INFO 3000 - Information and Society: Critical Thinking in the Post-truth World

1 Credit(s)

Over ten years ago Stephen Colbert coined the word “truthiness” to define the feeling that something is true, even if it isn’t actually true. The 2016 Oxford Dictionaries’ international word of the year was “post-truth,” which defines objective facts as less influential than what appeals to personal beliefs. In the years between “truthiness” and “post-truth” there has been a proliferation in the amounts of digital information created and shared. Our ability to critically navigate that information has not kept pace with the speed at which it is created. This course will introduce students to information analysis in our current information age, using object lessons and activities to increase their ability to sort through fake news, doctored digital content, misleading memes, and phony photographs while encouraging self-reflection and the examination of where their own beliefs come from. (As Needed) [Graded (Standard Letter)]

Registration Restriction(s): None