Trace the Spread of a Claim on Social Media (pt 2)

Trace the Spread of a Claim on Social Media

Hoax-Slayer - Fact checks email and social media hoaxes, scams, and identity theft.

Hoaxy: ( Indiana University's Center for Complex Networks and System Research).  Creates visuals that document the spread over time of articles, hoaxes, rumors, conspiracy theory, satire, as well as factual reports and fact-checking articles. Includes account names and original tweets/retweets, as well as links to the original article.  Watch a How It Works tutorial.

Fact Checking News on Facebook

10 tips from Facebook on how to spot fake news on Facebook

Fact Checking Twitter Tweets and Accounts

Tips for spotting fake tweets and tweeters, from the Poynter Institute,

• No information in the bio
• Very uneven number of tweets, following, and followers
• Every tweet is a retweet
• Tweets are nonsensical, not topical
• The Twitter name looks nothing like display name
• Famous person “unverified”
• Egg photo or fake photo

Trust Indicators - Upcoming Developments in News Fact Checking

On November 16, 2017, Facebook, Google, and Twitter announced a plan to team up with The Trust Project to display a 'trust indicators' icon on news stories. Clicking on the icon will produce a pop-up window where the news source identifies how meets 8 core standards established by The Trust Project.: (These responses are verified by The Trust Project.) Best Practices: What are your standards? Who funds the news outlet? What is the outlet’s mission? Plus commitments to ethics, diverse voices, accuracy, making corrections and other standards. Author/Reporter Expertise: Who made this? Details about the journalist, including their expertise and other stories they have worked on. Type of Work: What is this? Labels to distinguish opinion, analysis, and advertiser (or sponsored) content from news reports. Citations and References: For investigative or in-depth stories, access to the sources behind the facts and assertions. Methods: Also for in-depth stories, information about why reporters chose to pursue a story and how they went about the process. Locally Sourced? Lets you know when the story has local origin or expertise. Was the reporting done on the scene, with deep knowledge about the local situation or community? Diverse Voices: A newsroom’s efforts and commitment to bringing in diverse perspectives.  Readers noticed when certain voices, ethnicities, or political persuasions were missing. Actionable Feedback: A newsroom’s efforts to engage the public’s help in setting coverage priorities, contributing to the reporting process, ensuring accuracy and other areas. Readers want to participate and provide feedback that might alter or expand a story.

Fact Checking Images and Video

	Photos or Fauxtos? Has the image been manipulated or reused in a false story?
Use reverse image searching and image forensic tools to identify fakes or determine where the image originally came from.

Citizen Evidence Lab: Tool Box - Created by Amnesty International, the toolbox links to a variety of mostly free digital tools useful for verifying photos and videos depicting human rights abuses.

Reverse Image Searching

A 'reverse image' search will show you if the photo has appeared elsewhere online.  It can also show you similar images that may indicate that the photo is a mash-up of other images. Look for dates on the websites that contain the photo if your photo is about an event.

Google Images or Tineye.  These two sites work the same way: drag and drop an image, or type in its URL, to see which web pages contain the image.  You'll also see similar images.

Yandex - See which web pages contain an image, and view various resolutions of that image.  If your image is small, seeing a larger version may make smaller elements more visible.

Fact Checking Videos

Advanced Guide on Verifying Video Content - From the website of Bellingcat, a British-based group of citizen journalists who use open source software and social media to fact-check information.  How reliable is their work?  Read discussion/interview with Bellingcat founder Elliot Higgins in the Columbia Journalism Review and a profile in the New Yorker.

The Physics of Fake Videos - tips from Wired magazine.

Image Forensics

These digital forensics tools can help you identify when and how a photo or video was manipulated.

FotoForensics - Provides Error Level Analysis (ELA) of uploaded photos, showing what parts of the photo have been manipulated. Accuracy and level of detail depends on having a high-quality photo, as close to the original as possible. - very time an image is resaved, (rather than copied) detail is lost. Info on originals will also include metadata and may contain the date and GPS location.  Use a reverse image search to find the highest quality copy or the original.  FotoForensics tutorial.

YouTube DataViewer - Created by Amnesty International, it will show when a video was uploaded to Youtube and displays all thumbnails for the video, which you can use for a 'reverse image search'. 

Pic2Map - Locate and view your photos on Google Maps.  Depending on the brand and model of the camera; this site can identify camera settings and the date and time the image was taken.

Wikimapia Crowd-sourced version of Google Maps, featuring additional information......

The information above was pulled from the University of Georgia’s Library Resource page for student use.

University of Georgia GALILEO Library. “GALILEO@UGA Subject Guides: Fact Checking the News: Fact Checking

Organizations & Bias Raters.” GALILEO@UGA Subject Guides, University of Georgia, 13 June 2018, 4:45 PM,

guides.libs.uga.edu/c.php?g=685109.

Sources for FACT-CHECKING

Sources for Fact Checking: US Politics and Elections

Nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative journalism organizations are excellent sources for corroborating statements and claims. BUT beware of sites created by special interest groups that try to pass themselves off as nonpartisan. For example,  Political Action Committees (PAC's) or 527's may pose as watchdogs, but in reality, are pushing their own agenda.  What is a PAC?   What is a 527?

Pew Research Center - This nonpartisan organization calls itself a 'fact tank' because it gathers data through public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis, and other data-driven social science research. They report the facts, but do not take policy positions. Their areas of coverage are U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science, and technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and trends; and U.S. social and demographic trends. You can browse their data and reports by topic or keyword search their database of polling questions.

OpenSecrets.org - Tracks money in U.S. politics - who's getting it, and who's giving it, They also provide analysis of current political issues in blog posts and reports, often compiling them into "Issue Profiles", on a wide range of topics, such as Net Neutrality, Immigration, Toxic Chemicals, Banking, Defense, etc.  Their data is drawn from original sources such as the Federal Election Commission, the IRS, the Senate Office of Public Records, and other congressional information collectors.

Center for Public Integrity - Investigates money and politics, government waste/fraud/abuse, the environment, healthcare reform, national security, and state government transparency.

 

Vote Smart - Information on candidates and for political office. including their public voting record, public statements, biographical information, and ratings given by more than 100 competing special-interest groups,

More relevant sources in the box below, "Sources for Fact Checking: US Economy & Labor".

Sources for Fact Checking: Economy and Labor

American FactFinder: US Census data.  Includes data on US business, economy (fed, state, and local), education, employment, population & families, health, housing, income & poverty, international trade, and more.  Try the "Guided Search" option if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.

Bureau of Labor Statistics - the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) -  An independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Produces independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process.  List of topics covered.

Government Accountability Office (GAO) - An independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, the GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. Their "Key Issues" page indexes reports by topic or by a government agency.

Current Population Survey - Sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is the primary source of labor force statistics for the population of the United States

Sources for Fact Checking: Health Issues

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Protects the "health security" of the US through research and education relating to individual health and public health issues. You can keyword search the website or use their Data & Statistics page, which is organized by topic.

Health News Review -  Provides information to consumers by critically analyzing claims about health care interventions.

National Center for Health Statistics - NCHS is the federal government's principal source for health data.  The NCHS compiles Fact Sheets on vital statistics such as births and deaths, health status and disease, health behaviors, access to medical services and to health insurance.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency, it administers Medicare and works in partnership with the states to administer Medicaid. CMS Program Statistics "...includes detailed summary statistics on national health care, Medicare populations, utilization, and expenditures, as well as counts for Medicare-certified institutional and non-institutional providers."

Kaiser Family Foundation - a non-partisan organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy.

Sources for Fact Checking: Crime

Bureau of Justice Statistics - Statistics and analysis related to crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of criminal justice systems at all levels of government.  Mouse over the 'Topics' link to get a full picture of the issues covered, and links to statistics on those issues.

Death Penalty Information Center - A national non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment.

Uniform Crime Reporting - compiled by the FBI from data voluntarily provided by nearly 18,000 cities, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies.  You can search their statistical data and compile custom tables and/or explore their annual publication, Crime in the United States.  The FBI has separate reports that cover data on Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, and Hate Crimes. Note that investigative journalism has called into question the accuracy of hate crime statistics.  

