Category: Week Six

Hello to Everyone and Welcome to My Blog on Editing a Wikipedia Article!

For this blog, I will be talking about one of the most intimidating things I have done in a very long time: EDITING A PAGE ON WIKIPEDIA!  I hope it sounded as scary typed out as it was for me in person.  Honestly, I cannot even explain how much time I took to create the edit I did in order to get it as perfect as could be (and also to not have expert Wikipedians yelling at me).  Maybe, though, just maybe, my harrowing (enter exaggerated voice here) experience will help someone take a leap to go from small edits to larger edits on pages on Wikipedia.

So in terms of what article I chose to edit, I went for some form of media on TV because I tend to be very knowledgeable on certain shows.  I specifically chose to look at stub articles based on the training we had during the weeks leading up to making the choice.  I found a stub article on the reality TV show “American Beauty Star.”  This article seemed very underdeveloped so I chose to find sources to edit the limited information on this page.  What I wanted to do was add the season 1 and 2 casts, however, after searching for sources I could only fully find the cast for season 1.  So my first step was to actually contact someone on the talk page for this article and ask whether the edit I wanted to make was acceptable in their opinion.  I got a very polite response back to go ahead with the edit and be bold in my edits.  I loved that part of the feedback…..be bold…..something I tend to shy away from being, especially on the internet.

So my next step was contacting another Wikipedian that was my original contact with the Wiki Education Foundation and who was available for help at any time.  I contacted this person because even though I found three solid sources, one had language in their permissions section that made me unsure of whether or not I could use that source.  Again, I got a very informative response about indeed being able to use that source, however, with the caution to also find great secondary sources.  I completely forgot about the types of sources I needed to use and this response actually pushed me to go back to the training again to ensure I was using the correct types of sources.

My last step in this process was to actually edit the Wikipedia article on the show.  I added my season 1 cast, three sources/references, and added the wording as far as what edits I was going to make.  Then it was all about the waiting game and just staring at the computer screen to find potential errors after publishing (am I the only one who would do this?).  To my surprise, shock, and extreme happiness, it only took about 10 minutes for someone to fix the placement of my sources BUT my edits look like they’ve been accepted!!!!  Here is the link for all to see my contributions!

I must say, as scared as I was to go through this process, actually contributing something to a digital media website makes me feel amazing.  I think from past blogs, one can see that my online footprint is less than most, so to be able to accomplish this is a big deal.  So all in all from my experience, I hope you try to make a Wikipedia page more accessible with real information for others as well.  From one Wikipedia rookie to potentially another, I definitely think this activity helped to enrich my digital media literacy.

Until the next blog!

As someone who spends the vast majority of their waking time engaged on the internet in some capacity, I am also an avid user of Wikipedia. The rest of the world also seems to rely heavily on Wikipedia, as it’s the second most visited site in the US, with higher traffic than even Facebook and Amazon.

While Wikipedia is a staple in my online habits, I’ve never really considered editing an article before.  While I enjoy learning and consider myself knowledgable on many subjects, the idea of contributing to Wikipedia has been a bit intimidating. When I saw that we would be required to edit an article and document the experience for this course, I was both excited to learn and also a bit nervous.

I found the Wikipedia training modules to be very helpful in learning to navigate the platform. The tutorials, in particular, were useful in teaching best practices for editing.

Once I felt I had a thorough understanding of Wikipedia’s policies and how to contribute to an article, I started my search for a notable topic that I was familiar with but had an underdeveloped page. After researching a few options, I decided on my hometown’s Wikipedia page — Clermont, Florida.

Scrolling through the page, I noticed that the “places” section of the article lacked information on the downtown area, as well as a historic village that’s a part of the city. Once I decided that I would contribute a few sentences expanding on this, I went over to the “talk” page and shared my plan for the edits. I wasn’t surprised to see that my post did not receive a response, as the “talk” page did not seem to be active.

Once I had posted up my plan and gathered my sources, I composed a few short sentences on the downtown area and historic village to add to the page. You can see the edits I made, which are still active, in the image below.

Overall, contributing to a Wikipedia page was a relatively smooth and uneventful process. Because I chose a page that does not seem to be regularly edited, I did not receive any pushback from other users. After learning the ins and outs of the editing process, however, I can see how adding content to a more popular page can be a rigorous, collaborative process.

