Episode 22: Search vs. Research
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Episode Description:
In a world where misinformation is profitable, we face a great responsibility and burden to educate ourselves AND trust those that have done the real research (not just used Google, a for-profit search engine that serves advertisers, not people).
We love information that fits our own worldview -- this is called cognitive bias. When you use Google, it serves up information and stories (humans love storytelling) that it believes you will enjoy. There is NO law saying the information it shows you must be true. The algorithm knows you personally, and will serve you the “answers” you want, whether or not that misinformation harms you.
But there are ways to combat truth decay and misinformation. In our world where information has never been more accessible, it’s a matter of choice -- choosing research and truth over blissful ignorance.
Show Notes:
Google is not your friend: Algorithms of Oppression (Safiya Noble)
Quote pulled from her interview with Factually!
Episode 7: Digital Bypassing, for context on how tech isn’t neutral and is biased
MartinLuther.org (this website has since been taken down) is run by a neo-nazi white supremacist organization trying to discredit all of Dr. King’s accomplishments. // Daniel Levitin research
Tristan Harris & Yuval Harrari interview that mentions the illusory truth effect, personalized misinformation, and the crazy YouTube stat
Youtube (owned by Google) recommended Alex Jones (Not linking him to avoid promoting him, but know he is a far right conspiracy theorist) 15 billion times conspiracy theory videos (info wars etc.) that’s more than the combined traffic of NYT guardian,BBC, CNN, Fox News combined.
Fake news spreads 6x faster than true news (MIT study)
How truth decay is fueling vaccine hesitancy (RAND)
Truth Decay (RAND) is defined as the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life. This phenomenon has taken hold over the last two decades, eroding civil discourse, causing political paralysis, and leading to public uncertainty and disengagement, resulting in:
increasing disagreement about facts
a blurring of the line between opinion and fact
the increasing relative volume and resulting influence of opinion over fact
declining trust in formerly respected sources of facts
Why people fall for misinformation (cognitive bias + storytelling)
Research Steps (https://libguides.elmira.edu/research)
Step 1. Develop a topic
Step 2. Locate information
Step 3. Evaluate and analyze information
Step 4. Write, organize, and communicate information
Step 5. Cite sources
Inspiration for this episode (found in an IG post):
“Please stop saying you ‘researched it.’
You didn’t research anything and it is highly probable you don’t know how to do so.
Did you compile a literature review and write abstracts on each article? Or better yet, did you collect a random sample of sources and perform independent probability statistics on the reported results? No?
Did you at least take each article one by one and look into the source (that would be the author, publisher and funder), then critique the writing for logical fallacies, cognitive distortions and plain inaccuracies?
Did you ask yourself why this source might publish these particular results? Did you follow the trail of references and apply the same source of scrutiny to them?
No? Then you didn’t…research anything. You read or watched a video, most likely with little or no objectivity. You came across something in your algorithm manipulated feed, something that jived with your implicit biases and served your confirmation bias, and subconsciously applied your emotional filters and called it proof.”
-- Linda Gamble Spadaro, popularized by Saya Olivia Hayashi
Reminders
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