Author: Kelsey Hollingsworth

Wow, to think how far I’ve come in a mere eight weeks is crazy. Despite taking all sorts of business classes, this one might be the one I’ve learned the absolute most helpful and reliable information from. Before, I was aware of simple techniques used in order to help secure my internet use and information. Now, I am largely aware of several different unique and helpful tools, sites, and browsers I should use in order to protect myself.

Before MCO425, my idea of keeping myself safe from the internet included making my social media accounts private and regularly changing my password to ensure security. I know, weak. As I learned from this class there are many different ways that people can access and use my information; everything from hackers to fraudulent transactions happen all the time over the internet. Currently, I am using an ad blocker brought to me by Google. I added the extension to my Chrome browser and now I can say that everything I look at, is going much smoother. It’s safe, simple, and easy to use. Now when I’m scrolling through social media, there are no more annoying ads popping up. I can also avoid the ridiculous amount of advertisements that pop up while I’m watching YouTube videos. After reading last week’s conversation, I also added the extension Duck Duck Go to my chrome browser as well. Not only is it blocking trackers and ensuring connections, it gives me peace of mind over my searching.

Learning in depth about internet law and media has also got me double checking what I post and how I go about it. I don’t believe I have broken any internet laws, but it’s so much easier than I thought to break them; such as lying about your age on Facebook or opening your personal email at work. That’s crazy! As I scroll through the wide vast internet, I’m also now very keen on reading articles that practice good journalism and avoid fake news. I’m actually very interested in looking into article authors now, no matter what I’m reading. It’s very interesting to gain their insights based on their profession. From this, I also was able to help my grandma not send me fake articles. And may I say I have only received 1 fake article within the past week or so. With little research you can easily find biased news and understand a better point of view regarding others.

Overall, I really have changed the way I browse through the internet. I am more cautious when I look and scroll, yet I am also more brave when looking into different topics, varieties, and authors. My approaches have changed all for the better. As the world becomes more technologically advanced it’s important to understand and appreciate what we’ve been given. Always be aware and help others when you see their practicing unsafe internet measures, you never know the difference you can make!

May I be the first to say I am an avid user of Wikipedia, yet I have never thought of editing any page. Most often I use Wikipedia to discover and understand new topics and places I want to visit, or search for people. All of my Wikipedia searches often come from when I’m out and about doing random things. As I’ve progressed through school, I’ve come to see that teachers don’t accept Wikipedia as a reference for any assignment due to the fact that anyone can edit the pages.

When I first began looking through the Wiki Education training material, I was a bit unsure. I’ve never been very big into the technical side of computers so I really didn’t know much about programming and all the unique aspects that go into a page.

With millions of pages on Wikipedia, I felt as if I could never decide on which page to make additions too. Either I felt like the page had too much information already or that I wasn’t the most knowledgable or the best to work on a specific topic. After quite the debate with myself I followed behind my instructor Kristy (hi!) and made additions to the Boulder Creek High School page, where I often volunteer and recently graduated. Spending 4 year in high school and 3 summers before and after I felt like I was VERY knowledgable about the school. Upon looking at the Wikipedia page I was met with little to nothing regarding the school. I saw the high school’s location, population, sports, and departments. All of the information was correct, yet it didn’t showcase any of the great opportunities available. As I looked into the talk page I was met with no active dialogue and only two lonesome post dating from November 2016 and July 2017.

With no one seemingly interesting in chatting about Boulder Creek, I went on to talk about some changes I would deem interesting and beneficial to readers. As to be expected I was met with radio silence. No worries though, I went ahead to begin my additions to the site.

My first addition was adding a section for all the amazing clubs offered at the school. I remember when I was looking into high schools in my area I wanted the opportunity to be apart of the community. Boulder Creek offers a wide variety of clubs that can even compete on a state-wide level. With so many great options, I added it right below the ‘Sports’ section because the two are correlated as after school activities. I kept things simple by adding it as a bulleted list. I had the most trouble trying to correctly format the clubs into several columns per line, instead of one long list.

