Category: students

Who knew I would be so anxious to take on editing a Wikipedia page? I sure did not expect to feel the way I did, but after some trials and tribulation, I think I managed.

First, let me start by saying I love Wikipedia but also find it to be incredibly daunting. When I started this class and looked through the syllabus, I was not quite sure how to feel when I saw this assignment listed. How in the world was I supposed to find a Wikipedia page that needed updated or edited? It just did not sound plausible to me, and I am not sure why. I knew that Wikipedia hosts many underdeveloped pages, and I also knew that Wikipedia editors can be a bit harsh. Would the editors delete my entry? Would they shame me away? Do they know I am just a college student editing for a project? Those are the questions that went through my mind. Since I just completed the edit, I found now to be an appropriate time to talk through my experience and how the process went for me.

If I have one piece of advice to others going in blind to this project, it is to complete the tutorials assigned to you. While our professor said they are not graded, do not take that as a free pass to skip them. I found the tutorials to be more than helpful during this project. They walk you through how to set up your page, navigate the talk and sandbox pages, and more. If it wasn’t for those short assignments I would have not known where to start. While it seems like they are never ending, they only last at most 15 minutes, and are full of useful information such as avoiding plagiarism, and how to properly cite your sources. This was the make-or-break to me! I needed those tutorials to help make this process successful.

Now one of the most difficult areas for me was finding an article to edit. I looked through the list of underdeveloped articles, but nothing stood out to me, and I did not feel confident about taking on any of them. While I have stuck with a sports theme for me blogs, I originally thought I would do the same for this project, just to make everything seem cohesive. Sports also have a large following and an endless list of sources for me to choose from, but at the same time I did not feel motivated to take on a subject that potentially does not need edited, or one that I was unfamiliar with. So, with nothing tripping my trigger, it was time to move to plan B.

When I went back to the assignment page to look over the details once again, I came across Professor Roschke’s blog over her experience editing an article. I saw that she went to her former high school’s page and saw it was missing a decent amount of information, so I decided to check out my own Alma maters page, which is Davenport North High School. I saw that the page was missing a picture of the high school, had briefly mentioned its history, and the construction it underwent in 2001. There was also a subheading of athletics, where the editor added which sports the school currently has and basic information over which conference the school plays under. I thought it was weird that there was nothing about the academics offered, considering it is a 4A high school and has been around for 45 years now. That is where I decided that I shall tackle the beginnings of an Academics tab.

Before I started, I went to visit the pages of the other two main public high schools in the same district and compared the similarities and differences. Only one of the high schools hosted a tab over academics, while the other had a long list of notable alumni and an expanded section over their performing arts. I went back and forth over what to add, do I mention that arts programs or do I mention all of the AP Classes and dual enrollment programs? I went with the latter as this is what would work best for me. I knew what classes were available as I have friends who teach at the school and their website had them listed as well. I also knew that the dual enrollment program was still a running success as my cousin had just completed it a year prior. So, with that information I went forward to begin the editing process.

At first I was hesitant to make a move, but with Wikipedia’s helpful functions available I knew I would be able to view my work before publishing it. I first started by adding the new heading, which was Academics, followed by a sentence or two over the AP classes. I was able to link the classes to their designated wiki pages, which will be helpful to future readers who may want more information over what AP classes are and how to take them. I then added a brief mention to the dual enrollment opportunity that the district made available in 2014. The Dual Enrollment program offers certain students a chance to take college courses with their high school courses at no additional cost, and in the process it earns them an associates degree on top of their high school diploma. This is available at all three high schools yet I did not see it mentioned on their pages, so I thought it would be appropriate to mention under the new academics section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, I found this project to meet my expectations. It was not as daunting as I once imagined it would be, and it helped me become more well versed in media literacy. So, while I was nervous at first, with the help of the online tutorials I felt like I was able to go ahead and jump into becoming a wiki editor. Although I do have some newfound editing abilities, unless I am asked for an assignment, I do not see myself editing anything else in the future. I’ll leave that to the professionals.

Once again, here is the link to the profile I edited!

Good Luck to everyone else!

This assignment, when first introduced, gave me a lot of anxiety. There are not a ton of topics that I know a lot about. I had to dig deep to find one I knew enough about to make an edit on.

Anthropology is a secret love of mine, and I’ve done a lot of research and reading on that topic. The article on just anthropology, however, was already too developed. So I decided to go with a “Start Class” article, which meant there was plenty of room for improvement.