As I have been diving into the wide swath of media coverage around climate change over these past several weeks, I have also been thinking deeply about just how divisive this issue can be for many people. Like gun control or immigration, the conversation around climate change is messy and full of emotion for many people. While the reality of climate change is based entirely on science, human beings are driven by passion, mainly when it concerns our own lives; and this passion inevitably makes its way into even seemingly straightforward conversations about concrete facts.

We live in a world where both climate change and the predicament of “fake news” both exist. This perpetuation of false narratives stems is known as “The Grandmother Problem,” where many people, particularly those from older generations, often have trouble distinguishing truth from fiction when it comes to news stories.

Social media has created an environment where it’s easier than ever to share and receive information, even when it’s false. Whether this is from a desire to confirm their own biases or merely a lack of education, we all hold a responsibility to educate one another on the basics of media literacy.

While it can seem awkward and even intimidating to help those in our friend networks identify “fake news,” especially when they’re the ones sharing it, there are tactful ways to educate them. As I’ve been engaging with my own newsfeed these past few weeks, I’ve taken a page out of BuzzFeed News’ book and started to implement a few rules of thumb for dealing with these situations.

Make it a positive interaction

Maintaining a warm and positive tone communicates that you’re not just trying to “troll.” Your purpose is to engage in a personal conversation on the truth of the topic itself rather than argue about partisan opinions.

Provide a reputable source

When someone shares a piece of false information on social media, we should give them the benefit of the doubt. They may not realize that they’re shared something from a fake news publication. Instead of reprimanding them, we should point them in the direction of a more credible source on the topic by providing an alternative article.

Older generations didn’t have to question whether or not to trust Walter Cronkite as he came into their living rooms to deliver the nightly news. Transitioning away from this “trust first” way of thinking has meant difficulty adjusting to a new reality filled with false narratives and deception for many.

While we live in a world dominated by social media where ambiguity is king, we can all do our part to educate one another, and hopefully, point our world in the direction of truth.

This week, I will focus on a specific media concept known as “the grandmother problem.” This describes how people unknowingly share false information. Though this relates specifically to social media, this is not a new phenomenon. In fact, anyone who has read a newspaper or watched a television program that provided false information and subsequently believed and shared it has fallen victim to a similar “grandmother problem.”

With more media outlets, news sites, and blogs out there with plenty of content to be shared, it can be a challenge as to who to trust and where to find good information. Unfortunately, this is a large reason why “the grandmother problem” is such an issue today. Many times, when our friends and family members share information online, they absolutely mean well. Thus, “the grandmother problem” is essentially, caused by a lack of media literacy.

So, how can we respectfully make our friends and family more media literate when they are facing “the grandmother problem?” What I think is important to remember when approaching anyone is to smile and be friendly. Talk to them gently and do not scold them for what they are doing wrong. Rather, make it be a conversation, NOT a lecture.

After taking into account the above guidelines, here is the approach I would take:

1. I would begin a conversation with them by explaining how I choose articles, videos, etc. to share. I would then perhaps, relate it to an example of something questionable they had posted that I was concerned about. I would then ask them how they choose what they post and share.

2. I would kindly tell them that I too, have fallen victim to believing and sharing false information in the past, and that I’ve learned that it is important to always do my research and check my sources. The key thing to remember is to not make the situation solely about them. Make it about yourself too.

3. I would then happily share with them my knowledge and fascination with media. I will express the concept that WE are media. Sharing content on social media is not just a simple chit-chat with a friend, it actually IS media, and we are all real publishers. What we share affects not just who you converse with, but everyone.

I can only hope that I will have the courage to take my own advice if I need it someday.

We all have one, a misguided or flatly mistaken relative that insists upon posting an objectionable post on social media. Wait, that’s not accurately framing the situation. It’s not the misguided factor that is loathsome, it’s the easily refutable content that my relative posts regardless of the demonstrably false narrative and/or information that they insist upon sharing with the world that really grinds my gears.

The internet is already a minefield of inaccuracies and falsehoods that this situation feels like a moment where I can be the superhero that swoops in to rectify the situation. The key to this situation is that I must avoid brute superhero strength, and rely instead on understanding and civility.

