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Media Literacy Week

Media Literacy Week

Media Literacy Week, hosted by National Association for Media Literacy Education, will be held from Monday, October 24 to Friday, October 28.  Now in its eighth year, Media Literacy Week is intended to promote the important role of media literacy in education today. To celebrate, IU East will be hosting a panel discussion on Thursday, October 27, at 2:00 in Hayes 142 (in the library.)  In addition to IU East, multiple IU campuses are hosting Media Literacy Week events, including IUPUI and IUPUC, and most of these other events are available on Zoom.  The IU East panel discussion will focus on voting and will feature faculty members Andrea Quenette, E. Scott Lee and KT Lowe. Dr. Quenette is Associate Professor … Continued
Misinformation and fake news in 2022

Misinformation and fake news in 2022

2022 has begun and fake news continues. To help reduce misinformation in one’s news diet, your IU East Campus Librarians have some tips. Skip the memes How do you know that meme is real?  Sure, it’s got a goofy picture on it and says things you agree with, but that doesn’t make it truthful.  Memes communicate lots of different kinds of information, not all of which is easily categorizable, according to Molloy College professor Jamie Cohen.  In a meme, context is everything, which isn’t always communicable or understandable to a broad audience.  Memes may also serve as a form of folklore, in that they are transmitted person-to-person.  Memes and folklore, including folk stories, share a lot in common, particularly in … Continued
History of HIV/AIDS

History of HIV/AIDS

The history of AIDS, and the human immunodeficiency virus that causes it, has left a long and bloody mark on world history, moving from an academic concern, to an always-fatal but poorly understood disease, to an inflection point in civil rights, to what is now, in much of the world, a survivable chronic condition.  It has been an instrument of death and division which has cost perhaps 35 million lives. HIV was a zoonotic disease transmitted to humans from apes, mutated from the related simian immunodeficiency virus.  While the nature of its first transfer to humans remains a point of debate, it spread rapidly via unsterilized injections (commonplace in most of the regions of Africa where infected apes were known) … Continued
NewsLitCamp: Highlights 2021

NewsLitCamp: Highlights 2021

The NewsLitCamp, hosted by the News Literacy Project, is an outreach program dedicated to providing educators with the latest tools and information that they need to equip their students in the fight against fake news.  This year, 15 reporters and staff members from CNN joined in, offering exclusive insight into the back door of the nation’s top rated cable news network. A useful delineation of terms was presented by John Silva, who directs education initiatives at the News Literacy Project.  “Fake news,” once a distinct term referring to completely fabricated information formatted like a news story, has been overused to the point of uselessness.  It has also taken on the tone of a slur used in disagreements of points of … Continued
How To Trust the News

How To Trust the News

In examining the current news environment, it can be disheartening to see the vast divide in political perspective that colors or slants vital reporting.  While partisan reporting allows consumers to feel more comfortable, having their own biases reinforced, it makes searching for the facts that inform opinions more difficult.  It also complicates finding common ground amongst differently aligned stakeholders. A deeply divided and partisan press has been a hallmark of American media since the beginning, when the Gazette of the United States (supported by Alexander Hamilton and unrepentantly Federalist) and the National Gazette (funded by Thomas Jefferson and rabidly anti-Federalist) were representative of the leading newspapers of the day.  Moreover, anyone could print up leaflets, broadsheets, or pamphlets with whatever … Continued