Topic 2, Page 6

Fake news and filter bubbles are so common that many people tend to underestimate them. Is it so serious that we have to give our attention to these problems? Do we have to overcome them? Yu Ping’s Post The news of “Avatar dolls” was shared on the Internet, which causes many people that did not do a thorough credibility check to believe it. Continue reading →

Welcome back to the Thought Bubble! Today’s reflection will be based on this post After having done some research and reading through the FutureLearn topics here is what I could take away: *Created by me   Through reading, commenting on and interacting with my fellow peers and their blog posts, I’ve been also able to reinforce what I’ve learnt and develop more in-depth thoughts on the topic: *Created by me It has also allowed me to expand on my original idea of 3 Cs... Continue reading →

Bursting the Filter Bubble Compared to my colleagues, I realized I placed more trust in the progress of technology while most others took a more guarded approach. Both Renee and Siew Min suggested that “going dark” was a way to combat filter bubbles. Source: Siew Min As someone who enjoys a personalized web experience, it was difficult for me to accept that “going dark” was the best way to burst my filter bubble. Continue reading →

Reflection time! Digital literacy has an impact on how we take in information posted on the web, due to its increasing polarization. False information comes in multiple forms. From news circulating around the web, to chain WhatsApp messages being passed from peer to peer. Below is an example of an infamous hoax spread among WhatsApp users. Figure 1. WhatsApp Hoax Source: Mirror   Shanelle’s post has broadened my perspective on the proliferation of fake news circulating around the public. Continue reading →

It has been an interesting week, learning about digital literacy and how it could affect our ability to gauge the credibility of a piece of news. I agree with Jian Wen on how filter bubble would limit us to similar perspective and affect our decision making process. However, I would like to add that Filter bubble does benefit us in some ways as well. Continue reading →

With online news available at our fingertips, people would often take information at face value with disregard of fake news. The danger lies in being comfortable in our filter bubble that we fail to consider a different perspective. Marianne’s post highlights that automated bots can form part of our perspective and it is important that we are aware of them. Continue reading →

Friend: Have you seen the latest news about the government rigging the election? Me: Seriously? Where did you hear it? Friend: It’s all over Facebook! I tagged you in that post! Me: Oh wow. I shall share it to share the news with my friends. The above is a common situation where we tend to believe the words of someone that we trust, without clarifying the source of it. Continue reading →

The advent and explosive growth of the Internet has been a major boon to society. However, events like the 2017 U.K General election and 2016 U.S. Presidential election has highlighted the importance of digital literacy.  Digital literacy refers to the “ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. Continue reading →

2016 was a harrowing example of the polarising consequences of misinformation, marked by key events such as the US elections and Brexit. Since then, news providers (i.e Facebook, Google) have taken steps to address the issue. Continue reading →

I was finding out more on how we can assess the reliability and authenticity of online information, when I stumbled upon an incident that happened in Washington. It was about how a false piece of information was believed by many people and it escalated into a very serious issue. Figure 1. Infographic on #pizzagate fake news. Created by Rachel Lee. (2017). I feel that this incident demonstrated the risks of being ignorant and incapable of identifying fake and real media/news. Figure 2. Continue reading →