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Topic 2

Don’t believe everything you read

The internet has become an essential tool for information. However, the vast quantity of information available and our heavy reliance on this has produced issues surrounding the quality, authenticity and credibility of information (Metzger, 2007). Whilst the web has granted us access to a diversity of opinions, it has also created a space for insulated like-minded individuals to come together (Alcott and Gentzkow, 2017). Continue reading →

Assessing the Web: Reflection

I found this week’s topic very interesting as I feel like we all of us have been affected by fake news or clickbait at some point in our life. I was surprised to find that from August 2016 till the election day on 8th of November 2016 the total Facebook engagement for fake news was greater in comparison to the mainstream news by 1.4 million. Which made me question whether Facebook is doing anything to combat the spread of fake news. Continue reading →

Reflection Topic 2 – ‘Fake News’: Who is responsible?

My initial stance regarding the problem of fake news was slanted towards placing all responsibility on the individual for assessing whether information online is false or not. However reading Luke’s comment allowed me to reflect on just how impractical it is for the average reader to critically assess each article or story they read to judge its validity, due to the amount of time it would take. Continue reading →

Reflection on Fake News

Credit: Snopes Coming into a topic about ‘fake news’ I thought it was a chance for me to educate, as I considered myself adept in identifying fake news. However, over the course of this topic, I learnt a lot. I had discussed with friends that artificial intelligence could be a solution to fake news. However, over this topic I sided with the view that artificial intelligence couldn’t safely create a solution in the foreseeable future. Continue reading →

Reflecting on Fake News

Reflecting on the topic This week’s blog post centred around us discussing and weighing up how to spot and be able to see past fake news online. From reviewing other individual’s blogs, such as Nikhita’s, it was rather interesting to see an overwhelming view from almost everyone that fake news, poor journalism, and pushed propaganda was a real issue and should be pushed to the forefront of education. Continue reading →

Fake News – Reflection

Due to a large number of comments on my blog this week I will not be able to show all discussions, instead I will choose a few comments and display what I learnt from them.   While I had heard about fake news , I did not realise the prevalence of it online until researching for this topic. By reading other’s blogs and reflecting upon my own, I have further learnt about its severity, and how to combat it. Continue reading →

Fake news reflection

The most recent topic was not something I had not heard of. Although ‘Fake news’ as a phrase is widely known, I had not realised the extent of the problem. The topic goes further than clickbait and Donald trump. Although I knew that fake news could affect the way people perceive and interact with politics, I had not realised the effect it could have after reading many of the peers discuss this in their blogs. Continue reading →

Making Movements- Topic 2 Reflection

Time to apply; This week I really put in the effort to apply myself to the course and blog creation, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone by making a YouTube video, and improved my current knowledge by using different sites to create info-graphics! But did I achieve what I set out to do from the last blogs reflection? I achieved all the things I wanted to from my previous reflection, and it has definitely improved my blog, as the evidence suggests; Statistics of my most recent posts; this... Continue reading →

Topic 2: Reflection

Looking back at my last blog, I learned that our personal learning networks can be restricted due to digital differences. This week, I have been able to further develop my understanding of online learning as I researched and evaluated the reliability of online sources. I came across various concepts such as ‘filter bubbles’ and ‘echo chambers’ and the damaging impact of ‘fake news’, which I illustrate and discuss in my Topic 2 blog. Continue reading →

Topic 2 Reflection – The need for digital literacy.

Introduction This topic was not new knowledge to me, however, the extent to what fake news, filter bubbles and echo chambers are part of our lives was not expected. It was interesting to focus in on filter bubbles and how they influence people and politics (Hern, 2017). Peer Learning Figure 1 – Learning from Chloe’s, Sinead’s and Nikhita’s blog posts Nikhita and I got into a discussion about who is responsible for limiting the fake news publicised. Continue reading →

Topic 2 Reflection – The need for digital literacy.

Introduction This topic was not new knowledge to me, however, the extent to what fake news, filter bubbles and echo chambers are part of our lives was not expected. It was interesting to focus in on filter bubbles and how they influence people and politics (Hern, 2017). Peer Learning Figure 1 – Learning from Chloe’s, Sinead’s and Nikhita’s blog posts Nikhita and I got into a discussion about who is responsible for limiting the fake news publicised. Continue reading →

Reflection: What have I learnt

Fake News  This week’s learning about how to accurately assess sources, so that we are not being fed incorrect information, has been a real eye opener for me. I didn’t take in to understanding the effect that the presence of fake news would have on different aspects of a population. Chloe assessed the impacts on the health of the population in her infograph. This led me to learn about the  increase in fake news can drown out expert opinions and could result in the spread of disease. Continue reading →

A RATIONAL APPROACH TO ONLINE RESEARCH

One of the most convoluted topics I’ve come across regarding living in the networking age was media literacy. The issue is deep-seated and branches out in various directions, including fake news. THE STRUGGLE TO GET STARTED I spent a fair amount of time reading about every aspect mentioned in the MOOC and then some. Reading information blogs and opinion posts only made me more conflicted on choosing a particular aspect to write about. Continue reading →

Who Do We Trust Now?

Source: Toby Morris for Radio NZ Main post can be found here. “The old dispute between reason and feeling is now on a new ground.“ (Popescu, 2017) In my main post, I mainly concentrated on describing the issues and pervasiveness of the post-truth era that we face today, while also giving some examples of how a normal Internet user would be able to stay protected. You can guess that the story barely unfolded at that moment. Continue reading →

Why media literacy matters!

After researching media literacy, I realised that I was a quite unaware of how the media works. Previously I had heard of the term fake news, but I merely associated it with Donald Trump. However, after researching I realised that fake news is an actual concept. Furthermore, my discussion with Karishma made me realise that I had been misinformed by a fake news report on a hurricane. Chloe highlighted the health risks associated with fake news due to false health information. Continue reading →