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Information literacy 101
How do you tell a reliable source?
Are you tired of reading the news and thinking is this actually true?
Can you tell the difference between an opinion and real journalism?
Are you aware of your bubble?
Start your information literacy journey here!
The Bubble Effect
Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter… any platform you search on can see your search history. Nothing is private!
Platforms use this search history to show you videos that are most likely to keep you watching. Selling your attention to advertisers is how the platform makes money. Reading your search history also allows the companies that run these platforms to show you more advertisements that are personalized to your tastes.
So, based on what you search and click on, you will see a completely different internet than the people around you. This personalized internet that you are shown is your “bubble.”
This is why your niece, your father, and your coworker may all be shown different versions of the news. They are all in different bubbles.
Break free from your bubble
Getting news from social media makes you susceptible to the bubble effect. Deliberately search news sources that you have researched and trust.
Read Widely!
Comparing different news sources against each other is the only way to determine the ways a story has been covered and get a good view of the ways that your news sources may be biased in favor of one group or another.
Consider…
Skip social media news. We all have a bubble, so search your news deliberately! The platform’s job is to show you news that keeps you watching, not news that is most accurate.
Start Here!
One way to explore the bias of your news sources is to check out websites that examine how different news stories have been covered in the media.
A crowd-funded and crowd-sourced endeavor that estimates the perceived political bias of content on online written news outlets. AllSides presents different versions of similar news stories from sources it rates as being on the political right, left, and center, with a mission to show readers news outside their filter bubble and expose media bias.
A a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias and break free from algorithms. It threads multiple perspectives from thousands of publications through one information platform. Ground News frees readers from algorithmic restraints, reveals blind spots, and makes media bias explicit. Though it may suffer from its own structural bias.
Use these sources as an intellectual exercise, but remember to read widely!
Tutorials
Below are a few tutorials for fundamental computer knowledge. Just click on each image to go through our tutorials. When you’re done, click close to come back to this page and go onto the next tutorial.
Lesson 1 – Computer Basics:
Lesson 2 – Foundational Skills for Computers and Laptops
Lesson 3 – Foundational Skills for iPads and Tablets
Lesson 4 – Windows Basics
Lesson 5 – Internet Basics
Lesson 6 – Fighting Fake News
Lesson 7 – How to Avoid Scammers
The library also offers a Tech Tutors program to help patrons on a one-on-one basis. Click here for more information about the Tech Tutors program.
GCF Learn Free
This site includes video resources for learning everything from basic computer skills, to online safety and the Cloud.
Learning Microsoft Office 2016
(Excel, Word etc.)