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Learn about economic, legal, or social issues that have come up in regard to information literacy with the resources below.

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When Generation Z voters - the newcomers to the political process, whose introduction to American-style democracy comes in this election - went to their favorite social media sites this September, hundreds of thousands of them watched a wide-eyed young woman vent into her cellphone camera because, she declares, her request form for a mail-in ballot came wrapped in pages of campaign materials supporting the reelection of President Donald Trump.

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When Gen Z is the source of the misinformation it consumes

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When Generation Z voters - the newcomers to the political process, whose introduction to American-style democracy comes in this election - went to their favorite social media sites this September, hundreds of thousands of them watched a wide-eyed young woman vent into her cellphone camera because, she declares, her request form for a mail-in ballot came wrapped in pages of campaign materials supporting the reelection of President Donald Trump.

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Name Calling - A device to make us form a judgment without examining the evidence in which it should be based. Here the propagandist appeals to our hate and fear. He does this by giving "bad names" to those individuals, groups, nations, races, policies, practices, beliefs, and ideals which he would have us condemn and reject.

Glittering Generalities - This device allows the propagandist to identify his program with virtue by use of "virtue word." Here he appeals to our emotions of love, generosity, and brotherhood. He uses words like truth, freedom, honor, liberty, social justice, public service, loyalty, progress, democracy, the American way, examples of words that suggest shining ideals.

Euphemisms - Name Calling and Glittering Generalities are devices that use vivid, emotionally suggestive words to arouse the crowd to the propagandist way of thinking. In other situations, the propagandist attempts to pacify the audience to make an unpleasant reality more palatable. This is accomplished by using words that are bland and euphemistic.

Transfer - A device by which the propagandist carries over the authority, Sanction and prestige of something we respect and revere to something he would have us accept. Symbols such as the cross and the Christian Church, the Flag, Uncle Sam are used to transfer the authority, sanction, and prestige to something which otherwise we would reject.

Testimonial - This device relies on the use of an expert, celebrity, or perceived expert to offer reasons why something should be believed. The credibility of the personality is transferred to the item or campaign. This also works in reverse based on the same premise that you will relate to the testimonial because of your belief in the person making the testimonial.

Plain Folks - Used by politicians, labor leaders, businessmen, and even ministers and educators to win our confidence by appearing to be people just like the common person. This device is used to show how normal they or their products is by comparing it to everyday events and places.

Bandwagon - This device makes us want to follow the crowd to just accept the propagandist's program on mass. He directs his appeal to groups held together by common ties of nationality, religion, race, environment, sex, and vocation to harnessing the fears and prejudices and biases and ideals common to the group to get everyone in the group to join his cause.

Card Stacking or Fear - A device where all of the arts of deception are used to win our support. He stacks the cards against the truth or for his cause by using half-truths and featuring only the good elements. For a successful fear campaign to work you must have a threat, a recommendation to fix the problem, people to see that the fix will work, and people to believe they can be the fix.

Information borrowed from:

Delwiche, Aaron. "Propaganda critic: index of site dedicated to propaganda analysis." Propaganda critic: index of site dedicated to propaganda analysis. N.p., 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2017. <http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/index.html>.

"How to Detect Propaganda." Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors (1915-1955), vol. 24, no. 1, 1938, pp. 49-55. www.jstor.org/stable/40219502.

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Name Calling - A device to make us form a judgment without examining the evidence in which it should be based. Here the propagandist appeals to our hate and fear. He does this by giving "bad names" to those individuals, groups, nations, races, policies, practices, beliefs, and ideals which he would have us condemn and reject.

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Analyze the article picked for your group, citing the domains of information literacy.
Feel free to get creative in how you mark-up and present your findings.

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Key Environmentalist Myths about Energy Go Up in Smoke | National Review

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Environmentalists who genuinely care about lowering CO2 emissions should heed the data - even when they defy progressive shibboleths about the future of energy.

