web literacy paper

English 1190 4 Moves/Web Literacy paper

This week your assignment will be to reflect on the material you have worked through in the first two weeks of the class and write literacy narrative. Please note that you should have made your way through the materials from Weeks 1 and 2 before attempting this assignment.

You will also need to read the two posted articles, "Dismaying Inability" and "How did the news go 'fake?"

As students you have likely been trained how to use a library, read a book, write a report, but how many of you have been trained to use the web?

This matters for many reasons. Partly it matters for school -- can you identify materials that are suitable for papers? It matters for work as well -- how reliable is the data or information you are using? And it matters for politics -- better informed citizens and policy makers can make better decisions. It even matters for health -- what course of treatment is best for you or your family?

Schools are supposed to prepare us for all these things, but do they?

Your paper should have three parts. (each part should contain several paragraphs)

First, you should construct a narrative that reflects on and tells the story of how you have come about your practices of using the web to find information. You might discuss any or all of the following: formal training from your classes; informal training based on what other people might have told you; self-training—how you’ve used your own strategies, experiences, and insights to come to your current level of skill and understanding.

Second, reflect on the material from Weeks 1 and 2. What strategies and tactics were you already familiar with? Which ones were new to you?

Third, consider the information in the two articles. Do you agree with the claims that "fake news" is an issue in terms of information literacy? What do you make of the authors' claims about the performative aspect of sharing false information? Based on your experiences, do you think that schools are doing what is necessary to teach web literacy? If not, what else needs to be done?

Your paper should be between 700-1000 words

Here is the links for the two articles.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/10/fake-news-social-media-current-affairs-approval

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/23/503129818/study-finds-students-have-dismaying-inability-to-tell-fake-news-from-real