Item
A Study into the Skills of Using Data Verification Tools as a Media Information Literacy Instrument for University Students
- Author
- Аndrii E. Lebid , Sergey I. Degtyarev, Lyubov G. Polyakova
- Year
- 2020
- Publisher
- International Journal of Media and Information Literacy
- DOI/Link
- View Source
- Abstract
-
Amid information wars and growing populism, when manipulation, propaganda and
disinformation appear to be a natural focus, when officials, opinion leaders and media
communicate unsafe and unverified information, when only up to 20% of messages can be marked
as veracious, it becomes essential to develop critical and meaningful information consumption.
The self-explanatory statistics, provided by fact-checkers, speak volumes and inspire those who
have command of the investigation method in the fact check format to fully leverage it both in their
professional activities and in daily lives.
The paper structures and classifies the key aspects of fact-checking, identifies its specific
characteristics and effects, and sketches out the future outlook for its use as a new media trend.
The work defines central objectives of fact-checking investigations and what differentiate them
from conventional investigations. It has been revealed that fact-checkers are gradually shifting
their field of activity to the plane of the so-called “unofficial sources” of information, such as social
networking websites, public narratives and discourses, media materials of diverse origin, etc.
The findings of the study conducted demonstrate a correlation between the general media
literacy, which respondents evaluated as rather low – average and below average and the need for
its end-to-end improvement, including through interactive media practices, trainings and projects.
The study concludes that respondents are actually ignorant of the fact-checking and data
verification tools available. We believe the fact is also immediately linked with the overall level of
media maturity and respondent information literacy, levels of critical and analytical thinking, and
the ability to work on information and its sources