Pilgrim Library: Lies, Misinformation, and Disinformation: Resources on Evaluating Information

A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age by David J. Helfand
Call Number: Q172.5.W77 H45
ISBN: 9780231168724
Publication Date: 2016-02-02
"This book provides an inoculation against the misinformation epidemic by cultivating scientific habits of mind. From dissolving our fear of numbers and demystifying graphs, to elucidating the key concepts of probability and the use of precise language and logic, Helfand supplies an essential set of apps for the pre-frontal cortex while making science both accessible and entertaining." -- Publisher's description
Weaponized Lies by Daniel J. Levitin
Call Number: BC177.L486
ISBN: 9781101983829
Publication Date: 2017-03-07
"We’re surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Here are the fundamental lessons in critical thinking that we need to know and share now." - from Publisher's description
Virtual Unreality by Charles Seife
Call Number: ZA 4201.S44
ISBN: 9780670026081
Publication Date: 2014-06-26
"In Virtual Unreality, Charles Seife uses the skepticism, wit, and sharp facility for analysis that captivated readers in Proofiness and Zero to take us deep into the Internet information jungle and cut a path through the trickery, fakery, and cyber skullduggery that the online world enables. Taking on everything from breaking news coverage and online dating to program trading and that eccentric and unreliable source that is Wikipedia, Seife arms his readers with actual tools--or weapons--for discerning truth from fiction online." -- Publisher's description

The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web is Changing What We Read and How We Think by Eli Pariser
Call Number: ZA4237 .P375 2012
ISBN: 9780143121237
Publication Date: 2012-04-24
"With little notice or fanfare, out online experience is changing dramatically as the web sites we visit are increasingly tailoring themselves to us. The race to collect as much personal data as possible is now the defining battle for today's Internet giants like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft. As a result, we will all increasingly each live in our own unique information universe, what MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser calls the 'filter bubble.' In this groundbreaking account, Pariser lays bare the personalization that is invisibly taking place on every major web site and reveals how it will limit what we are exposed to in the future , leaving less room for creativity, innovation, and the democratic exchange of ideas"
The Language of Fake News by Jack Grieve; Helena Woodfield
Call Number: [ebook]
ISBN: 9781009349130
Publication Date: 2023-04-27
"In this Element, the authors introduce and apply a framework for the linguistic analysis of fake news. They define fake news as news that is meant to deceive as opposed to inform and argue that there should be systematic differences between real and fake news that reflect this basic difference in communicative purpose."
Journalism and Truth in an Age of Social Media by James E. Katz (Editor; Kate K. Mays (Editor)
Call Number: [ebook]
ISBN: 9780190900274
Publication Date: 2019
"This volume gathers leading scholars in the fields of journalism and communication studies, philosophy, and the social sciences to examine critical questions of how we should understand journalism's changing landscape as it relates to fundamental questions about the role of truth and information in society. Identifying and communicating truth is an age-old concern, greatly exacerbated and amplified by the onslaught of social media. Along with confronting the fake news phenomenon, chapter authors address the age-old issue of truth and credibility in journalism as it operates in politics, and ho."
Fake News and Alternative Facts by Nicole A. Cooke
Call Number: [ebook]
ISBN: 9780838917503
Publication Date: 2018-05-14
"Readers will learn more about the rise of fake news, particularly those information behaviors that have perpetuated its spread; discover techniques to identify fake news, especially online; and explore methods to help library patrons of all ages think critically about information, teaching them ways to separate fact from fiction. Information literacy is a key skill for all news consumers, and this Special Report shows how librarians can make a difference by helping patrons identify misinformation."

Crash Course: Evaluating Information (Navigating Digital Information)

Evaluating Evidence: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information

"Today we’re going to focus on how to tell good evidence from bad evidence and maybe importantly, how to identify 'Fine, but that doesn’t actually prove your point' evidence - the stuff that the Internet is built on."

Fact-Checking Tools: Verifying Images and Videos

Fact-Checking Tools: Verifying Images and Videos

Craig Silverman (News Media Editor) and Jane Lytvynenko (News Reporter) from Buzzfeed News teach viewers how to perform a reverse image search to find the source of photos and videos on the internet to verify their authenticity.

