Abstract:

Misinformation is not a new phenomenon, but now it travels at the speed of light. It's never been more important for our students to discern fact from fiction, accuracy in advertising or precision from propaganda.

With the average teen consuming 9+ hours of electronic mass media per day (Statista, 2021), digital forensics skills are a 21st Century necessity.

This presentation will examine the history of false information and how it has evolved in the digital world, from Thomas Jefferson writing anonymous pamphlets about John Adams to Russia's use of SMS texting to sow discord and confusion in Ukraine.

Do our students know how to fact-check the fact-checkers? Snopes, Emergent, Newstrition and ClaimBuster will be evaluated and this presentation will also examine media analytic sites like Hamilton, Hoaxy, FakerFact and PolyGraph.

Do our students know how to spot fake social media accounts? Sites like BotoMeter, Social Blade and BotSentinel are good tools for this, as well as common red flags like incorrect grammar and numerical user names.

Do our students know how to find out who owns sites? URLScan and RButR can demonstrate to them how far-left and far-right websites can actually be owned by the same company, demonstrating the economic structure of the information economy.

Do our students know how to track their data? They can use Facebook Ad Library or Google Analytics to find out where their data is being sold and why.

Do our students know how to verify visual images online? Google Reverse Image Search is a necessary tool for determining if photos have been re-used, recycled or re-framed. Videos are a bit more difficult, but sites like YouTube Data Viewer from Amnesty International can give the date and location of the video's upload.

Do our students know the difference between advertising, propaganda, news and entertainment? Tools like Checkology from News Literacy Project provide specific examples for students to test their critical thinking abilities.

This presentation will include QR codes and hot links to each of these sites so that attendees can leave the session with concrete tools to not only share but use themselves in today's digital world of mis, dis and malfinormation.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/256300/time-spent-with-media-worldwide/

Keywords:

Digital forensics, critical thinking, online misinformation, 21st century skills.