As was encouraged by my professor in his writings, Dan Gillmor stresses the simple act of civility in online exchanges. He maintains that civility is the key to interaction or persuasion with any online contributor (or villain). In this case, this is my relative so civility is paramount and cannot be overlooked.

I must find a method of demonstrating to my relative that purposeful and deliberate posting of demonstrably false content is negative and detrimental to society. Unfortunately, a large portion of society will not be able to distinguish the falsehood from other truths locked hand in hand with their internet posting. If anyone is to be trusted, attempting to represent themselves truthfully is almost always required.

Outside of civility, this interaction will require copious patience, and above all,  respect for other people’s opinions. It’s not that my opinion is infallible, but appreciation for representing the most current understanding of the facts is required in the messy online world we live in. I find great value in researching and representing the truth in every post I make and they should too. Of course, it is unreasonable to expect my elder relatives to understand this, but this is where otherworldly patience must kick in.

We can only be valued online by the framework of our standards and insistence on representing ourselves with honesty. If effective, it is at this point where I can rid myself of the external label of hero, and rather look within myself as an academic advisor. In the words of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, “As an educator, it’s my duty to empower you to think. So that you can go forth and think accurate thoughts about how the world is put together.”

When it comes to having family members sharing dubious information, my grandfather is known for it in my family.  Whether it is sending Facebook posts or tweets that you can clearly tell are not credible, that’s what he does.  Now he is older in age, but that does not give him an excuse to be sharing unreliable news.

This is kind of a sticky situation to solve.  Personally, none of my family members myself included wanted to hurt his feelings or upset him. However, it was a talk that needed to happen because as a journalism student, one thing I cannot stand is fake news.

When I decided to finally talk to him about it, I made sure to come from a very understanding angle.  I told him he should only be sharing things that he knows for a fact to be accurate.  Sharing fake/ unreliable news is not okay and he should no be okay with sharing it.

He told me that “he usually only reads the headlines,” he does not even read the article majority of the time.  Some headlines can be very misleading without reading the article.  When dealing with this issue I believe the best solution to the problem is to throughly read the story.  If you believe that something doesn’t add up or it doesn’t make sense then do not share it.

It is very important for your family members to know when you share this type of imformation, you could be causing other people to start to believe it.  That is why the best solution is to not overshare.  It is better to be more careful and undershare news than to overshare news that is not true.

We know that this will continue to happen because of the amount of information we have at our finger tips.  However, if everyone learns to only share information they would be okay with putting their name on like they wrote it, then it will help stop the sharing of unreliable news.  This is a hard topic to bring up with your family members but if you come from a very understanding view and simply state how sharing untruthful news has a negative impact then they should not be upset.

The sharing of false or misleading information on social media is something that everyone needs to stop and it is our role to imform people of ways to help counteract it.

Hello to Everyone and Welcome to Week 6 of my blog!

So today we will be discussing what is referred to as “the grandmother problem” in social media.  Interesting name isn’t it?  I don’t know about you but it makes me literally think of my grandmother trying to figure out social media platforms and just hitting the “share” button till her heart is content.

Seriously though, could you imagine if your closest friends and family members just shared information at will whether it was real or false?  Oh wait, it’s 2019 and I CAN imagine this happening.  While this problem can include people of all ages, in my life, this sums up my dad’s take on social media.  He has a Facebook which I constantly see fake news being shared or propaganda about medical issues, which unfortunately I cannot seem to find any sources to back the information on.  He also has many friends, who happen to be around the same age, and take anything he has shared as truth.  This drives me absolutely crazy and I have probably not always gone about informing my dad about the error in doing this in the right way.

I sometimes wonder, however, what is the right way?  For my dad, I have now started to get into the habit of having him give me the information that he found on the internet (before sharing with the multitudes) and my sister or I researching the validity.  We will show him how to find sources and truly research for the back-up information to make a decision of whether or not he may be onto fake or real news.  In order to help him navigate social media sharing, I had to understand that he came from a different generation of trust.  He sees something online and he wouldn’t understand why someone would create fake news stories so he trusts what the information is blindly.  I consider almost the idea of my parents being able to leave their doors open back in the day without a huge worry of who was walking around in their neighborhood.  Myself, I have a door with three locks and a deadbolt with a security system.  Times are different and unfortunately, scrutiny of news media must be different in order to ensure we are doing our due diligence in sharing news that is real.