Further I added information regarding ‘Lil Jags Daycare’, an on campus daycare offered by the Childhood Development department. Often the daycare gets overlooked because it is within the high school. In the section I included information about the program, who runs it, and the opportunities high schoolers have if they are interested in going into the a similar profession. I believe that this is very insightful to those looking into the school; interestingly enough I have friends who have become teachers because they were able to gain an internship through Lil Jags Daycare. I sited information from a childcare reference website that held a lot of information that could be further looked into. Citations were much easier to add than I once thought, the computer essentially does all the work, how great!

Another little section I included was the ‘Feeder Schools’. Deer Valley Unified School District is a large area offering several elementary, middle, and high schools. With more than one high school in the general area, knowing the schools that general fed into Boulder Creek would be helpful to those unsure of the area. If I’m being completely honest, it took me so long to make edits, I was so worried that I’d mess up previous information or destroy the page!

Lastly, I included information on the campus store, ‘The Spot’. As a previous employee and manager I am very knowledgeable about The Spot, which is often overlooked at the school. Offering an array of products any student might need, it’s nice to know that it is there. The Spot also offers internships to students looking for high school and potentially college credit. A great opportunity that others should be aware of. I often kept rewording my writing, as I wanted to sound as professional as possible.

Overall, I felt like I really got the hang of editing and adding to a Wikipedia page. While I see myself as an above average writer, I definitely never saw myself as someone who can edit a Wiki page; I feared that my writing just wouldn’t be good enough and I couldn’t do it. I believe all my edits got added to the page so I was actually really extra proud of myself! This assignment went well over my expectations and I’m actually looking forward to looking into more articles that need editing for future. To anyone who reads this and is either completing this assignment or in general thinking about editing a page, GO FOR IT! Seriously, if I can do it, you can do it too! Don’t overthink things as hard as I did and go change the world, or at least, a Wikipedia page.

Reading and watching the assortment of videos provided this week has really opened my eyes to the affects laws have regarding media and the internet overall. Everything from copyright, network neutrality, censorship, and defamation are important to understand in order to avoid any illegal actions. It’s important to understand these complicated laws regarding the internet and closely pay attention to the information we release into the internet.

While I browse, scroll, and post through websites and social media, things such as copyright, net neutrality, censorship, and defamation are typically not in my mind. I have worried about all of them separately from time to time, but never have they been a large concern to me. When I think of copyright laws I often think of videos and whatnot I see on YouTube that violate these laws. Most often I watch clips from TV shows, especially House M. D., that come from random publishers who have no right to be posting the material. I believe that there is so much copyright infringement out there that it is nearly impossible to keep up with it all. Personally, I have never been a victim of it (that I know of, at least). Net neutrality is important as well now a day. To put it simply it ensures that businesses can compete freely on the internet without having to pay gatekeeper tolls. Internet censorship is the control of information that can be viewed by the public. This stops people from accessing copyrighted information, keeps people from viewing harming content, controls internet crime, and overall helps monitor the billions of users of the internet. Defamation occurs when someone posts slander or libel on a webpage in any form (comment, post, blog, video, etc.). Defamation is harmful to someone’s reputation and published in result of malice or negligence. All are very important and are in place to protect internet users. 

Personally, I knew of most of these laws. And as I am aware of them, I haven’t purposely broken any that I know of (I hope you haven’t either). As I stated before I most often see copyright laws being violated on YouTube, but further I see images violated more and more in news. Without really realizing it, I read or hear about all sorts of violations in the news. Most often I see celebrities being sued by photographers when they use their photographs without permission. Everyone from Ariana Grande, Kim Kardashian, and Jennifer Lopez have violated copyright laws. I actually had a friend who sued for defamation after an ex-boyfriend leaked her private photos. As I always say, anything ever sent or posted on the internet stays on the internet forever.

Collecting all my thoughts, I probably won’t be modifying the way I use social media as of now. Already I am very cautious on the internet, so I don’t believe I need to specifically watch out for internet laws. I am very grateful and have learned a lot through both this class and others experiences to understand how dangerous the internet can be. Like anything, the internet is a privilege and needs to be taken seriously. Stay safe out there!

As I said, in my last post regarding fake news, I’m not really one to confront others. In light of the assignment, and luckily only talking with my grandma, I was able to speak with her regarding her social media sharing.

