Asia-Pacific Library and Information Conference 2018, 30 July - 2 August 2018 Gold Coast: Roar Leap Dare
This presentation (PowerPoint slides) addresses key questions like: Is this whole post truth thing really anything new? Is fake news a real issue? Is the problem being overstated? Should we stop trusting information we encounter in social media spaces? Are people still having positive experiences of information online – particularly in social media spaces – or is it all bad? Whose responsibility is it to help people understand how to navigate this complex information landscape? Whose responsibility is it to ‘fix’ the fake news problem?
At this moment in history, we are preoccupied with fake news, alternative facts and social media echo chambers. The prevalence of these terms has put an unprecedented amount of mainstream attention on the concept of media literacy. Depending on how you view the term, media literacy can be considered to be related to or part of ‘information literacy’. The ability to critically evaluate information is a core part of information literacy and libraries play an important role in helping people to develop skills and knowledge to support critical use of information.