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Each group should drop their article annotation and justification here.

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Worksheet for inter-group analysis critique

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Worksheet for inter-group analysis critique

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Groups A and B switch, groups C and D switch.

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Learn about the ethical production and use of information with the resources below.

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Watch this video about circular reporting.

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Skepticism in the era of fake news and circular reporting

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Learn about lateral reading.

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Sort Fact from Fiction Online with Lateral Reading

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Explore the differences between facts, points of view, and opinions using the articles below.

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What’s the difference between an opinion piece and a news story? An opinion piece gives you information from the point of view of the writer, or presenter. It may include facts, and reportin…

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Creative Commons is the nonprofit behind the open licenses and other legal tools that allow creators to share their work. Our legal tools are free to use.

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This LibGuide has a lot of great resources about information ethics. Please use the links in the "What are information ethics?" tab to look at other LibGuides about copyright, plagiarism, etc..

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Information ethics or infoethics has been defined by the Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science as "the branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society."

As students, you spend a lot of time reading and learning about others' ideas, theories, and research. When it's time to write about and expand on the principles and ideas you have studied, it is very important to remember that you are contributing to the scholarly conversation around a topic, and that you must behave ethically by giving credit to those whose ideas, words or works you use.

Use this guide to find information on the following topics:

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Subject Guides: Information Ethics: Information Ethics

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Information ethics or infoethics has been defined by the Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science as "the branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society."

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Why people fall for misinformation - Joseph Isaac

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Explore how information is created and produced using the articles below.

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Read the first page about how information is disseminated formally or casually.

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Inform Your Thinking: Episode 5 - How Is Your Information Created?

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Information is my lifeblood. As a communication scholar, I study information in all its forms. How it entertains us, how it shapes our politics and our social lives, how it is embedded in technology and enables economies. But what is information?

At a physical level, information has been defined as that which is not random. Claude Shannon, a pioneer of information theory, helped us understand the capacity of a communication channel-when those capacities were frequently stressed by the needs of war (he wrote in the 1940s and 1950s). He saw information in that which is not random; Information is "not noise." What was unpredictable added information.

Shannon's mathematical models of information are helpful in creating and revealing the information hidden by cryptography. It also helps manage the volume of information by letting us more effectively implement compression algorithms. But it remains a technical description and oriented to machine solutions.

Social psychologists developed a more human-oriented view of information. For Gregory Bateson, information was the "difference that makes a difference." In other words, those signals that humans care about, that have an impact, that is what is important. In developing his theory of an "ecology of mind," Bateson looked at information as what is meaningful to humans.

Bateson's definition is certainly catchy, and worth remembering next time you tune your radio between stations (a vanishing possibility these days in the era of digital audio) and hear static, a difference that doesn't make a difference. But what does it take to create information? Definitions are one thing. What about some help creating information? We are a professional school, after all, and we need to be practical.

When I am trying to explain information I find that it is helpful to ask people to imagine a pyramid of human communication:

At the bottom is a big layer of data. This is the bits and pieces of life that have not yet been organized into anything coherent.

Above that is a layer of information, which is useful and meaningful, but requires some work if we are going to do anything with it.

Next is a thinner layer of knowledge. This is information that has been turned into action.

Above that, on the tiny little triangle at the top of the pyramid, rests wisdom.

Information does not stand alone. It lies on a continuum that starts with data and ends with wisdom.
In my next blog post, I'll talk about the work that has to happen to move up the pyramid.
Sources:
Bateson, Gregory. Steps to an ecology of mind: Collected essays in anthropology, psychiatry, evolution, and epistemology. University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Shannon, Claude Elwood. "A mathematical theory of communication." ACM SIGMOBILE Mobile Computing and Communications Review 5.1 (2001): 3-55. Original available here: http://www3.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol27-1948/articles/bstj27-3-379.pdf

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Information is my lifeblood As a communication scholar, I study information in all its forms How it entertains us, how it shapes our politics and our social lives, how it is embedded in technology and enables economies But what is information?

