Reflections on My Semester-Long Blog Project

                In creating posts for this blog, I have explored the different facets of how social media and librarianship interact. As educators, librarians can help develop people’s critical thinking skills so they can identify fake news, become better digital citizens, and avoid scams. Librarians can also use social media to connect to their patrons and customize services, but at the risk of breaching privacy. Library 2.0 and the tailoring of library services to individuals has a lot of promise, but many perils as well. The topic of social media use and abuse in librarianship is broad, and I did not realize at first how many different foci there were within that umbrella topic. I think if I started over again, I might narrow the topic to keep the blog more focused; but, at the same time, if I had begun with a narrow focus I may not have discovered all the information that I have, and formed the perspective that I have now.

                As privacies in America continue to erode, I wonder where libraries will stand in that fight. In theory, we are on the side of maintaining privacy. But, as technology allows us to track patrons better and better, will the allure of making the library more “user friendly” compete with our value of anonymity and privacy? This is not something that will be fought out in theory, but in the libraries and courts (of law and public opinion).

Cumulative References

Allan, Mark A., and Mary Dewinter. 2018. "Is It Fake News?" Presentation, Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, April 5, 2018.

American Library Association. 2006. “Core Values of Librarianship.” Last modified July 26, 2006. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/corevalues

American Library Association. 2017. “Professional Ethics.” Last modified May 19, 2017. http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics

Beasley, Berrin, and Haney, Mitchell R. (Eds.). 2013. Social Media and the Value of Truth. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Brantley, Peter, Marshall Breeding, Eric Hellman, and Gary Price. 2015. “CNI: Swords, Dragons, and Spells: Libraries and User Privacy.” YouTube video, 44:23. January 23, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQeK0rCQpmo

Common Sense Media. n.d. “Educator Programs.” Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/educator-programs

Ethics and Information Technology, Netherlands: Springer, ISSN: 1388-1957 (Print) 1572-8439 (Online), http://link.springer.com/journal/10676 

Henderson, Jennifer Jacobs. 2013. "Searching for Ethics in Social Media." Journal of Mass Media Ethics 28, no. 3: 217-219. Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed February 12, 2018).

Stuart, David. 2013 “Social Media: Usage and Impact," Online Information Review 37 Issue: 3, 486-487. https://doi-org.ezp.twu.edu/10.1108/OIR-04-2013-0092

Higgin, Tanner. 2017. “Making Media Literacy Central to Digital Citizenship.” MindShift. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/49607/making-media-literacy-central-to-digital-citizenship

InCtrl. n.d. “Teaching Digital Citizenship.” Accessed April 17, 2018. https://www.teachinctrl.org/

Johnson, Doug. 2003. “Librarians and ethics in use of technology.” Blog post. http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/librarians-and-ethics-in-use-of-technology.html

Journal of Media Ethics, Philadelphia, PA: Routledge, ISSN 2373-6992, http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hmme21/current

Kegley, J.A. 2013. "Social media and the value of truth." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July 2013, 2029. Literature Resource Center. Accessed 12 Feb. 2018.

Mackay, Jenn Burleson. 2013. "Social media and the value of truth." Journal Of Mass Media Ethics 28, no. 3: 222-223. Social Sciences Citation Index, EBSCOhost (accessed February 12, 2018).

Microsoft. 2016. “Digital Citizenship.” Course. Posted December 8, 2016. https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/digital-citizenship

Moody Foundation. n.d. “Moody Foundation.” Homepage. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://moodyf.org/

Newseum. n.d. “Is This Story Share-Worthy? Flowchart.” Newseum ED. Accessed April 19, 2018.  https://newseumed.org/activity/is-this-story-share-worthy-flowchart-mlbp/

Noor Al-Deen, H. S., & Hendricks, J. A. (Eds.). 2011. Social media: Usage and impact. Maryland: Lexington Books.

