Prof. Garcia | ENG 1121 - OL78 | Fall 2020

Micro-Activity #12: Researching

​I became interested in my research question because it is both fascinating and scary how prevalence fake news and misinformation is in our society. Despite how much information we have access to, people still choose to believe what they want to believe rather than accept truths. With a lack of critical thinking skills being taught in schools, it shouldn’t be surprising that a lot people don’t automatically know what is true and what is false. But truth should still have some value. I am interested in this subject because my generation will be in control soon enough. To adequately take care of our communities and the world, we need access to actual truth that is objectively true. If we don’t have that, then decisions that we make about our health, our finances, our families can all have negative consequences when truth is just another commodity that the elites can own and control for their benefit. With my research, I expect to find information about why its happening, who is making this form of fake information, and how it can be prevented. Surely technology is progressing to where truth will matter, but then there are things like deep fakes that keep blurring the line between what is believable and what is fake. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are getting better, but that also means it’s easier to create fake systems in cyberspace. Along with that I also expect to find information that defends this form of behavior, or even information that denies that it is a problem. Since it is so easy for anyone to make up their own truths, perhaps it is futile to want to find objective information that is authoritative since anyone could ignore it by just labeling it ‘fake news’.

 

Source:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2020/03/21/facebook-spreads-fake-news-faster-than-any-other-social-website-according-to-new-research/#63891d836e1a

I expect to use this, along with peer-reviewed articles, about how prevalent this problem is and how to potentially stop it. Before we solve the problem, we need to know more about it and its origins. Then we can find a working solution.

1 Comment

  1. Ruth Garcia

    This is a great start for your research–you seem to know a fair amount what affects your topic. And this post and the free write here should provide material for you to draw from for the introductory section of your annotated bibliography. My only question is, what exactly is your finalize research questions?

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