of the positive use of the
faking ability of artificial intelligence
technology?

Intent Matters!

Lateral Reader

"Who is behind the information?"

You can determine if what you read or watch on the Internet is information or misinformation by asking the question, "Who is behind the information?"

When people practice vertical reading, they scroll up and down a site they are viewing to determine more information about the source.

Professional fact-checkers, people who research claims, use lateral reading to help them check if the information or the claims made in a video or article are accurate and reliable.

Lateral reading means you leave the website you are viewing and open more tabs on your browser to see what other digital sources say about the information.

Investigating
Sources

​Check for Previous Fact-Checking Work

Look around to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim. Use a search engine, such as Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo, and type in keywords related to the claim you are researching. You can try the same search in different search engines as well to see if the results show different information.

Fact-checking websites like Snopes and FactCheck may have a ready answer about a claim you are researching.

​

Do another search using key terms related to the claim you are researching and see what other sources say about a topic. This strategy is called corroboration, comparing what multiple sources say and determining where they agree or disagree.

For example, check multiple news websites for information about the same topic. You should always be aware of bias or opinion in news stories, but by checking other sources, you gain a wider perspective and more details about an event.

Find Out What Other Sources Say

Take time to notice who is making a claim. With this piece of information, you can make a judgement about the trustworthiness of the claim.

​​Investigate the Source

Make a judgement about how reliable a website is. For example, the websites and newspapers have long-standing reputations as professional journalists, while other websites might allow individuals to post information. For example, Wikipedia is a sort of encyclopedia created and edited by volunteers. It is a good source to get a consensus viewpoint on a subject because the Wikipedia community has strict rules about sourcing facts from reliable sources.

​​Subheader

How does
checking other
sources when
lateral reading
help you make
judgments
about
information?

A

to evaluate the reliability of a source

B

to learn other viewpoints regarding a claim

C

to see if others have fact-checked a claim
already

D

to prove your opinion about a topic is correct

Draw

How does checking other sources when lateral reading help you make judgements about information? Put and X or checkmark next to all that apply.

How does
checking other
sources when
lateral reading
help you make
judgments
about
information?

A

to evaluate the reliability of a source

B

to learn other viewpoints regarding a claim

C

to see if others have fact-checked a claim
already

D

to prove your opinion about a topic is correct

Tomorrow: September 11th Lesson

Monday: Quiz