Thats (not) Fake News

This week, I struggled with what to discuss in my process post. In previous weeks, there has always been some website set-up that had been done, or learning to be had. However, I'm finally finding myself in a posting groove, with little website work to be done.

While of course there's always room for improvements, for now, I am enjoying the look, feel, and set-up of my site. Moreover, I am enjoying posting content without having to worry about these logistical pieces!

Therefore, for this process post I wanted to dive a little deeper into this week's readings, and the idea of digital literacy and sifting through the "fake news"

I feel this concept is especially important for my site, as the main function of my public posts is to provide information and resources to the readers.

Therefore, its imparative that I use my domain knowledege and digital literacy to ensure I am providing the reader with real and accurate information.

In recent years, an there has been an influx of ignorance available and spread through online platforms.

Although ignorance can sometimes be pushed online by large industries or groups, oftentimes ignorance is spread simply through mass amounts of everyday users, who are unable to understand the concept at hand (Kenyon, 2016).

Therefore, teaching and learning digital literacy has become more crucial than ever before.

Unfortunately, it is not so simple to teach digital literacy. Moreover, much of our literacy comes from learnt experiences of simply being on the internet for some period of time.

There have been a few heuristics that been developed to evaluate digital resources and help foster digital literacy skills.

Two popular heuristics are CRAAP (standing for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose), as well as RADCAB (standing for Resource, Appropriateness, Detail, Currency, Authority, Bias) (Caulfield, 2016).

However, as Caulfield discusses in his post, these heursitics are not the key to literacy. Moreover, we should look closer at our individual processes when ascertaining whether a resource is suitable or simply ignorant fluff.

As for writing my blog posts, I am lucky to have much background knowledge in the topics chosen, which helps to support and supplement my research. Additionally, I can determine whether or not information seems plausible or correct, based off this previous knowledge.

Further, I have go-to resources in certain areas that I deem reliable through either credibile affiliations, or simply because I have used them for so long.

However, it is important to understand that this point ties back to Caulfield's argument that digital literacy is often developed through significant time in online spaces, and not necessarily through use of heuristics.

Digital literacy is an interesting concept, which I am interested in exploring further, both for academic and social interests.