Today! Fake News Poetry Workshop

Fake News Poetry Workshop: Radical Digital Media Literacy  

Room E-229 

Zine Making & Poetry Workshop on Monday, April 30 from 1:00-3:00pm in Room E-111

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL - Hosts include: the LaGuardia Community College student literary magazine The Lit (http://www.laguardia.edu/English/The-Lit/) and Professor Lucy McNair; students from Professors Tuli Chatterji and Christopher Schmidt's classes. Writing guidance will be provided with poet Lisa Cohen.

This series of experimental poetry workshops/community conversations was created by Alexandra Juhasz (Chair of Filmby Read more about it here:https://medium.com/the-operating-system/10-tries-100-poems-alexandra-juhasz-field-n...

4/25: The Web and (Mis) information

Reflections from last class: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K2fab-0OlHALibhGoIP8qnMWij9hV-Xb5q9kfs_Eqoo/edit?usp=sharing



Class

Essential Question: How does the World Wide Web help and hinder the sharing of information and the creation of a knowledge society?

1. From Nineteen Eighty-Four

2. Read: The Onion: “Facebook User Verifies Truth of Article by Carefully Checking it Against Own Preconceived Opinions”

3. Report on Shane

4. Reflect and Discuss:

Problem 1: What's legitimate information? What is dubious information? How can we tell the difference? Why does being able to tell the difference matter?

Step 1: Individually, evaluate and report:

A. Here is a sample of the homepage for Slate.com. Identify which of the numbered items is a news story, and which is an advertisement. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Egjt-4g-yZaUgza0pnTEM0TGs/view?usp=sharing

B. Does this post provide strong evidence about the conditions near the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant? Explain your reasoning.  http://imgur.com/gallery/BZWWx

What about the original posting? https://twitter.com/san_kaido/status/603513371934130176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

C. Why this tweet might and might not be a useful source of information?https://twitter.com/moveon/status/666772893846675456?lang=en

More on the Fukushima Mutant Flowers

• As  reported by The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3171748/Land-mutant-daisies-Radiation-causes-flowers-grow-strangely-near-site-nuclear-plant-suffered-meltdown-tragic-tsunami.html
• As reported by Weather.com: https://weather.com/science/nature/news/mutant-flowers-japan-fukushima-famous
• As reported by National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150723-fukushima-mutated-daisies-flowers-radiation-science/
• As fact-checked by Snopes.com: http://www.snopes.com/nuclear-mutant-daisies/

Step 2: With a partner, define  and report: What is and is not "fake news"?

• Satirical news from a site like The Onion (“Dolphin Spends Amazing Vacation Swimming With Stockbroker”) 
• The daily clickbait in our social media feeds (such as the one written by the "new yellow journalist" Shane).
• Outright invented news, like pieces that claimed, just before the election, that Pope Francis had endorsed Donald J. Trump, or that Donald Trump had once said that “Republicans are the dumbest group of voters.”
• Erroneous interpretation of a fact that is distributed without fact-checking (as with the  Fukushima Mutant Flowers). 
• "Native advertising": Advertisement passing as news (as in Slate.com).  
• News that shows a highly partisan bias. 

 Consider: Are some of these forms of unreliable news more dangerous than others? Which? Why?

Problem 2: How do the Internet and Web help and hinder fake news? 

Individually, reflect and report: In a recent letter to the world, Sir Tim Berners-Lee reminded us that he imagined the world wide as "an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries." In what ways do the specific characteristics of the Internet and the World Wide Web, especially in its 2.0, 3.0, and mobile versions contribute to the boom of fake news?

Possible solutions: Explore and report: CUNY Graduate School Fake News Cheat Sheet 

See also :

Fact-checking sites:

• http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/  
• http://www.snopes.com/
• http://www.politifact.com/
• To check the authenticity of images, reverse-Google them to find their origins: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en

Browser plug-ins:

• BS Detector (Chrome, Firefox, Safari): http://bsdetector.tech 
• Fake News Alert (Chrome): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-alert/aickfmgnhocegpdbfnpfnedpeionfkbh  
• This is Fake (Chrome, for Facebook feed): https://www.thisisfake.org/

For next class

• Read Cadwalladr, “Google, democracy and the truth about internet search.”
• Write: Journal on Cadwalladr using the 7Ws

4/23: Mass and Targeted Surveillance

If you plan to turn in Essay 2,  turn in 

• Draft 1 
• Reader Feedback (2 reader reports)
• Draft 2
• Essay Checklist
• Any slips proving you have visited the Writing Center (B200) or SGA Tutoring

Class

More on algorithms:  https://datasociety.net/output/algorithmic-accountability-a-primer/

1. Lecture on the documentary Terms and Conditions May Apply

• If you have not watched  Terms and Conditions, you must do so now.
• If you have watched the documentary: Watch and react to 4 moments in Terms and Conditions: https://goo.gl/forms/lYE84NThnXdFusWm2
• Vocabulary: 
• Clip 1: The Onion, Stasi; 
• Clip 2: Pre crime, Minority Report, The Royal Wedding; 
• Clip 3: loophole, gag order, 4th Amendment

http://laguardia.kanopystreaming.com/playlist/1323442
Interview with Director Cullen Hoback

2. Lecture on The Guardian's "The NSA Files: Decoded"

React to the information in the NSA Files: Decode: https://goo.gl/forms/lYE84NThnXdFusWm2

Your reactions to both texts

3. Things to Come? "Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens"

4. Complete the Exit Questions: https://goo.gl/forms/cgcyno5ErSrpvlWb2

For next class

• Read: Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.”
• Write: Journal 8 on Shane using the 7Ws