Florida - Two Florida colleges are bringing attention to the plethora of fake news filling today's headlines and giving useful tips on how to detect the deceptions before they cause damage.
Fake news, prevalent in the digital world, spreads quickly at social media sites and includes hoaxes, propaganda and disinformation used to discredit or create a sensation. This is dangerous, because it can affect the outcome of real-world situations, possibly even endangering world security.
Librarians at Daytona State College are fighting the dissemination of false news by advising students to test the information with the CRAAP test. This acronym is an easy way to remember the criteria necessary to determine if news is credible, relevant, authoritative, accurate and has purpose.
“These are the types of things you want to check for, regardless of whether your source is a book, an article, a website, a blog or a social media post,” said Cheryl Kohen, DSC’s technology services librarian.
“The idea of using what we do as librarians to help fight fake news is part of our mission to promote information literacy,” said DSC Librarian Dustin Weeks. “The CRAAP test has been around for a long time. Our instructors know it well and use it to help students find and evaluate information that is reliable and credible.”
Stetson professor Jalena Petrovic will discuss the topic of fake news and how to detect it at the New Smyrna Beach Regional Library, 1001 S. Dixie Freeway, Wednesday Feb. 22 at 2 PM. The presentation is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. For more information, call the library at 386-424-2910, option 4.
DSC librarians teach a one-credit hour online course called Introduction to Internet Research, which is essentially everything you need to know about the CRAAP test. Contact the DSC library at 386-506-3518.
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Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2017.
