AMICAL Keeps Current – Online verification skills
AMICAL Keeps Current is an event series for discussing a recent publication (such as articles, book chapters, presentation recordings, webinars, etc.), selected by a different committee or interest group each month. Members may also suggest publications for discussion. The series was inspired by, and continues, AMICAL’s long-running Information Literacy Journal Club.
The next AMICAL Keeps Current event will be led by Rebecca Hastie (Information Literacy Librarian at AUS). We will discuss a series of short videos in a YouTube playlist called Online Verification Skills with Mike Caulfield. Each short video demonstrates an element of the SIFT method for information evaluation in particular relation to web-based media:
- Stop
- Investigate the source
- Find better coverage
- Trace quotes to original source
As the nature of media changes rapidly, so too must our methods of evaluating media. The traditional information evaluation rubrics used such as the CRAAP test encourage close reading of a text which is not particularly conducive to determining the legitimacy of online information.
Mike Caulfield is a digital information literacy expert who created the SIFT method of evaluation for web media.
Here are a couple of discussion points (you may suggest and discuss additional points during the meeting):
- How can we incorporate the SIFT method (or similar methods) into our one-shot IL sessions?
- What can we do as library staff to encourage our patrons to engage with digital media with a “fact-checking” lens?
This event was organized by AMICAL’s Information Literacy Initiatives Committee.