I believed my best approach was talking to another and showcasing ways to avoid falling for fake news. Upon this exact conversation I had with my grandma, I realized that their was a better way to go about it. While I have previously corrected my grandmother regarding articles containing fake news, such as dead celebrities or articles regarding the coronavirus (especially since there was a case at ASU), the conversation typically ended with her saying something along the lines of ‘whoops’ or ‘my bad’. Nothing previously had put a stop to the continuing news being sent to my inbox. It never bothered her to send fake news because she’d rather be ‘safe than sorry’. Therefore as I explained the worry and pandemic it could cause, she brushed it off. I spoke about some easily identifiable traits within an article to help showcase the obvious fake news, but again she didn’t seem to both understand or mind. I had to try a different approach.

Everyone loves spending time with their grandparents (I hope). And if you’re like me, you often help your grandparents with setting up or helping with their cell phones. So given this problem, I combined the two and showed her the different identifiers when it came to fake news. Everything from looking at the website to clicking and learning more about the author really interest her. To be fair, she had no idea this was even possible. By sitting down and showing her how to look into these things, she paid very close attention unlike me talking about something she didn’t even know how to do.

It was very interesting to me to see what method worked versus what didn’t. I believe it is important to understand when someone is sharing fake news and how to help identify it to the user. My grandma seemed happy to learn something new and so far, I haven’t gotten anymore fake news article. Given its only been 1 day, I’m interested to see how long before she sends another one, hopefully never again, but we’ll see!

In this digital age, it is impossible to scroll throughout your phone and not come across fake news. Unfortunately, it’s just the way it is. As someone who has grown up always having and using technology, I am pretty alert when it comes to spotting fake news articles or posts that aren’t true, sadly my grandparents are not.

Personally, I hate confronting people about such things, whether its wrong facts, a made up headline, or incorrect news, I do my best to just scroll along and ignore it. If you’re an introvert you probably get how I feel. But it is always important to know when to draw the line on fake news. Both of my grandparents are avid Facebook users and it is common for them to share stories and pictures with me, regardless of whether or not its true. Most commonly incorrect information I’m sent is regarding celebrity deaths or more recently the coronavirus. I’ve seen everyone from Taylor Swift to Skai Jackson ‘die’. Luckily there are many ways to combat this and alert your loved ones that they have fallen for fake news.

Whether you’re talking to your family, your friends, or even a stranger online, it is important to engage with the person and not specifically the content. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of political activity in my news feed, whether its accurate or not its important to identify your relationship with the user and not article or story at hand. Specifically correcting an article can come across as  you disagreeing with their opinion rather than trying to help them. Further, address the situation in private, whether they agree or not, you don’t want to seem as if you’re challenging them on a public site. Often it is difficult to change someones mind regarding a topic they are passionate about (and further shared stories about), so you should always expect some sort of retaliation. Offering helpful tips in order to help spot fake articles can be a life savor even if they continue to post fake news (at least you’ll know). Showcase and educate those on how to spot a fake news and always be polite about it.

You can’t save everyone from the depths of fake news, but better education on the subject can really help. Fake news is harmful to both readers and users of social media, sometimes filling people with fear and doubt. Look out for your friends and family, after all the internet is a big scary place!

Throughout Digital Media Literacy I (MCO425), the vast amount of knowledge I have learned on ranging topics have really interest me. My favorite topic to learn about so far has been deep fakes. Despite being an avid user of social media and always browsing the internet, I never knew that deep fakes even existed. Maybe I’m just more oblivious than most, but the whole idea of deep fakes seems like something out of a James Bond movie, so I was quite surprised when I watched a video regarding it! 