The article I chose to edit was Anthropologist. I read the article a few times to see what I could add to it. I wanted to more than just a simple edit. I wanted to add actual information.

In the end, I decided to add information about cultural anthropologists, a sub field of anthropology. To do this, I started by finding sources. I was not adding a lot, so I felt like three sources would be enough information to go off of.

Once I found sources and had enough information, I knew what I wanted to write. This is when I took my information to the talk page.  I wrote in the talk page what I was planning on adding.

After adding in the talk page, I drafted in my sandbox. I thought about what I wanted to say, and how I wanted to say it. I took what I already knew, as well as what I had learned from the bit of research I did.

I felt like I had a good enough understanding to start drafting. I wrote a few sentences, and then deleted them, and rewrote them. I did that about three times until I was finally satisfied with what I had written.

The next day, I took a look at it again. I wanted to add more. Three sentences was not enough. I did not feel like I was explaining well enough what a cultural anthropologist did, so I erased it all and started over.

Finally, I wrote something I was happy with. I did not want to move it into the article just yet, though. I wanted to wait another day or two to make sure no one had any objections to it in the talk page.

The next day, I checked the talk page again. There still was not a single comment on what I wanted to add. I took that as a sign that no one objected to it, and I was good to go.

I did some final edits to what I wanted to add. I made sure it was perfect. I double checked my sources were input correctly. I also checked to make sure none of my work was accidentally plagiarizing.

I decided it was finally time to move my contribution over to the article. I was a little bit nervous doing this. I had never edited or added anything to an article on Wikipedia, or anywhere for that matter.

I knew my information was good though, and that I was adding a serious contribution. With that in mind, I did it. I moved my article over.

Publishing the change felt surprisingly empowering. I was proud of what I added, and it felt good to be contributing to someone else’s knowledge and information.

Even if it eventually gets taken down, this is still an accomplishment in my book. I felt like my contribution was successful.

After publishing the changes, I immediately sent the article to my friend saying “check out the cultural anthropologist section, I did that!” I do not know why I was so proud of something so small, but I was and still am.

Overall, this was a nerve-wracking assignment. I tend to doubt myself a lot, and I felt like this was an assignment that just was not for me. I felt like I was not smart enough, or good enough, to actually edit an article.

The training supplied by Wikipedia truly was helpful. When I could not remember how to move my article, I simply went back and looked at the training module for it.

All of the modules in the beginning were also incredibly helpful. It refreshed my memory on simple things like editing and plagiarizing. I would have been lost without the modules. I would not have known how to work the talk page, or how to find an article.

Overall, this assignment is definitely one of my favorites that I’ve done so far in college. It was fun and interesting. I have never done anything like this. And like I said before, it really was an empowering assignment.

To finally hit publish, and see your contribution added to the article, was a feeling I was not expecting. I was expecting to not care, to just be glad that the assignment was over. But I felt good about what I added.

After looking through the material for this week, I have learned much more about the laws effects on blogging and the media than I knew before. It’s so interesting to me that with this new online platform, our laws have needed to update in order to be up to date with the times. The internet and online platforms have really taken over our day to day lives so it is no surprise that laws and policies have started to be put in place to govern this new landscape.

One aspect of online platforms that I feel is most important to be protected by laws is privacy. It is so important the online consumers have their personal information protected. In this week’s “The Four Kinds of Privacy” article, it breaks down the types of privacy that have to be protected. With personal, defensive, human rights, and contextual privacy, there is a lot to be discussed. Privacy in all four of these categories is something that need to be guarded to ensure all people can use the internet without fear that their information or content they create is taken away.

Another really interesting article this week on law was “Bloggers’ Rights“. As I sit here and type on a blog, it was interesting to see the rights that are in place to protect bloggers. One thing that really stood out to me was when the article discussed how blogger’s have the right to free speech. I guess in my mind I had just assumed that bloggers could say or do what they wanted on their own websites or posts, but people have tried to challenge that if it is something they don’t agree with. Another point that this article made was that bloggers could stay anonymous. I think this is probably the most important right because if your blog revolves around controversial topics, then I think it should be at the blogger’s discretion to put their name on their posts and out there for everyone to see.

The final point I want to make on the topics this week is jailbreaking and encryption of devices. I found the article “Law Enforcement has Declared War on Encryption It Can’t Break” really eye opening. Call me naive, but I never thought how hard encryption could be for law enforcement when trying to break into devices for crimes. After reading through this article, I feel like more needs to be done from manufacturers to try to combat this problem. Whether its software that can’t be jailbroken or encrypted or some sort of device that can break these encryptions, I think it is so important to handle this situation so that law enforcement can do their jobs.