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In a previous post, I discussed information as a pyramid of human communication, that starts with data and ends with wisdom So, how do we turn data into information? Information into knowledge?

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Group #1 members--fill this mind map together out as you read and discuss.

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Popplet is the easiest way to visualize ideas.

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Why Leaked Pentagon Documents Are Still Circulating on Social Media

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Twitter and the social media platform Discord have policies about how they would handle the material. But those rules have gray areas and can be unevenly enforced.

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Move from your 1, 2, 3 or 4 groups back into your A, B, C, or D groups. Discuss with your alphabet group what you learned in your number group, and think of three sentences to sum up your findings. Share and explain key points from your mind-map. Each group member has three minutes to highlight what they learned.

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Writing@CSU is the home of Colorado State University's open-access learning environment, the Writing Studio. Use this site to write, learn to write, take writing classes, and access resources for writing teachers.

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Scores of Hyundai and Kia vehicles lack basic security features and should be recalled, as a growing number of thefts have created a "safety crisis" on roads across the U.S., a group of state attorneys general says.

A letter sent by the attorneys general of 17 states and the District of Columbia to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday urges the federal government to intercede to prevent a national problem they say is continuing to accelerate.

"Thefts of these Hyundai and Kia vehicles have led to at least eight deaths, numerous injuries and property damage, and they have diverted significant police and emergency services resources from other priorities," the AGs wrote.

"We call on NHTSA to exercise its authority to order a mandatory recall or ensure Hyundai and Kia institute a voluntary recall."

According to the letter, a thief can easily hotwire certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2022 by removing the steering wheel column cover and turning the keyed ignition with a USB cable. These vehicles also lack engine immobilizers, which prevent a car from being started unless it receives an electronic signal from the key.

These particular vulnerabilities came into more widespread use since 2021 after a number of TikTok users posted videos of the technique to social media.

Federal regulators say about 3.8 million Hyundais and 4.5 million Kias are affected.

Thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles have exploded recently. Los Angeles saw an 85% increase in Hyundai and Kia thefts in 2022, while Minneapolis says it saw thefts of the two makes jump by 836% last year.

The perpetrators, who are often minors, drive recklessly and sometimes crash, the attorneys general said, and attending to both the thefts and the crashes diverts law enforcement and emergency response resources from other needs.

"Kia's and Hyundai's failure to install standard safety features on many of their vehicles have put vehicle owners at risk," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a tweet. "It is unacceptable that our communities should be forced to shoulder the cost of Kia's and Hyundai's failures."

NHTSA and Kia did not immediately respond to NPR's request for a comment on Sunday.

In an emailed statement to NPR, Hyundai said it was "committed to ensuring the quality and integrity of our products" and pointed to several measures it had taken in response to the thefts, including making engine immobilizers standard on all vehicles starting in November 2021 and reimbursing customers for the purchase of steering wheel locks. Hyundai also said it had partnered with AAA insurance companies to insure the affected vehicles in most states.

In February, Hyundai and Kia announced along with federal regulators that they would begin offering a free software upgrade for millions of vehicles without immobilizers over the following months. Hyundai said on Sunday that its software upgrade for affected vehicles is currently available at all Hyundai dealerships.

The attorneys general said the software patch wouldn't be enough, though, since it may not work for all affected vehicles and doesn't come with the same legal requirements on the companies that a recall does.

A larger group of attorneys general wrote to Hyundai and Kia last month, urging the company to take "swift and comprehensive action" in response to the thefts.

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A group of state AGs calls for a national recall of high-theft Hyundai, Kia vehicles

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Scores of Hyundai and Kia vehicles lack basic security features and should be recalled, as a growing number of thefts have created a "safety crisis" on roads across the U.S., a group of state attorneys general says.

