THIS JUST IN!! ARE WE READING OUR NEWS CORRECTLY?!

Hello everyone,

This week in #EDTC300 we discussed internet trolls and the issues of “fake news” on the web. These two issues can cause major rifts in our research because we are filling our brains with information that may not be genuine or true and can be highly toxic for social dialogues. I took the time to watch this video from TEDtalk called “How to choose your news – Damon Brown”, and I will link it here: How to choose your news. In the video, Damon discusses how people in our modern-day society have been bombarded with information, since the invention of the world wide web. Sifting through it can be similar to finding a needle in a haystack. Learning to read the news to filter out what is useful and what is not is an excellent practice to obtain today.

It is weird to think about how quickly generationally things can change, why the gap between our grandparents, then our parents, and then ourselves becomes bigger. And more and more new generations are teaching the prior how to function in a technological age, whilst the prior generations are trying to ground us in the timeless principles of their era. It is an interesting opportunity for the relationship between our family generations to essentially “help me, help you” in learning how to grow, and how to progress.

So we are teaching our prior generations how to read the news. They had limited access to the type of information that was provided. which can also be concerning in that regard because imagine you only have one source of news, how does one do research and become an independent learner and critical thinker with one source? I would like to change the narrative and be open to many sources because I feel as though I like to stay open-minded and not be limited to any one person or view. I continue to be an active learner. So that being said, what do we do to navigate t find truth in news through the overwhelming information of our era?

Researching resources that have a first-hand grasp of the situation. This can be private journalists, local news outlets, or witnesses, getting to first-hand sources is key, in order to steer away from reviews or opinion pieces, or news satire, and trying to navigate the real information that we researchers seek. Steer away from the news outlet or the editor’s voice that dominates over and articles take on a witness of an event. We want to hear what the people who are present in the events have to say, and less of the polished version of those having a second-hand perspective of the situation.

It is also difficult to find objective storytelling because most news has somewhat of a biased take, due to trying to lure in a particular audience. Trying to see the various perspectives of a certain event is very important in order to be objective in your own research. sometimes going to a particular political news outlet because it supports your view, may hinder the other advantage of understanding alternative perspectives which can benefit an objective view. By reading various views on the event one can see a common thread and put the pieces together of the puzzle. and sometimes,  if a person wasn’t there in person, it can be difficult for any one person to take away a similar view of the event so being careful as to what we broadcast on our personal media outlets can be an advantage in order to be flexible of the ever-evolving information that is out there.

I also want to add in regards to teaching this in the classroom. I think it is important to show videos like the TEDtalk video in order to create objective research, but also individual learners. We can gain knowledge on a topic that we are passionate about without having to share everything we learn all the time. I want learners to start practicing how to research effectively whilst still choosing safe environments to share their precious research, because not every ear is open to hearing what you have to say. We have to be careful what we put out there and protect our precious thoughts and when we post, we know we have taken the time to research, and that we are okay with the type of audience we are sharing with. I would like students to learn how to be open-minded, to be passionate about what they want to research, and be confident in what they share with who they share, and create a more empathetic research world where we can have dialogue and we can take information or reject it without having to cancel people.

Cheers to reading week!