3.2 The SIFT Method

Evaluating Web Sources

The web is a unique terrain, substantially different from print materials. Unfortunately, attempts at teaching information literacy for the web do not take into account both the web’s unique challenges and its unique affordances.

The web gives us many such strategies, tactics, and tools, which, properly used, can get students closer to the truth of a statement or image within seconds. Unfortunately, we do not teach students these specific techniques. As many people have noted, the web is both the largest propaganda machine ever created and the most amazing fact-checking tool ever invented. But if we haven’t taught our students those fact-checking capabilities, is it any surprise that propaganda is winning?

Introducing SIFT

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Fig 23.1 The steps of SIFT: stop; investigate the source; find trusted coverage; and trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context

Stop

The first move is the simplest. Stop reminds you of two things.

First, when you first hit a page and start to read it—stop. Ask yourself whether you know and trust the website or the source of the information. If you don’t, use the other moves to get a sense of what you’re looking at. Don’t read it or share it until you know what it is.

Second, after you begin the process and use the moves, it can be too easy to go down a rabbit hole, chasing after more and more obscure facts or getting lost in a “click cycle.” If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed in your fact-checking efforts, stop and take a second to remind yourself what your goal is. Adjust your strategy if it isn’t working. Make sure you approach the problem at the right amount of depth for your purpose.

Investigate the Source

The key idea is to know what you’re reading before you read it. This doesn’t mean you have to do a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigation into a source before you engage with it.

However, if you’re reading a piece on economics by a Nobel Prize–winning economist, you should know that before you read it. Conversely, if you’re watching a video on the many benefits of milk consumption that was put out by the dairy industry, you probably want to know that as well.

This doesn’t mean the Nobel economist will always be right and that the dairy industry can’t ever be trusted. However, knowing the expertise and agenda of the source is crucial to your interpretation of what they say. Taking sixty seconds to figure out where it is from before reading will help you decide if it is worth your time and, if it is, help you better understand its significance and trustworthiness.

Find Trusted Coverage

Sometimes you don’t care about the particular article that reaches you. You care about the claim the article is making. You want to know if it is true or false. You want to know if it represents a consensus viewpoint or if it is the subject of much disagreement.

In this case, your best strategy is to ignore the source that reached you and look for other trusted reporting or analysis on the claim. In other words, if you receive an article that says koalas have just been declared extinct from the Save the Koalas Foundation, the winning strategy may be to open up a new tab and find the best source you can that covers this or, just as importantly, scan multiple sources to see what the consensus seems to be. In these cases, we encourage you to “find trusted coverage” that better suits your needs—more trusted, more in-depth, or maybe just more varied.

Do you have to agree with the consensus? Absolutely not! However, understanding the context and history of a claim will help you better evaluate it.

Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media Back to the Original Context

A lot of things you find on the internet have been stripped of context. Maybe there’s a video of a fight between two people. But what happened before that? Who started it? What was clipped out of the video and what stayed in? Maybe there’s a picture that seems real, but the caption is dubious at best. Maybe a claim is made about a new medical treatment supposedly based on a research paper—but you’re not certain if the paper supports it.

In these cases, trace the claim, quote, or media back to the source, so you can see it in its original context and get a sense that the version you saw was accurately presented.

Attribution  

Four Moves and a Habit Copyright © 2022 by Mike Caulfield; Liz Delf; Rob Drummond; and Kristy Kelly is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

This chapter has additions, edits, and organization by James Charles Devlin.

 

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3.2 The SIFT Method Copyright © by James Charles Devlin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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