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Group #2 graphic organizer

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Newspaper history waddles with examples of editors and reporters making things up for a laugh or to make a point. In the 1800s, editors jammed their pages with made-up stories about monsters, disasters and fantastic hogwash to keep their readers engaged. Tall tales about man-eating trees, life on the moon, and cotton-picking monkeys, as scholar Frank Luther Mott reported in his 1942 article, "Facetious News Writing, 1833-1883". The practice became so common in the early 20th century that the New York World established a bureau to eliminate " fakes and fakers." As I've written before, H.L. Mencken wrote fakes for Baltimore's newspapers. Ben Hecht did the same in Chicago. Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his fake coverage of the Soviet Union. In the contemporary era, most journalistic fakes are written not to make a point or garner a giggle but because the writers failed to get the actual story and had to file something. See Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jack Kelley, Jayson Blair and Jay Forman, for examples.

This current run of prank headlines echoes the parody issues of newspapers and magazines that the Harvard Lampoon (and then the National Lampoon) made popular in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, a fake edition of the New York Times written by members of the journalistic literati sent up the nation's leading newspaper with pitch-perfect mimicry. In 2008, the Wall Street Journal got the treatment, and in 2019, it was the Washington Post's turn. But unlike the new social media parodies, parody issues were transparently jokey and not designed to fool anybody.

The hoaxer(s) currently spray-painting fake headlines on social don't seem to fit snuggly into any of the taxonomical categories we've established over the years. Their japes are not as fantastic as cotton-picking monkeys. They don't make a sustained joke like the Lampoon-type print parodists. They're not failed writers making up stories to complete assignments. And worst of all, they're not very witty. Compare their efforts to the day-in, day-out labors of the New York Times Pitchbot on Twitter, which decodes the Times, especially its opinion section, to great comic effect. (Example: "Opinion|Between Trump getting impeached twice and Biden getting covid twice, both sides seem to be repeating themselves," by Frank Bruni.) A generous speculation of what motivates the hoaxers' typographical comedy would describe them as social critics who delight in sniping at the establishment press at the same time as sending up an assortment of political figures. An ungenerous appraisal would concede that they are trolls who are too lazy to attempt anything more ambitious than painting a mustache on a campaign poster.

There's a reason April Fool's Day is the unfunniest day of the publishing year. Making a point with parody is hard work and should not be attempted without deep thought. It might seem funny to stick gum into a vending machine coin slot, but as quality jokes go, it's right up there with putting a flaming sack of dog turds on a suburban porch and ringing the doorbell. It's just mischief in action, the cheapest joke around.

Perhaps that's too harsh a judgment. The hoaxer(s) might have more substantive motives behind their pranks. Maybe they're genuine in their attempts to send up the foolishness of online headlines, which often sensationalize the blah copy they preview. Authority deserves every kick in the shins it gets, and that goes for the Atlantic, the New York Times, CNN and Fox News and the entire journalistic establishment. Maybe they're demonstrating the credulousness of web-readers and want to make fools of them. Maybe they've devised their headlines to democratize parody - to show not just Harvard grads and established journalists can play this game!

As P.J. O'Rourke, the finest parodist of our times once put it, the two greatest joys in life are making things and breaking things. Vandalism needs no greater validation that the destructive act itself. So, go forward hoaxer(s) and do your thing. Just understand that you're harmless.

******
What's your favorite O'Rourke piece? For personal reasons, mine is the piece that was originally titled "Holiday in Lebanon" and later collected in book form. Send your fave to [email protected] . No new email alert subscriptions are being honored at this time. My Twitter feed is parody free. My RSS feed is all parody all the time.

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Opinion | Not the Real News and Not All That Funny Either

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Newspaper history waddles with examples of editors and reporters making things up for a laugh or to make a point. In the 1800s, editors jammed their pages with made-up stories about monsters, disasters and fantastic hogwash to keep their readers engaged.