NPR. 2017. “Social Media: The NPR Way.” Last updated July 2017. http://ethics.npr.org/tag/social-media/

Rutgers SC&I. 2017. “Rutgers SC&I Social Media & Society Cluster channel.” Last updated November 20, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqkEaHo6pqb7IyiE1WZ9sug

Texas State Library and Archives Commission. 2018. “Grants and Funding.” Last modified January 25, 2018. https://www.tsl.texas.gov/landing/libfunds.html

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. n.d. “The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.” Homepage. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://mellon.org/

Vallor, S. 2012. Flourishing on Facebook: virtue friendship & new social media. Ethics and Information Technology, 14(3), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-010-9262-2

Wasike, Jotham. 2013. "Social Media Ethical Issues: Role of a Librarian." Library Hi Tech News 30 (1): 8-16. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07419051311320922.

Newseum infographic

Fake news wouldn't be a problem if we stopped sharing it and giving it life. This infographic from Newseum, while not explicitly about ethics, is a decision-making tool to help people decide if something is "share-worthy." The steps include critically thinking about whether the story is true, biased, or useful to a cause. If everyone integrated this sort of decision-making to their shares, the epidemic of social media abuse via fake news would certainly decrease.

Click image to view full size 

https://newseumed.org/activity/is-this-story-share-worthy-flowchart-mlbp/

"Is It Fake News?" Conference Session from TLA 2018

At the 2018 Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in Dallas, TX, I attended a session about fake news presented by Mark A. Allan and Mary Dewinter. The session, “Is It Fake News?” addressed why fake news exists, how it works, the ways it spreads, and what tools librarians have to teach people about it. I chose this session to write about on this blog because it is explicitly part of librarianship to provide accurate information to patrons, and fake news – often spread through social media -- is making that fight harder. The ALA’s Professional Code of Ethics states that librarians provide “accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests” (American Library Association, 2017). The ALA’s Core Values of Librarianship includes intellectual freedom, the public good, service, and social responsibility (American Library Association, 2006). The professional ethics of librarianship require that we work against fake news and help educate our patrons on how to identify it themselves.

            The session was split into two parts, each presenter speaking separately. Mary Dewinter reviewed how fake news is created. She said that on the internet, clicks equal cash. There are fake news articles generated for money, often in countries where this job yields a much higher pay than any local opportunities. She explained that fake news usually appeals to people because of novelty and some sort of emotional trigger in the article. Since most kids get their news from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, social media plays an active role in the spread of fake news links. Some of the resources she recommends include a website called Factitious, a “Fake News Real News” card game, Richard Byrne’s blog, Ted Ed videos, the Hoaxy website, and NY Times’ learning network. She defined “news literacy” as the ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of a news piece, and introduced an evaluative tool: ESCAPE. Evidence, Source, Context, Audience, Purpose, and Execution. She said that the addition of fake audio and doctored photos to stories adds a sort of “evidence” to fake news. The intended goal of this part of the presentation was to get to the final “how to win” section, where Dewinter said we need to give students the ability to read freely and critically, teach them to be critical consumers of news, and share what we are reading with students to model.

            Mark Allan’s part of the presentation focused on confirmation bias and the role that it takes in the spread of fake news. He questioned whether “fake news” is news one does not agree with, or false information that is spread for a purpose, to mislead. Librarians use credibility tests, but is that enough to account for the bias of the audience or the researcher themselves? Allan defines confirmation bias as “seeking and favoring stories that fit your world view” (Allan and Dewinter, 2018). He recommended the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Kahneman, and read a piece from the book about heuristics – mental shortcuts – that can lead to bias. He talked about filter bubbles, and how our digital platforms shape our worldview. The goal of his presentation is to explain how modifying our current credibility tests could help us to think more critically about our own bias. Credibility tests can help us slow down our thought process and be more deliberate about our thinking, but we bring our own biases to these tests. He proposed a modification to the CRAAP test, making it SCRAAP instead. The S is self-reflection/self-analysis/self-examination. He prefers this because it addresses bias first.

The ethical imperative in librarianship to fight against fake news is not new, but it has recently taken on new importance as social media has made it easier than ever to spread misinformation. The educational resources that Allan and Dewinter presented, the creditability tests, and the strategies for overcoming fake news were helpful and gave me some insight into the problems that the unethical use of social media can exacerbate.

Allan, Mark A., and Mary Dewinter. 2018. "Is It Fake News?" Presentation, Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, April 5, 2018.

American Library Association. 2006. “Core Values of Librarianship.” Last modified July 26, 2006. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/corevalues

 American Library Association. 2017. “Professional Ethics.” Last modified May 19, 2017. http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics