teaching students to be (wonderfully) abnormal
DESCRIPTION
Why it's essential to integrate the teaching of verification into editing classes. And why good editors are abnormal humans.TRANSCRIPT
Teaching students to be (wonderfully) abnormal
@CraigSilvermanEditor, Regret the Error, Poynter
Editor, Verification Handbook
Who was fooled?
Lebanon Video Resurfaces in Syria
Source:http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/121109/fake-syria-videos-images
“In short, rumors arise and spread when people are uncertain and anxious about a topic of personal relevance and when the rumor
seems credible given the sensibilities of the people involved in the spread,”
— “Rumor Mills: The Social Impact of Rumor and Legend.”
New: Networks
Source: Statistica, http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
New: Abundance
• 100 hours of video uploaded to YouTube ever minute.
• More than 500 million tweets sent per day.• More than 55 million Instagram photos
uploaded per day.
“Journalism is a discipline of verification”
— The Elements of Journalism
So…
Let’s teach this discipline!
A good editor is “able to look at a page without using your brain. Put another way, you need to
be able to look at words in a way that goes against everything your brain would naturally
do when it looks at words.” — Yuka Igarashi, managing editor of Granta
Mindset
• Assume it’s not true.• Skeptical.• Investigator.• Separate emotion and motivation from work.
Verification Toolkit
• VerificationHandbook.com• Skype/Phone• Reverse image search• EXIF reader• Google Maps/Earth• Who.is• Spokeo, Pipl.com,WebMii.com• Twitter Advanced Search• YouTube Data Viewer• Izitru
Resources
• VerificationHandbook.com• Coming soon: six free videos on verification,
more case studies.• Citizen Evidence• Bellingcat• Regret the Error
Discussion
• Complete our survey: – http://bitly.com/verificationsurvey
• What are you teaching now related to verification and fact-checking? What works?
• What can we create to help you teach the discipline of verification?