Deepfakes and Deep Media: A New Security Battleground : Kyle Wiggers, a writer with a background in artificial intelligence, offers a unique insight on deep fake videos and text patterns and how to look into them for the less obvious signs that they are fake. He discusses the ongoing battle that other technological companies face to create a software that can immediately identify the culprit fakes and further remove them from the internet. The struggle currently lies with the creators of these deep fakes, “There is minimum risk to the actor of getting caught. Because of the low risk, there is little deterrence to creating deep fakes.”, unfortunately resulting in the continuous creation of them. (Source provided by venturebeat.com)

The Societal Impacts of Deep Fakes : David Vandergrift, an artificial intelligence journalist and author, discusses the ‘hard to fathom’ results of deep fakes. The potential for AI to generate media from scratch seems to only recently become a concern despite its long road here. The lack of knowledge the public has regarding deep fakes is concerning, most technology cannot 100% accurately discover a deep fake as of now. The fear of using deep fakes for political attacks for the upcoming 2020 election is ever present as well. There is no safety for anyone who does not have the proper education regarding deep fakes. (Source provided by americaninno.com)

The Challenge of Deep Fakes : An Intel Brief discusses the proliferation of social media and accessible software technologies available to anyone seeking to manipulate images and videos. With unlimited access and real world consequences threatening essentially everyone, the pressure to handle and eliminate the situation top priority for some technological companies. States such as California and Texas (Maine to follow) have already enacted bills making the creation of, “deceptive videos intended to influence voting in U.S elections” illegal and punishable by law. (Source provided by thecipherbrief.com)

The Real Downside of Deep Fakes : Nigel Phair, influential analyst of technology, crime and society, discusses the struggle of needing to question everything with more and more deep fakes popping up online. Considering social media users share millions of images and videos everyday deep fakes are becoming more apparent and harmful to users. Deep fakes are, “the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning.” and in order to protect consumers, education on the topic is key. (Source provided by ia.acs.org.au)

I just watched the most interesting deep fake today, coincidentally. If you haven’t seen it you should totally check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OJnkJqkyio (It’s Back To The Future)

When it comes to the environmental debate regarding whether it truly is a crisis or not, the media is littered with various sources. Everything from blogs posts, to articles, to videos, and even trending on social media. When it comes to discussing the crisis on hand it is important to have credible reliable sources. Some articles and videos I have found very interesting and helpful regarding the crisis and its debate are listed below:

Ignore the Fake Climate Debate : This article discusses both the ‘alarmist’ and ‘deniers’ of the climate crisis, including Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump. Along with talks of emissions, economic growth, and advancing technology, this source is full of credible information. (Liked provided by wsj.com)

Nike’s New CEO and Social Issues : Speaking on issues regarding climate change and innovation along with the company’s environmental impact offers a unique perspective on the crisis and large companies impact. (Link provided by businessinsider.com)

A Decade of Cleaner Air Ended in Controversy :  This articles discusses the air quality throughout the decade along with new challenges and questions about where priorities should lie following the upcoming decades. (Link provided by publicsource.com)

Why is Climate Crisis so Controversial to some People? : Disbelief, doubt, and questioning surrounds the climate crisis and this article discusses why it is often hard for those to believe in it. It also showcases unique scientific evidence. (Link provided by globalnews.ca)

Most Americans Don’t Consider the Environmental Impacts of Food Choices : A study conducted by Yale University discusses the link between food choices such as meat compared to plant products and the overall impact on the environment. The survey conducted found that many consumers lacked information regarding the environment crisis and often disregarded plant based choices. (Linked provided by ecowatch.com)

Regarding my social media use, I can’t say my sources have changed to much. While this class as definitely taught me both unique and informative information, by habits have stayed pretty regular. But I can say, I look into many more articles authors for credibility and expertise. Too often I read information without any regard for correct information. Checking the credibility of the author and website give me a great piece of mind.

My main sources for news still remain ABC15, AZFamily, and MSN. While these news websites may contain both bias and incorrect information, it is second nature for me to look on these websites for articles. Old habits die hard, I guess. Other sources of information I go to are Twitter and following my favorite reliable journalist. This is a new tactic of getting information for me, I previously didn’t often use Twitter; but it has turned into a great resource to obtain specific journalists work. Overall, I believe my media consumption has increased since I wrote my first post, but I think it’s a good thing because I’m reading better credible sources and looking into topics I like.

