Have you ever been misled online? If so, you are not alone! It’s not easy to discern fact from fiction online, especially for teenagers who grew up with the internet. But help is on the way, thanks to MediaWise https://www.poynter.org/mediawise/ and a three million dollar grant from Google.
What is MediaWise? It’s a groundbreaking digital literacy project designed to teach 1 million teenagers—half from underserved communities—how to sort fact from fiction online by 2020.
Yes, there are actual skills one can learn to become more critical consumers of information online.
While teens are generally regarded as digitally savvy, research from Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) show that the vast majority of teenagers have trouble navigating digital information—whether it’s viral hoaxes on Instagram, misinformation campaigns on Facebook, or sponsored content on news websites.
MediaWise is tackling these issues in three ways:
1. A new curriculum that will be available in fall 2019
2. In-person events at schools nationwide
3. Fact-checking content and outreach via social media
MediaWise also has a great hashtag #isthislegit.
In the meantime, Media Wise reminds all of us that there are three questions we should be asking when we see and read something online:
1. Who is behind the information?
2. What is the evidence
3. What do other sources say?
SOURCE MATERIAL: MediaWise https://www.poynter.org/mediawise/