Abbey Smith – Week 4

So far, Verified is a very interesting read. I think a lot of it could be considered “common sense” but recently its contents are something I haven’t been thinking about. It makes sense to want to confirm your sources and what you’re reading, but it’s been slipping my mind. This is unfortunate because I think right now, more than ever, it’s important to look into what could or couldn’t be misinformation. The past year or so has been filled with many high profile events and cases that often branch out into other events, some being made up. For example, like in class when we were digging into claims we had read about. We researched a claim that Kevin Spacey, an actor who has assaulted underaged actors and was completely blacklisted from Hollywood, said he would play Jeffrey Epstein in a movie. After some searching, we found this to be completely untrue. With Jeffrey Epstein being the biggest topic right now, it makes sense that rumors about other celebrities in similar situations as Epstein would be created. So as I said, even though some of this feels like “common sense,” I enjoy the way the book structures it and puts it in a specific order. I feel like this would ensure the best results in finding the correct or incorrect sources.  

Something that stood out to me the most in the reading was the discussion between dot-org and dot-com. I had always been told to never use dot-com as a source and dot-org was always useful. It turns out this is completely untrue, and maybe the opposite. It never crossed my mind that untrustworthy organizations, such as hate groups could hold dot-org titles. It never crossed my mind that some of the best sources could come from dot-com. I think I also enjoyed being reminded that keywords are extremely important when researching. It’s interesting how changing just one word can alter the outcome of your results.  

Another thing that stood out to me is I never really thought about, or maybe never put into words, that you should anticipate results. You should know what you’re looking for before you search, in order to find the best results and sources that fit your needs. That is something I definitely will consider for future research. And the SIFT acronym was most helpful of all. I feel like this is something I was already familiar with, but again, the way it is structured and laid out in the book makes its importance very clear.