Given the opportunity to deeply analyze an article pertaining to the climate crisis stigma, I chose an article titled, ‘Climate Change Science in the Age of Trump‘ by Jerry Arkins and Jack Bernard, published February 3, 2020. There are many different aspects to thoroughly look though to ensure the credibility of any source. From the author, to sources, and quality, I will analyze several different aspects pertaining to this article.

This article goes in depth to talk about how Trump believes climate change to be sinister ‘fake news’ and further pushing the information onto his followers. It exclaims the climate change research scientist and their research regarding the negative and devastating consequences the it has had upon the planet. The article highlights the negative affects American farmers face everyday and how Trump’s latest proposal is essentially ‘bribing’ farmers to endorse him in exchange for government subsides. It explains the major misinformation and scientific coverups used in order to not conflict with their political aims. The article goes in depth about the inaccuracies stated regarding the climate crisis and Trump’s administration and statements.

Starting with the authors, Jerry Arkins and Jack Bernard, it is important to analyze their credentials and whether or not they are credible sources on the topic. Jerry Arkins is a former Texas A&M University administrator and biological and environmental systems research scientist.  Jack Bernard is a retired healthcare executive and was Georgia’s first Director of Health Planning. While they aren’t specifically experts on the climate crisis or political matters, they offer insights from varying fields that pertain to the topic. Their credentials offer a unique perspective within the article. But credentials alone, I would not completely trust their information.

As for sources, there are many different sites used to vouch for facts upping the articles credibility. Sites include President Donald Trump’s official Twitter, pertaining to his post regarding the climate crisis and his opposition towards it. There is research from the Economic Research Service/USDA concerning the demographics of farmers within the United States. The Government Accounting Office was referenced when speaking about farm subsides and corporate welfare. Along with several mentions of the Pew Research study conducting studies regarding the public’s regard for scientist and their confidence in politicians. Overall, this article references several different reliable sources. By including varying sources the quality of the article increases as well. It showcases the thought and effort put into crafting the document. This makes the article more credible by showcasing specialized research supporting their article.

Furthermore, it is important for an article to be transparent in regards to it being credible. Adding hyperlinks to the information cited would offer the readers an insight to read further about what is discussed in the article. And while using several government website to site information is great use of resources, obtaining statements from those they are referencing (ex. American farmers) could showcase great insight for readers. By looking into these statements and adding them, the article would be no doubt credible, but without, there is opportunity for misinformation to be stated.

Overall, I would rate this article a B. While offering a unique insight from the authors and including several different credible sources, the article failed to address those it often referenced and failed to include hyperlinks to further look into the data cited. For those looking into the climate change science, I would most not recommend this article first. I would offer articles that I believe are entirely well-rounded and credible. Then after I would offer this article once they gain much more insights on the topic.

With raging forest fires in Australia, shrinking glaciers, and rising sea levels, it is obvious there is an anomaly with our planet’s climate. With climate change being such a large topic, there are hundreds of articles being released each week discussing the crisis at hand. 

With so many daily news articles covering the climate crisis and its stigma, it is safe to say people are discussing the topic regularly. A great news article to read into for information is, ‘Ignore the Fake Climate Debate‘. This article covers the debate between alarmists and deniers discussing the climate debate and the relationship between human’s emissions of greenhouse gasses and warming climate. This article comes from a very reputable source known widely across the world as, The Wall Street Journal. Its author, Ted Nordhaus, is the founder and executive director of The Breakthrough Institute. The Breakthrough Institute is known for their global research that identifies technological solutions to human and environmental development challenges. With all this information, I would source this article as credible news. Not only does Mr. Nordhaus cite and offer both qualitative and quantitative data, he is considered to be an expert regarding climate crisis. Another great article is ‘The signal of human-caused climate change‘ written by Andrew Freedman, published in The Washington Post. Freedman goes in depth about human induced climate change in daily weather on a global scale. Furthermore, he cites his information from research facilities and institutions across the world. Freedman proves himself with his fine reputation on The Washington Post as an editor focusing solely on extreme weather, climate change, science, and the environment. All of the information combined leads me to believe that this news article can be trusted and is a credible source.

