Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus...Crap Detection 101

In his YouTube video, "Crap Detection 101" Howard Rheingold gives a great description of how we, as consumers of internet information, must learn to navigate the deep and treacherous waters we surf. Not necessarily an easy task. (I suggest wearing your swim floatees...)



He encourages that we must first evaluate the veracity of the author. Who is he or she; what do other people say about him or her; and who are those people? What are the author's sources, if any? Who links to the author? Check the website's credibility by finding out who is actually behind it by accessing an internet site like easywhois.com and then use a search engine to even delve deeper. Does this group or individual have an agenda? Does the language used indicate a bias? "Think like a detective...an active explorer." Not a passive recipient of information.

In the fall I will be teaching  research to a group of savvy 11th graders. One of the websites that I will ask them to evaluate is regarding a proposal to save the poor, endangered tree octopus shown below.

Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus from Extinction!!!

I wonder how quickly they will detect that the information provided on the webpage is nonsense. I think I may start showing this with faux concern to adults and see what their reaction might be...Click on the link and judge for yourself!