Because the internet is so vast and constantly changing, I realize how hard it can be to keep laws accurate and up to date. I believe though that laws are so crucial to ensuring that the media is a place that everyone can use and use without fear of what may happen to the data you create. When people start to get too worried about their privacy and the online footprints they leave, it takes away from how helpful and great that the internet can be.

This week we learning a lot about media and the law. The two issues that stuck out to me were net neutrality and censorship. I know about these issues on a surface level but wanted to do more research for my blog post this week. These two subjects are very important when discussing media and the law.

What is net neutrality? According to Wired, net neutrality is an idea based on internet service providers treating all content equally. Because of net neutrality internet providers cannot censor or block certain content. They also cannot charge more for access to certain websites. In essence this keeps the internet as an open playing field for all. Net Neutrality is a term coined by Tim Wu , Columbia law professor, in 2003.

I think this topic is important because without regulations these internet providers can do whatever they want.  Internet Service Providers (ISPs) under regulations must have internet delivered freely and openly. If we use the New York Time analogy you can think of certain websites as packages. Net neutrality ensures that all packages are delivered at the same rate. Without these regulations packages can be delivered at slower rates or not delivered at all.

What is censorship? According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) censorship is the suppression of words, images, and ideas. According to the article censorship can take place privately or by government. When the government participates in censorship it is unconstitutional. Our right to expression is protected by the First Amendment. Without these protections it is possible that our right to express freely may not exist. With that said the amendment does not protect obscenity in some media. There are many resources available at the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) for further reading.

Now that we know a little more about each subject we can tackle the question of why it should matter to us. Net neutrality is not just about keeping the internet neutral but is also addressing the issue of internet service providers becoming too powerful. The amount of ISP’s is shrinking and this is not necessarily a good thing according to Wired. When it comes to censorship I definitely enjoy my right to say what I like. I must afford others that same right even when I disagree with them.

I do plan to change the way I use my social media when it comes to these topics. As far as censorship I will continue to post what I like and use my voice to serve the causes important to me. I will respect other’s rights to do the same regardless of just how much I don’t understand or am offended by what they say. When it some to net neutrality I think the best thing we can do is support smaller internet service providers to help foster competition. This is important, as I mentioned before, so a handful of companies don’t take over everything and being too powerful. With all that said I hope you can understand why censorship and net neutrality are so important.

 

 

With elections coming up, there is much conversation on the candidates. On February 19, there was a democratic debate that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bernie Sanders presented a tax proposal that caught a lot of attention on social media.

The “grandmother” who I came across on Facebook is actually a gentleman who is from one of my old apartment complex’s in Los Angeles. He was arguing against Bernie Sanders. Because he has now deleted this post, I can not directly quote him, but I have pulled some images from the internet that were used in the conversation.

This is the image he posted:

He claimed that the tax proposal was not going to work because of these numbers. By the time I got to the conversation, there had already been some debate. Because I choose to keep my political views to myself, my contribution was simply this article from Snopes.com which rates this claim as “False”. Not that this makes it more or less valid, but I did receive a few likes on my post.

Furthermore, someone posted the real tax levels:

This clearly shows that someone who makes $29,000 per year is NOT going to be taxed at 52%, but a closer to reasonable 15%.

This conversation as a whole was not hostile, but very informational. Sure there were occasional comments that may have been read in a snarky tone, but for the most part, everyone was on the side of spreading accurate numbers and news. That said, JJ did not have much to say, as he deleted this post after being proven wrong. He did not respond individually, but posted a new Facebook thread which apologized and recognized the backfire he received. He clarified that he wanted to spread awareness about voting based off of feelings vs. logic.

So all-in-all, yes I believe this was successful in the name of media literacy. However, no, it was not a true conversation. There was not much back and forth or discussion, but it stopped the spread of a falsified claim about Bernie Sanders’ tax proposal.

I see Facebook as one of the biggest outlets for the “grandmother problem”. One, because I have seen the most article sharing on this platform, not to mention the wackiest headlines and misleading news being shared among my peers. Here are a few examples gathered in an article by business insider. 

Two, I have also been guilty of this, specifically on Facebook. I do not share articles on there because I am not that active, but I have read information or even headlines then spread that information in causal conversations. 