Within the news, you can always find opinion articles to either encourage or refute a topic. When it comes to the climate crisis the most prominent refuting opinions include the problem not existing, it not affecting us, or that it is entirely made up. Coverage on topics such as, ‘Climate change: just another political controversy’ can be easily identified as opinion news. This article can be found on the Astorian, a news website for people in or around the Oregon area. Author Don Haskell is a retired attorney and former commissioner for Clatsop County. This article goes in depth about the controversy of whether humans’ use of fossil fuels and other natural resources affects earth’s weather cycles. It is argued that climate change is not a scientific endeavor, but just one big political controversy funded with government money. The entirety of this article is based on the author’s opinions regarding the climate crisis. And while Haskell is not an expert within the climate crisis field, being a commissioner within Clatsop County holds some weight. While this article holds much information regarding why Haskell believes what he does, this article is not credible due to lack of citations and expert knowledge from the author. Another article of climate change opinion is ‘What Trump and Mnuchin understand‘ by Yanis Varoufakis, found on MarketWatch. He goes into detail on why he believes Greta Thunberg knows nothing real when it comes to the climate crisis and how he believes neither a climate or economic crisis is possible. While Varoufakis is known as the former finance minister of Greece and professor of economics at the University of Athens, his knowledge about the environment is lacking. The article is solely based on his knowledge of economics but his opinion regarding the climate crisis, results in a semi-credible opinion news article.

With so many news articles out on the internet covering just the climate crisis, it is easy to get confused between credible and non-credible sources along with actual news versus opinion news. By simply looking into the author, you can find their expertise, then look into the sources cited and you be the judge of whether or not you have a credible news article. Happy reading!

If there are two things I’ll always be passionate about; it’s dogs and the climate crisis at hand. The climate crisis can be described as various serious problems being caused by changes in the world’s weather. Due to an increase in human activity and an increasing amount of carbon dioxide entering our atmosphere, the planet is heating up at an alarming rate. I am a firm believer that our consumption of natural resources and dangerous carbon dioxide levels need to be vastly decreased in order to save the planet. Without drastic measures from all corners of the globe, the planet will continue to be at risk, putting human lives in danger and creating irreversible damage as this crisis gets worse.

Despite this ongoing crisis that affects everybody on the planet, not much coverage within the media is made to convince readers that it is a very important subject matter. Without convincing and important coverage of the daily impacts of the climate crisis, consumers are lead to believe that the ‘crisis’ isn’t really a problem for them to worry about. Furthermore, those questioning the climate crisis are met with varying articles debating back and forth on whether the problem at hand actually even exists. Those looking to higher-ups, such as government officials, about what they are doing to reverse or halt the climate crisis (ie. enacting policies and following through with proposals) are met with little. Even our president refuses to acknowledge the crisis at hand, blatantly ignoring the facts. With the United States government unavailable to help others even acknowledge the crisis at hand, people turn towards the media and dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly.

There are many social media platforms that cover the climate crisis. Many portray it as it should be, and others portray it as a stigma not even occurring. Websites such as Nasa’s Global Climate Change and United Nations Issues offer scientifically proven facts alongside of actions that could help resolve the global issue at hand. Often, fake news spreads throughout the internet from important government officials resulting in the circulation of articles far and wide being read and received incorrectly. People are either believers who want change, or those who believe that the climate crisis is fake news and will not affect them in anyway. Social media is another large factor within the climate change stigma. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook come to life with both supporters and non-believers. The biggest debate between the two would most likely be between believer Greta Thunberg and non-believer Donald Trump. They often go neck and neck to each other about the climate crisis at hand. All throughout various media, the Climate Crisis is filled with fake news and stigma about the whole situation. This results in an onslaught of information being tossed around with confusing direction for those reading into the topic.

Personally, I look to websites that contain sited facts and end in .org or .edu for my information. Websites ending in .org are top level domains for non-profit organizations and .edu is for education. Websites such as EcoWatch, United Nations Issues, IPCC, and Nasa’s Global Climate Change is where I get my facts. Websites such as these offer sited facts and unaltered data regarding climate change. I often steer away from social media when it comes to information unless it comes with facts and data regarding who wrote it and where it came from. With such an important topic like climate change, it is important that the media is able to correctly portray it in its full glory, instead of creating a harsh stigma around the topic.