Week 10

Looking back at the Verification Quest process has been interesting. Over the course of my research, I faced few hurdles that made me question what direction to go in next. Verified had some really great steps, but there were a few times even that didn’t seem to help. Overall, though, Verified was easy enough to apply to my subject of choice. Using Wiki as a starting off base and laterally verifying sources and claims started to become second nature as I wove through the writing and research process.

A positive and negative aspect of this project was my interest in the subject. I constantly wanted to look into other pieces of info about the company I was researching, but that would only deviate from my intended goal. I had to ensure that I was focused on the one claim I was looking to verify. Having the claim as one of the first things visible in my project document was helpful to stay on goal. When I was tempted to keep my search going on only tangentially related topics, I would reorient my searches so that I wouldn’t get stuck down a rabbit hole.

As we move into the newest project, there are definitely some things that I will keep in mind from the Verification Quest. Emotions can run high with certain subjects, and since my group is discussing a topic related to eating disorders, we have definitely interacted with content like that. My group is focusing on “girl” trends and the way that they can begin as a seemingly harmless idea that connects people who have experienced girlhood but later develops into something reflective of misogynist ideals that the original was supposed to stand up against. This creates a lot of room for high tension conversations online, and we will definitely have to make sure to differentiate between falling for claims because of the emotional pull and analyzing those claims.

This subject is, as many online topics are, ever evolving. It can be hard to go back and check videos or posts because a lot have been deleted or we have to face the absolutely diabolical undated algorithm of Instagram. This has been a bit of a barrier, as we have to dig extra-long to find things from the beginning of the trend, with no way to sort searches by date or in any other super specific manner. We have plenty of posts that will hopefully all work, but going back to find more would definitely be a bit of a process.

I am excited to work more on this project and really flesh out the idea. There is a lot to work with and, even though there is some “interesting” content to look through, it will be a great chance to look at something online that has very real consequences in the real world as well as online.