Innocence Project - The IP is a nonprofit legal clinic that seeks to exonerate the wrongly convicted and reform the criminal justice system.  The website contains information on factors in false convictions and ideas for reform.  It also features specific cases it has worked on.

Southern Poverty Law Center - Monitors hate groups

Sources for Factchecking: International/Transnational Issues

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists - "a global network of more than 190 investigative journalists in more than 65 countries who collaborate on in-depth investigative stories".  Their most well-known investigation is the Panama Papers, which won a Pulitzer prize.

CIA World Factbook - basic information on the history, people, government, economy energy, geography, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues for 267 countries and territories.

Eurostat - Indicators for EU Member States and candidate countries, submitted by the governments of those entities.

International Monetary Fund:- A consortium of 189 countries, the IMF was created to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. You can create your own tables from IMF data, or view the full text of their major publications, World Economic Outlook Report and Database,  Global Financial Stability Report, and Fiscal Monitor.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) - International research on conflict, armaments, global arms trading, arms control, and disarmament.

Sources for Fact Checking: Immigration

US Customs and Border Protection: Stats & Summaries - Statistical compilations include US Border Patrol Statistics,  "On a Typical Day",  Southwest Border Migration, and  Use of Force

The information above was pulled from the University of Georgia’s Library Resource page for student use.

University of Georgia GALILEO Library. “GALILEO@UGA Subject Guides: Fact Checking the News: Fact Checking

Organizations & Bias Raters.” GALILEO@UGA Subject Guides, University of Georgia, 13 June 2018, 4:45 PM,

guides.libs.uga.edu/c.php?g=685109.

Spotting Unreliable Information

Detecting Fake News

Regardless of where you find information (website, social media, newspaper, etc.) the criteria for reliability is the same:

Non-Partisan Fact-Checking Sites Outside the US

Fact-checking sites outside the US cover issues in their own countries, but may also examine US issues of importance to their country.

Nonpartisan Fact-Checking Websites Outside the US:

Duke Reporter's Lab - Duke University.  Their fact-checking database links to over "...100 non-partisan organizations around the world that...assess the accuracy of statements made by public officials, political parties, candidates, journalists, news organizations, associations, and other groups."  Includes several dozen fact-checking sites in the US.

Trace the Spread of a Claim on Social Media

Trace the Spread of a Claim on Social Media

Hoax-Slayer - Fact checks email and social media hoaxes, scams, and identity theft.

Hoaxy: ( Indiana University's Center for Complex Networks and System Research).  Creates visuals that document the spread over time of articles, hoaxes, rumors, conspiracy theory, satire, as well as factual reports and fact-checking articles. Includes account names and original tweets/retweets, as well as links to the original article.  Watch a How It Works tutorial.

Source Bias Raters

Bias Raters

These sources rate degree of bias (or outright fakery) in thousands of news sources.

Bias  unreliability.  A biased source that uses factual data and cites where it comes from can be reliable. But recognizing its bias will help you interpret its arguments. Interpretations of bias can differ - one person's 'right' or 'left' may be another's  'center'.  Check multiple sources and ultimately use your own judgment.

 Media Bias Fact Check - Evaluates over 1300 news sources for bias, and rates them on a continuum (left, left-center, least biased, right-center, right) using this methodology.  Also rates news sources on how factual their reporting is, and the quality of their sources, using a high / mixed / low scale. Provides lists of news sources that are 'fake', whether pseudoscience, conspiracy theory, or satire.

Open Sources - Curates a spreadsheet of unreliable sources, tagging them according to twelve categories of credibility, from fake to credible, including 'conspiracy theory', 'rumor mill', 'clickbait', etc. The homepage explains their method for analyzing a source.

Websites that Post Fake and Satirical Stories - Factcheck.org has compiled a list of websites that publish fake or satirical stories, collected in the course of their fact checking work.  This list is continually updated.

Non-Partisan Factchecking Websites in the US

Nonpartisan Fact-Checking Websites in the US:

FactCheck.org - (Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania). Fact checks political and scientific statements, videos etc., as well as talking points of political parties and presidential speeches.  If you run across a claim that hasn't been fact-checked, you can submit it to this organization for review.  They have partnered with Facebook to factcheck Facebook posts flagged by Facebook users.  How to Flag Fake News on Facebook.

