Brian Housand, Ph.D. @brianhousand brianhousand.com

1. FAKE NEWS
FIGHTING
Teaching Critical Thinking In A Post-Truth World
Dr. Brian Housand
brianhousand.com
@brianhousand

2. Brian Housand
brianhousand.com
@brianhousand

3. SLIDES AVAILABLE AFTER THE PRESENTATION

5. May you live in interesting
times.
May you live in
interesting times.

7. Well, How Did We Get Here?

16. Same as it ever was

18. 2006

19. 2006

20. 2006

21. 2006

22. 2006

23. 2006

24. reliable

26. WOEFULLY
UNPREPARED

28. 62%

30. 44%of tweens and teens feel they can
tell fake news from real news.

31. 56%of tweens and teens feel they can’t
tell fake news from real news.

32. 31%shared a story in the last 6 months
that turned out to be wrong.

34. 4CHALLENGES
of FAKE NEWS

36. SPEED VS.
ACCURACY

39. In what year was the first
U.S. postage stamp issued?
Who or what was on it?
How much did it cost?

46. FAKE

50. FAKE

56. INFORMATION
OVERLOAD

57. “With great power there must
also come — great responsibility”

59. SPIDEY
SENSES

60. Every man
should have
a built-in
automatic
crap detector
operating
inside
him.
Every man
should have
a built-in
automatic
crap detector
operating
inside
him.

61. CURRENCY
RELEVANCE
AUTHORITY
ACCURACY
PURPOSE

62. CAPES

63. CREDENTIALS
What makes the author an expert?
What is their bias?

64. ACCURACY
Is the information up to date?
Is the information factual?

65. PURPOSEWhat is the purpose?
Information? Entertainment? Satire?
Parody? Advertisement? News?

66. EMOTIONIs the site designed to evoke an
emotional response?
How does this site make you feel?

67. SUPPORTWhat supporting
evidence can you find
from another site?

68. 1 2 3 54
UNRELIABLE TRUSTWORTHY
CREDENTIALS
ACCURACY
PURPOSE
EMOTION
SUPPORT

69. CRISIS OF
AUTHENTICITY

73. bluff the listener game

75. 1. Locate two news stories or websites
that seems unlikely but are factual.
2. Find one news story or website that
is at least some what plausible but
is false.
3. Create a Google Document or
Slides presentation that contains
the three stories.
4. BONUS POINTS if the three stories
are related or focused on one topic.

76. WHO?
Who is saying this?
Look for an ABOUT page to let you know what makes
them an expert?
WHAT? What is being said?
Is the information factual?
WHEN?
When was the information posted?
Is the information up to date?
Does it need to up to date?
HOW? How does the information make you feel? Is it meant
to evoke an emotional response?
WHY? Why is the information being posted? It is reporting
news, entertainment, selling something, for humor?

77. “Don’t believe
everything you
read on the
internet just
because there’s a
quote and a
picture next to it.”

78. #OutsideOfTheSilo
OVERCOMING OUR OWN BIAS

81. skeptic

82. futureoffakenews.com

84. skypeascientist.com

86. usafacts.org

87. beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com

88. beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com

89. beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com

90. beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com

91. beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com

92. COMMON
SENSE

93. USE MULTIPLE RESOURCES

94. CONSIDER THE SOURCE
Click away from the story to investigate
the site, its mission and its contact info.
READ BEYOND
Headlines can be outrageous in an effort
to get clicks. What’s the whole story?
CHECK THE AUTHOR
Do a quick search on the author. Are
they credible? Are they real?
SUPPORTING SOURCES?
Click on those links. Determine if the
info given actually supports the story.
CHECK THE DATE
Reposting old news stories doesn’t
mean they’re relevant to current events.
IS IT A JOKE?
If it is too outlandish, it might be satire.
Research the site and author to be sure.
CHECK YOUR BIASES
Consider if your own beliefs could
affect your judgement.
ASK THE EXPERTS
Ask a librarian, or consult a
fact-checking site.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
With thanks to www.FactCheck.org

96. No single truth purveyor, no matter how reliable, should
be considered an infallible font of accurate information.
Folks make mistakes.
Or they get duped.
Or they have a bad day at the fact-checking bureau.
Or some days they are just being silly.
To not allow for any of this is to risk stepping into a
pothole the size of Lake Superior.

98. May you live in interesting
times.
May you live in
interesting times.

101. Who controls the past
controls the future.
Who controls the present
controls the past.

102. If the next
trend could be
THINKING that
would be great.

103. FAKE NEWS
FIGHTING
Teaching Critical Thinking In A Post-Truth World
Dr. Brian Housand
brianhousand.com/fakenews
@brianhousand