People, like I have, read a headline on their timeline without paying any mind to the organizations, who wrote it or sometimes do not even click on it. The headline is just so intriguing that we feel the need to share. I think the big problem is that most us just scroll past it because we might believe it, we frankly just don’t care or we do not want any conflict with the person who shared it. I have been very lucky with the courses that have taught me what to look for when it comes to the media. 

But, it is still a tough concept to bring up, especially if the person does strongly believe what they are sharing; they might get defensive, take it personal, or if its  political, they might think its just because of political differences. Still, there are ways to avoid this from feeling like an attack or a confrontation.  One guaranteed way is to not do it publicly online. I would say bringing up this issue in person when it is just you two would be ideal. It would also make the conversation more sincere, but a private online discussion can be just as successful. 

Language such as, “you should actually inform yourself” or “stop sharing this” can easily be avoided. A good way to start can be along the lines of, “Hey I read that article you shared and something makes me feel a little skeptical. I read this other article by a very credible organization/author and they are saying this instead”. Or “Hey those articles from those sketchy organizations don’t seem to reliable”. I would even consider telling them what I have been learning and how I have applied it to my news intake to make them also consider their news consumption. Then you can get into the topic of why it is important to not add any fuel to  misinformation. 

A great example is the rumors that were being spread in the beginning of the year about a draft. You can easily tell a friend who shared this story, “Dont worry thats false news and provide some real information from a reliable source to support why it is misleading. Also bringing up previous false news stories is a good way to help them understand why not sharing misleading information is important. Another example is the coronavirus. It has had its share of misleading information with lots on consequences because of it. 

Overall, emphasizing the importance of fact checking before sending or repeating any information can go a long way. As long as you do not make the person feel guilty and show them that avoiding misleading information benefits everyone you will do great.

Buzzfeed has one of the best articles I’ve seen on combating misinformation online. It discusses how to talk to loved ones, especially the older ones, about misinformation they might be inadvertently spreading online. In summary, the article directs us to just talk to the person sharing the misinformation, but in a private, positive and personal way. We should give context to the information they’re sharing and explain why it’s wrong or incomplete. We need to suggest to our favorite grandma to Google the issue and educate themselves while keeping ourselves educated as well.

While I haven’t seen anyone in my family share any misinformation online, likely because I don’t go onto their Facebook pages that often, I have had several discussions with my own grandmother about a range of topics. As a personal rule, I don’t have these kinds of discussions online. While my grandma is a bright woman, reading off a screen can be difficult for her. Also sending lengthy paragraphs explaining why the news article a family member just shared was wrong can be intimidating. I’ve never felt that a conversation like this needed to be immediate so I don’t immediately give them a phone call. I’ll mention it the next time I seem them, though.

Often, I go to my grandma’s house to help perform any household chores she needs help with. I usually stay for a little bit and talk about family, the neighborhood, my school/work, and occasionally politics or recent news.

One day while we were talking she mentioned the Antonio Arce shooting. At first she expressed empathy for the mother. She said “I can’t imagine the kind of pain that poor boy’s mother must be going through.” However, she then started to describe false or misrepresented factors that seemed to point to the Arce’s own actions being responsible for the shooting. During this time I was working at the ASU State Press and with a reporter had covered a recent vigil/protest outside the Tempe Police Department Headquarters. I had a better understanding of the situation than anyone else in my family because of my proximity. I didn’t tell her she was wrong. I did give her the information I knew, which she was receptive to, so that she could better understand the situation.

This is the best I think we can do. Kindly and privately provide missing context while encouraging education.

The best approach to help a friend or loved one understand the importance of not sharing false or misleading information on social media would be to be honest and respectful first and foremost, and provide research for them to be able to refer back to or even follow along on a new way of approaching social media. I would also attempt to provide examples of what can be viewed as a misinformed post vs. an accurate post from their own posts.

The first thing that came to mind at the thought of helping a friend or loved one understand the importance of accuracy is the SPJ Code of Ethics. I know I have referred to this a lot throughout this particular course, but its only because it seems to be a recipe for success for everyone who uses social media and online outlets, not just for journalists. Seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent. If my friends and loved ones can understand the meaning of the SPJ code of ethics, and use that as a base to all their posts, whether their own or re-sharing, they would be greatly helping and creating strides in the right direction to diminishing misinformation.

Another key aspect my friends and loved ones can take into consideration to avoid sharing misleading information is to genuinely connect with the right reliable sources on their social media. Currently there is a ton of social media pages people follow that can look like an authentic page with credible sources, but the reality is there is usually one accurate page of a news network or outlet we should follow, vs. multiple ones that may have the same outline or format.