Teaching Material

Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers
by Michael A. Caulfield, Research Scientist for the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public.
Fake News, Facts, and Alternative Facts Teach-Out (University of Michigan)
Recorded lessons on a number of topics related to "fake news" including types of inaccurate information, accuracy in the digital era, and how to accurately identify/avoid misleading information.
Course Packs - Digital Resource Center, Center for News Literacy
Developed by the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University. 14 downloadable lessons.
False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources
List developed by Melissa Zimdars, Merrimack College.
Lesson Plan: How to Teach Students About Fake News (PBS)
Geared towards a high school audience, but good introductory examples of media literacy.
Evaluating Sources in a ‘Post-Truth’ World: Ideas for Teaching and Learning About Fake News (New York Times)
Practical activities and discussion questions from the New York Times.
Calling Bullshit
Syllabus developed by Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin West at the University of Washington. Includes content on fake news.
Position Statement on Media Literacy
National Council for the Social Studies - you can use their "Key Questions to Ask When Analyzing Media Messages" with students.

Crash Course: Lateral Reading (Navigating Digital Information)

Check Yourself with Lateral Reading: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information

"Look to your left. Look to your right. Look at this video. Today, John Green is going to teach you how to read laterally, using multiple tabs in your browser to look stuff up and fact check as you read. Real-time fact-checking an help you figure out what's real and what's not on the internet."

Calling Bullshit by Carl T. Bergstrom; Jevin D. West
Call Number: B837 .B47 2021
ISBN: 9780525509202
Publication Date: 2021-04-20
Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news abound and it’s increasingly difficult to know what’s true. Our media environment has become hyperpartisan. Science is conducted by press release. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. We are fairly well equipped to spot the sort of old-school bullshit that is based in fancy rhetoric and weasel words, but most of us don’t feel qualified to challenge the avalanche of new-school bullshit presented in the language of math, science, or statistics. In Calling Bullshit, Professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West give us a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data.
Fake News vs Media Studies: Travels in a False Binary by Julian McDougall
Call Number: [ebook]
ISBN: 9783030272203
Publication Date: 2019
"This book explores the place of Media Studies in the age of 'fake news', analyzing the calls for a curriculum of critical news literacy as part of a cyclical policy debate. With the need for young people in democracies to understand mainstream news agendas and take a critical perspective on social media news, including so-called 'fake news', this book argues for Media Studies as a mandatory subject."
You Are Here by Whitney Phillips; Ryan M. Milner
Call Number: TK5105.878 .P45 2021
ISBN: 9780262539913
Publication Date: 2021-03-02
Our media environment is in crisis. Polarization is rampant. Polluted information floods social media. Even our best efforts to help clean up can backfire, sending toxins roaring across the landscape. In You Are Here, Whitney Phillips and Ryan Milner offer strategies for navigating increasingly treacherous information flows. Using ecological metaphors, they emphasize how our individual me is entwined within a much larger we, and how everyone fits within an ever-shifting network map.

Democracy and Fake News: Information Manipulation and Post-Truth Politics by Serena Giusti (Editor), Elisa Piras (Editor)
Call Number: HM851 .D458 2021
ISBN: 9780367479541
Publication Date: 2020
This book explores the challenges that disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics pose to democracy from a multidisciplinary perspective. The authors analyse and interpret how the use of technology and social media as well as the emergence of new political narratives has been progressively changing the information landscape, undermining some of the pillars of democracy.
Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics by Yochai Benkler
Call Number: [ebook]
ISBN: 9780190923648
Publication Date: 2018
"A conventional wisdom has emerged since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 that new technologies and their manipulation by foreign actors played a decisive role in his victory and are responsible for the sense of a 'post-truth' moment in which disinformation and propaganda thrives. Network Propaganda challenges that received wisdom through the most comprehensive study yet published on media coverage of American presidential politics from the start of the election cycle in April 2015 to the one year anniversary of the Trump presidency."
The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption by Clay A. Johnson
Call Number: [ebook]
ISBN: 9781491933350
Publication Date: 2015-07-13
"The modern human animal spends upwards of 11 hours out of every 24 in a state of constant consumption. Not eating, but gorging on information ceaselessly spewed from the screens and speakers we hold dear. Just as we have grown morbidly obese on sugar, fat, and flour--so, too, have we become gluttons for texts, instant messages, emails, RSS feeds, downloads, videos, status updates, and tweets. We're all battling a storm of distractions, buffeted with notifications and tempted by tasty tidbits of information. And just as too much junk food can lead to obesity, too much junk information can lead to cluelessness."
Fake News: Understanding Media and Misinformation in the Digital Age by Melissa Zimdars (Editor); Kembrew McLeod (Editor)
Call Number: [ebook]
ISBN: 9780262357388
Publication Date: 2020-01-24
"This book examines the real fake news: the constant flow of purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news. Rather than viewing fake news through a single lens, the book maps the various kinds of misinformation through several different disciplinary perspectives, taking into account the overlapping contexts of politics, technology, and journalism."