The opinion of older generations being more trusting is not just one that I have either.  There are a couple of news outlets such as the American Press Institute and The Guardian that have talked about this “news trust” fake sharing phenomenon in older generations.

Maybe some of the solution to this problem should include classes for less digitally inclined people that teaches them about digital media literacy.  I can definitely say that my dad would take a class like that just to be able to understand the internet in general better.  Until then, the digitally savvy people must take their friends and loved ones under their wings (just as we would hope someone would do for us) and show them the ropes of sharing real, true, and viable information on digital media.

Thanks for reading and until next week!

Like many people,  my social media feeds are sometimes filled with blatantly false information shared by an older generation who is not media or technology literate.  Not only do they believe this information themselves, when they share with other users, it gives the content credibility and keeps the fake story going. With the upcoming presidential election, things will only get worse and tensions will only run higher.  How do we tactfully encourage these people in our lives to verify information and not to haphazardly spread falsehoods around social media like candy at a Halloween parade?

Depending on how well I know someone, my first step is usually just to point out the source.  I try to discourage people from sharing articles from less than reputable sources.   Of course, many are conditioned to believe that “big media” is evil and the smaller, unverified sites are more reputable.  This is a hard one to overcome.  In this case I try to convince them to back up their information.  Find another source.  Do some more research.  Oftentimes just asking them to do some more research before sharing will help them to cool down, particularly if what they are sharing is inflammatory.  When they start to research and find sources that contradict what they are sharing, in my experience it goes one of two ways.  Either they change their mind or at least opt not to share or they believe that there is a cover-up, Google must be hiding the correct information, Facebook has been paid off by the government, or something along those lines.  It can be very frustrating.

Sometimes I find that if I cannot convince someone that information is false, I need to go about it another way.  I need to convince them that they don’t need to share it.  In this situation, I can work more with them about why the information is false later, but if I can prevent them from sharing at least there is less damage done.   To do this, I like to ask them who they think will benefit from hearing this news?  Who is their target audience when they are sharing it? Will it make someone’s life better, more enriched? Will it affect any real change?  Depending on how well I know them, I can ask them if they’d be embarrassed if they shared it and later found out it was false.   Wouldn’t sharing a funny picture be a better use of your time?   I find that if I can keep them from sharing, many times they mull over the issue and find that they were in the wrong.

When scrolling through Facebook, I do not have to look far to find misinformation. Trying to weed through misinformation on social media can be daunting. There always seems to be multiple versions of the same story floating around and digging for the truth seems an endless task. The grandmother problem occurs when people (typically older people) unwittingly  share misinformation on social media platforms. I was not shocked when Pew Research found that in 2018 68% of people at least occasionally used social media for news. The same study found while many people seek news on social media, 57% said they believed the news on social media was “largely inaccurate.” Although the task may seem daunting, there are some things we can all do to help solve the grandmother problem.

• Curate your own timeline as a reliable source of information.
  As the old saying goes, if you want to change the world, start with yourself. Actively share information on your feed that you have personally read and found to be credible. Try to share information from a variety of sources so that the information is balanced. This is key if you want to be able to help others become savvy information sharers online. Not only does this make you a good example, but it also makes you credible. I personally am not qualified at the moment to be engaging many people on misinformation in this regard. My timeline has been scarce for a long time. It would likely come off as a personal attack if I suddenly pointed out misinformation on someone else’s feed when I have not posted anything in months.
• Assume positive intent. 
  I am stealing this line from a conflict resolution model at work. This has profound significance in many areas of life, though. Never assume someone is maliciously spreading misinformation, unless you have ample evidence to suggest otherwise. From my personal experience, the spread of misinformation comes from naivety, not malice. With that in mind, it’s usually best to address misinformation through private messages to avoid public embarrassing the other person.
• Ask questions that create conversation. 
  When approaching someone online about something they posted, ask questions about the post. It is possible they may have shared the post as a joke. Asking what they liked about the article or found interesting and important could give critical insight on how to approach them. This makes a conversation instead of a lecture. You can share information with them that you found that is correct about the topic, providing links if possible, when you ask the questions.