LiDA100: Learning in a Digital Age

Stimulus Resources

• Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers M.A. Caulfield (2017)
• Using Buzzmo to Find Highly Viral Stories

Restricted Blog Search

• blogsearchengine.org
• blogsearch.google.com

Purpose

The purpose of this learning challenge is to apply web-literacy skills for fact-checking using a blog post sourced online on a topical news item or issue of your choice.

Tasks

1. Choose a topical news item or issue of interest. Your Facebook or Twitter feed is a good place to start, or use Using Buzzmo.
2. Search the blog sphere for a suitable post for fact-checking using blogsearchengine.org or blogsearch.google.com. For the purposes of this challenge:
   • Assertions claiming some “fact” are good candidates for this exercise.
   • Choose a source you are not familiar with, that is, avoid posts from national newspapers of record.
   • Don’t select the first item from the search list, review a few posts to find something interesting and suitable for fact-checking analysis.
3. Restate the issue in the form of a question, for example:
   • Do speed cameras reduce the crash rate?
   • Is it better to go to university or college?
   • Are e-cigarettes as harmful as smoking tobacco?
   • Does red wine compound kill colon cancer?
   • Will drinking coffee make you live longer?
4. Apply the four fact-checking moves covered in this learning pathway to evaluate the post (i.e. check for previous work, go upstream, read laterally and circle back if required).

Outputs

Publish a blog post (about 400 to 500 words) documenting your fact-checking exercise. You blog post should:

1. State the title of the blog post in the form of a question
2. Provide a hyperlink to the the original blog post you are fact-checking
3. State the reason why you chose the blog post
4. Summary report of your findings using the following sub-headings:
   • Previous work
   • Going upstream
   • Reading laterally
   • Circling back (if needed)
   • Conclusion
   • References (APA style)
5. Include hyperlinks to appropriate sources providing online evidence of what you found.
6. Remember to tag or label your post using the course code: lida104