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Recommended Readings and Videos

This list of readings and videos consists of content pulled from the Instructor’s Corner and is arranged by student learning outcome (SLO). For more teaching resources (research guides, infographics, etc.) and suggestions on how to incorporate those listed here into class discussions and activities, explore the Instructor’s Corner.

Student Learning Outcome 1: Free vs. Fee-Based Information

Information Economics (video)

The Lopsided Geography of Wikipedia (reading)

This article from The Atlantic complicates the idea that Internet access alone can democratize information production, dissemination, and access. Focuses on Wikipedia and barriers to global participation and representation.

Open Access (video)

What’s the Deep Web? (video)

Yes, We Were Warned About Ebola (reading)

“Why Does Google Scholar Sometimes Ask for Money?” Engaging Science Students in Scholarly Communication and the Economics of Information (reading)

Student Learning Outcome 2: Effective Searching

Advanced Database Searching (video)

Choosing and Using Keywords (video)

Intermediate Database Searching (video)

Three Decades Since Prejudices and Antipathies: A Study of Changes in the Library of Congress Subject Headings(reading)

Using OneSearch (video)

Student Learning Outcome 3: Popular and Scholarly Sources

Brain Network: Social Media and the Cognitive Scientist (reading)

Evaluating Information (videos)

Six short videos from Penn State University Libraries.

For Colored Girls in Academia (reading)

How to Choose Your News (video)

Chronicles the development of media over time and provides tips on how to get the most accurate information.

Peer Review (video)

Popular and Scholarly Sources (video)

Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers (pdf ebook)

Chapter Two describes four moves for dealing with possible false claims on the Web. “What people need most when confronted with a claim which may not be 100% true is things they can do to get closer to the truth. They need something we have decided to call moves. Moves accomplish intermediate goals in the fact-checking process. They are associated with specific tactics.”

What are Scholarly Journals? (video)

Overview of the main characteristics of scholarly journal articles.

What is “The Literature”? (video)

Student Learning Outcome 4: What Shapes Information?

After Congressional Green Light, Scientists Begin Hemp Studies (reading/audio recording)

Beware online “filter bubbles” (video)

Commercial Content Moderation: Digital Laborers’ Dirty Work (reading)

Google Search: Hyper-visibility as a Means of Rendering Black Women and Girls Invisible (reading)

How I’m fighting bias in algorithms (video)

Explores algorithmic bias in facial recognition software.

How to spot a misleading graph (video)

Details how graphs can be used to mislead or manipulate.

Information Economics (video)

Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation: A Handbook for Journalism Education and Training (e-book)

Free e-book for those interested in journalism in the digital age. Contains modules on a variety of topics, including misinformation, disinformation, mal-information, and more. Published by UNESCO.

Medical journal retracts study linking autism to vaccine (reading)

Of the People, by the People, for the People: Critical Pedagogy and Government Information (reading, ch. 13)

Provides examples of how government information and access to it is political, addresses the value of government information, and explores ways in which citizens can intervene in its production and dissemination.

“Scientific Studies” – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (video)

Study of view on gay marriage should be retracted, coauthor says (reading)

Teaching with Data: Visualization and Information as a Critical Process (reading, ch. 19)

This lesson plan incorporates cartographic and data literacy and compels students to ask what is included on maps and why, as well as what isn’t.

Technology is Biased Too. How Do We Fix it? (reading)

Takes a look at how algorithmic bias can replicate or amplify discrimination.

Thinking through Visualizations: Critical Data Literacy Using Remittances (reading)

Lesson plan that asks students to interrogate World Bank data on remittances to the Philippines.

Trial sans Error: How Pharma-Funded Research Cherry-Picks Positive Results [Excerpt] (reading)

What the Industry Knew About Sugar’s Health Effects, But Didn’t Tell Us (reading/audio recording)

Explores how the sugar industry has attempted to hide the link between sugar and heart disease, instead shifting the blame onto fats.

Why a Lot of Important Research Is Not Being Done (reading)

Details how lawsuits against researchers, not uncommon in health fields, suppress scientific discovery.

Why Can’t the U.S. Treat Gun Violence as a Public-Health Problem? (reading)

Outlines the consequences of a 1996 Congressional decision forbidding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using funding to research gun control.

Student Learning Outcome 5: Attribution

Citation Conventions (presentation)

Citation Practices Challenge (reading)

Making Feminist Points (reading)

The Racial Politics of Citation (reading)

Explores how racially-biased citation practices affect disciplinary knowledge and the careers of scholars of color.

What is “The Literature”? (video)

Last Updated 2018