Experiments in digital creation.

“In authoritarian regimes, creating a broad cynicism about all sources of expertise—the press, academics, professionals—serves to make sure political power, not truth-seeking, is the ultimate arbiter of what’s true.” – Caulfield & Wineburg Anxiety around news consumption seems to be getting worse. Not a single person I know seems to have a solid grasp on…

Verified, written by Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg, is an informational guide on how to tell what is real and what isn’t on the internet. This book makes a point not to trust the websites we want to trust. We are reminded that some of the most professional-looking websites are meant to fool us. We…

This week’s readings from Verified inspired me to think a lot about believing information in general. While the medium that information is delivered on calls for different approaches in the process of verifying information, the methods and mistakes Verified points out seem analogous to mistakes made in other areas like general conversation, speeches, or television.…

Mike Caufield is great at creating visuals to help readers better understand the concepts he covers. In the past I’ve read “lateral reading” and I’ve been able to understand what it is and why it is important, but I’ve never fully understood why reading vertically was bad. That was never fully described to me so…

I found this week’s reading of Verified to be the most interesting yet. I think it was the most interesting because it definitely had concepts I had not considered before. And I can see how these concepts will be very helpful.  In Chapter 4, something I found important that was mentioned is that we shouldn’t read print, such as books, the same way we…

Digital Literacy Digital consumption relies on a lazy audience. Content gets passed around with glazed eyes and thumbs at the ready. Instead of getting the newspaper, flitting through to the section you actually care about, reading, and discussing what you read with family, neighbors, or friends, we stare at a screen absorb a video of…

As a philosophy major, I was quite taken aback by some of the points made in Verified thus far. My primary educational world for years has revolved around assuming other’s ways of thinking, exercising them, and analyzing their logic. One practice that I have consistently included in my reading and study is the practice of…

I found myself scrolling through X (formerly Twitter) last night and noticed something about myself. As my eyes roved over the endless scroll of posts, I noticed how much information I was digesting without question. Of course, there were the obvious tweets that stood out as engagement bait and blatant misinformation. I’d scoff at them…

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…

Liam Justiniano — I think Mike Caufield does a great job at compiling the knowledge of how to navigate these online spaces in his book “Verified”. A lot of these tools such as the knowledge block or the three dots are something that we encounter on a daily basis. I haven’t ever stopped to check…