Between social media, AI, algorithms, and so much more, misinformation can easily spread on the internet. One professor at Cal Poly is teaching her students how to identify fact from fiction.
"I think the main form of misinformation is honestly just not enough information. It's you're not looking into the information enough to get the full story," said Marley Logan, Cal Poly freshman.
"Media literacy is something that we all need, now more than ever with more media than ever always at our fingertips," said Rex Nelson, Cal Poly freshman.
Nelson and Logan are both enrolled in professor Leah Ransom's Argument & Advocacy course.
"We learn the basic structure of argument and how to recognize faulty information and evaluate claims in order to determine the strongest argument possible," Ransom explained.
In her class, she and the students discuss different tactics that help misinformation spread more easily, both online and person-to-person.
"The number one thing is just making sure that the sources are reliable, looking into who published it, and then I usually will go around to other articles about the same thing and see if they are saying the same thing and if it's adding up," Logan said.
"I think people need to watch what they consume. You know, it's the same thing when you're trying to eat something, then you want to look at the ingredients and what you're putting into your body. It's the exact same thing with what information you're putting into your mind," Nelson said.
Ransom adds that questioning what you see and doing your own research is essential.
"Students are encountering misinformation all over the place, especially in social media. So hopefully we empower them with critical thinking skills so they're able to make better-informed decisions and be educated citizens," Ransom said.
She adds that algorithms on social media can add to the spread of misinformation.
"Algorithms select content based on how long you're viewing a video or post, whether or not you share it, basic demographic information about you, and how those algorithms in the interest of tailoring things more specifically to what you like, it can push you further and further down rabbit holes or echo chambers," Ransom said.
"It's really important that as the public we are informed on how to dig through that information and get down to the sources and see if it's true or false before we share it with others and can kind of continue the spread of misinformation," Logan added.
