Evaluation August 19, 2009
Posted by Robert Balliot ,MLIS in Anchor Rising, Left Wing, RIFuture, Right Wing.add a comment
Evaluating Information Resources
This pattern of disinformation has certainly become the norm on the internet – whispers from PR firms calculated to incite are repeated over and over again and presented as fact. The disinformation practices promulgated by both the ‘left’ and ‘right’ are a tragic disservice to the democratic process. Disinformation is most effective with segments of the population who have not been trained to use critical thinking skills and effectively evaluate information resources.
William Sumner defines critical thinking skills as:
The critical habit of thought, if usual in society, will pervade all its mores, because it is a way of taking up the problems of life. Men educated in it cannot be stampeded by stump orators … They are slow to believe. They can hold things as possible or probable in all degrees, without certainty and without pain. They can wait for evidence and weigh evidence, uninfluenced by the emphasis or confidence with which assertions are made on one side or the other. They can resist appeals to their dearest prejudices and all kinds of cajolery. Education in the critical faculty is the only education of which it can be truly said that it makes good citizens.
Political spin certainly existed long before the internet, radio, newpapers and even television. Supressing information and spinning it is part of the political landscape. And, tactics used to hush dissenting opinions are often brutal. However, the methods currently being employed to influence opinions have made it possible for disinformation to be spread and misinterpreted as fact at a speed and scope never before witnessed. The critical evaluations necessary to effectively separate factual information from disinformation – whether blog , broadcast media , or traditional print – test these qualities:
- Authorship and Affiliation
- Accuracy/Verifiability
- Objectivity
- Audience
- Currency
- Content/Purpose
- Comparison to Other Similar Resources
Just Crow will use these criteria to evaluate the political blogs of Rhode Island and cut through the disinformation. Perhaps in some small way, we can promote democracy through critical thinking skills and help weigh the evidence without being ‘stampeded by stump orators’.
Disinformation Studies August 18, 2009
Posted by Robert Balliot ,MLIS in Conservative, Democrat, Left Wing, Liberal, Progressive, Republican, Right Wing.add a comment
Just Crow is a Rhode Island political blog review. Blogs characterizing themselves as Progressive, Liberal, Conservative, Right Wing, Left Wing, Democrat, and Republican all share a common factor. The arguments they present fit their political agendas. More often than not, the information they use to back up those arguments are 2nd, 3rd or even 4th party sources. The result is political disinformation.
The purpose of the Just Crow blog is to remove the disinformation from the process by checking the facts, checking the sources, and attempting to dispel the myths from Rhode Island Political blogs. There is no political agenda to this blog other than helping people come to their own conclusions by identifying the errors and often ironic misrepresentations being used to implement political agendas.
Challenges to the disinformation in Rhode Island Political blogs often results in being banned from participation. Just Crow will provide a resource to facilitate challenges based on facts.