FlackCheck, a 'sister site' to factcheck.org offers "resources designed to help viewers recognize flaws in arguments in general and political ads in particular. Video resources point out deception and incivility in political rhetoric."

Snopes - Researches urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other stories of questionable or unknown origin.

Factchecker - Run by journalist Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, this site assesses claims made by politicians or political advocacy groups. 

Politifact - From the Tampa Bay Times.  Researches and rates the accuracy of claims made by national,state and local elected officials, candidates, leaders of political parties and political activists.

Punditfact - From the Tampa Bay Times. Researches and rates the accuracy of claims by "...pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, the hosts and guests of talk shows, and other members of the media."

American Press Institute - Fact Checking Resources - Provides fact-checked answers to widely asked questions and the reliable sources they used to find those answers.  Topics covered are: Immigration, Healthcare, Economy, Campaigns & Voting, Records, Social Media Users, Social Media and Web Content, Photos and Video, Crime Public Health, and Climate Change.

The information above was pulled from the University of Georgia’s Library Resource page for student use.

University of Georgia GALILEO Library. “GALILEO@UGA Subject Guides: Fact Checking the News: Fact Checking

Organizations & Bias Raters.” GALILEO@UGA Subject Guides, University of Georgia, 13 June 2018, 

4:45 PM, guides.libs.uga.edu/c.php?g=685109.

Use Scholarly Sources to Lend Credibility to What you Have Already Argued: the Source Sandwich

When you are writing an argument that will use sources to defend your claim and sources to assist in refuting the opposition, you will need to properly integrate these sources into your body-paragraphs to show your argument can be defended by your own assertions as well as reliable leaders in the field.

Using sources to ‘make’ your argument for you is not acceptable.  You must (1) make the argument yourself, and (2) use brief content from scholarly sources to lend credibility to what you have already argued.  Once you have those two steps mastered, you can understand the ‘big picture’ of then (3) analyzing and evaluating the support from the source to strengthen your argument even more while assuring the audience that your claim is sound.

How to Make Sure Your Sources Are Legit

• Posted 17 May 2018
 
• By EasyBib
 
• Under Blog Posts/ Citing/ Writing
• Available through http://www.easybib.com/guides/how-to-make-sure-your-sources-are-legit/

by Amanda Clark

You just got the assignment: the infamous end-of-year research paper. Your teacher, Mrs. Citey, is a stickler when it comes to bibliographies, and you’re nervous because you don’t know where to find legit sources. The internet is a wealth of information, but that also makes it hard to weed out the bad sites from the good.

We’re here to help! It’s easy to make sure your sources are credible by keeping these four questions in mind. (But first, make sure you know: what is a bibliography?)

Video Lesson: Quoting and Paraphrasing

Home >Writing >Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing—Oh, My!

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing—Oh, My!

Posted 04 April 2017 By Sally Baggett Under Blog Posts/ Writing, and available through http://www.easybib.com/guides/quoting-paraphrasing-summarizing/

If you’ve ever written a research essay, you know the struggle [to integrate scholarly sources] is real. Should you use a direct quote? Should you put it in your own words? And how is summarizing different from paraphrasing—aren’t they kind of the same thing?

Facts, Opinions & Reasoned Judgments

Video Lesson: Facts, Opinions & Reasoned Judgments

• Posted 20 July 2018
 
• By Michele Kirschenbaum
 
• Under Blog Posts/ Research

Length: 1:02

Recognizing the difference between fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment statements is an essential skill, one which is often touched upon and reviewed in school. Students need to be able to distinguish between these three types of statements in order to write persuasive pieces, develop proper theses, communicate and engage in debates, and critically analyze information.

If you’re looking for a short video to refresh your thinking on the topic, view Facts, Opinions, and Reasoned Judgments: What’s the Difference.

In just over a minute, you will learn:

• The three different ways information can be presented (facts, opinions, reasoned judgments)
• Definitions for facts, opinions, and reasoned judgments
• Examples and explanations for each statement type

Facts, Opinions and Reasoned Judgments