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It's on the Internet, So It's Got To Be Right

February 16, 2009 - 10:23am — birdie

Not necessarily.

And that's the lesson that Stephanie Rosalia was teaching her students at P.S. 225 in Brooklyn. The website they were looking at, All About Explorers, is intentionally peppered with false facts.

Ms. Rosalia, the school librarian at Public School 225, a combined elementary and middle school in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, urged caution. “Don’t answer your questions with the first piece of information that you find,” she warned. Story from the NYTimes.

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February 16, 2009 - 12:09pm — Walt

No such thing as "false facts"

This one is really starting to bug me. (Not just here--lots of places.)

The site may have "false information" or "false text" or "false assertions" or "lies stated as facts"--but it can't have false facts.

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February 16, 2009 - 12:41pm — nbruce (not verified)

trust and verify

"Story fromm the NYTimes"

I hope she told them not to trust the NYT whether in paper or digitized.

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February 16, 2009 - 1:16pm — Bibliofuture

Facts

Under the fourth definition of facts you could have false facts.

See:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fact

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February 16, 2009 - 4:41pm — Walt

Maybe, but

That's a fine case of dictionary as record of what's happened. Once you use that definition, "fact" becomes as meaningless as "information"--just another synonym for "stuff." (There are days when I feel as though every noun in the English language is, in effect, just another synonym for Stuff.)

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February 16, 2009 - 3:28pm — Anonymous

Children Internet

How wonderful to have a discussion about what constitutes a fact whether on the Internet or in other print or non-print medium. So many young people and adults accept the validity of information without questioning.
Ellen D. Rappaport

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February 16, 2009 - 4:31pm — Anonymous

If it is in Print or on the INternet It must be true

This concept is one we have been trying to get thru to students and faculty under our Information Literacy initiatives. But so many are in such a hurru they will just grab anything instead of trying to verify their information

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