Thursday, January 10, 2008
Where do people get their information from ...
We live in a society overloaded with information. It still amazes me that people still get their facts wrong despite all of the sources available to get reliable information. For example, on Christmas Day, my mother-in-law flatly stated that Barack Obama is a Muslim. A quick Google search provided me with several sources that Obama is a Christian who attends Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's Southside. Where did my mother-in-law get her information - a friend. This might make for a good chunky text story made up of statistical information of where people get their information from.
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4 comments:
I like the idea. My mom gets tons of forwarded e-mails, often making really bizarre claims about one thing or another. You can use sites like Snopes to usually debunk at lot of these "urban myths" or whatever they are. But lots of people never check and buy the information in the e-mails as factual.
The Pew Research Center has looked at this in terms of political campaigns.
Internet's Broader Role in Campaign 2008
Social Networking and Online Videos Take Off
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=384
Cable and Internet Loom Large in Fragmented Political News Universe
Perceptions of Partisan Bias Seen as Growing, Especially by Democrats
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=200
Perhaps other areas that could be covered: news (local, national, international, etc.) health information, technology, sports, financial information....Just brainstorming here.
That's some good info Craig. Thanks for the lookout.
What about information overload? Does the vast amount out there dilute the value of what's available? Does it turn people off to caring about 'important' news and push them towards fluff like celebrity news?
The blog is evidence - anybody can publish about anything. Is it helping or hindering society and the idea of community? Is it more of a redefinition than anything else?
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