In this Pew Research Center article I came across recently, explains in depth different ways the media environment can anticipate changes and how society can help along the way. A quote that resonated with this particular topic of misleading and false information in this read, by Irene Wu, “When the television became popular, people also believed everything on TV was true. Its how people choose to react and access to information and news that’s important, not the mechanisms that distribute them.” This means that everyone that shares online should be able to carefully read and identify  all information that comes at hand to them, and be able to differentiate the good from the bad. Lastly, I would encourage older generations that are not as media literate to follow a routine where they can perhaps learn how to become media literate for their own and societal benefit.  As much as it is an essential tool for us, the current and younger generation, it should apply to our older generations.

Doctored images. Misleading memes. Outlandish headlines that link to dubiously-sourced blog posts.

We all have at least one friend or family member flooding our social media feeds with low-quality, inaccurate information. But is there any way we can convince them to stop?

The News Co/Lab has labeled this “the grandmother problem.”

Now, I happen to think that’s a bit unfair to grandmothers. In my experience, some of the worst offenders are middle-aged men and my millennial peers. Regardless, it’s on us to start encouraging these folks to be more careful about what they share.

Start a Conversation, Not a Confrontation

To begin, it’s important to resist the urge to call your dad out over dinner or to blame your cousin for singlehandedly ruining Facebook for you at Christmas. They’ll probably just get defensive.

A better approach involves asking them how they decide what to share on social media. Do they ever worry that what they’re sharing might not be true? Rather than throwing accusations around, bring the topic up in conversation and listen to what they have to say.

There are many reasons why people share false information online. Plenty of people are unwitting sharers, but some share knowingly. They might think they’re just calling attention to inaccuracies. Maybe they do it to make people mad. Understanding someone’s current habits and motivations will help you identify where things are going wrong and make it easier to start pointing them in the right direction.

Understand the Consequences

You should also try to make your friend or family member understand that there are real consequences when inaccurate information spreads online. Per this PEW Research Center report, nearly 7 in 10 Americans think “made-up news” has impacted our confidence in government. About 4 in 10 Americans have chosen to cut back on news altogether. Every time we share something without verifying its credibility, we contribute to these numbers.

If concern for civic health won’t get through to them, find consequences that will. If they’re interested in health and science, focus on medical misinformation. When parents are poisoning their children to “cure” autism and doctors are expressing concern that viral outbreaks can worsen thanks to fake cures and treatments that circulate on social media, the need for us all to be more careful should start to become clear.

Emphasize Ease

Finally, remind them that vetting information is not that hard. Reverse image searches can be done quickly. Visiting sites like Snopes or FactCheck.org will show them if something they found on social media has already been debunked. Taking a moment to answer some simple questions or do some light fact-checking before deciding whether or not to share something can go a long way in stopping the spread of misinformation.

If they can see how easy this is, they might just give it a try.

It can be very tricky to approach a loved one or a friend and ask them not to share false information online. Will you hurt their feelings?  Will they be offended and never speak to you again? Will you become the target of their wrath on Facebook because they have no filters when it comes to what is appropriate to share? What type of relationship do you have with them and will this affect it? Is the information being shared dangerous to someone’s health or safety? These questions come to mind when thinking about the issue.

It would seem like this is a modern problem, but people have been sharing urban myths and folklore throughout history. Vampires, werewolves, and ghosts began as stories villagers would tell each other. Aliens and conspiracy theories are part of current folklore. But when do harmless stories become harmful misinformation? You might look at someone funny if they say they saw a UFO but would probably not dispute it even if you do not believe them. But there are potentially dangerous theories perpetuated through social media that could cause harm apart from being false. Many people have strong beliefs in these theories and will not change their mind even if confronted by a loved one.

I have an older half-sister who recently retired as a nurse. I now see posts on Facebook from her that are critical of vaccination. This is a topic that gets people riled up on both sides. It seems as though the question of whether vaccines cause autism has been settled, but there are still many people, who seem otherwise level-headed, who insist that they not only cause it but a host of other health problems. But in a debate, they are adamant that the government and “Big Pharma” are covering up the facts. How do you argue with a belief?

If she and I were closer as sisters, I would probably start with a question:  What made her feel this way about vaccines? Depending on the answer, I could follow up with other questions, such as where she found her information and whether she has read any of the medical research. These questions will probably tell me whether she is open to hearing other perspectives on the issue or if she will be closed-minded. But if I feel like the conversation would damage our relationship, even though we are not very close, I will let it go.