At science meeting, NLP’s Brunskill shows how skepticism, news literacy go together
Skeptics will descend on Buffalo, New York, this month for CSICon, the nation’s premier conference for advancing scientific skepticism and combatting pseudoscience. The lineup of speakers includes the News Literacy Project’s Pamela Brunskill, who helps create educator resources for the nonpartisan nonprofit.
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, which has published the magazine Skeptical Inquirer for 50 years, hosts the event.
Brunskill will lead a TED-style talk on Sunday morning that lays out the basics of news literacy and how students can learn to have healthy skepticism about our information landscape.
Ahead of the event, we asked Brunskill about the topics she’ll address, including skepticism versus cynicism, tips for spotting AI-generated content and how news literacy education can empower teens as they navigate social media. Here’s what she had to say.
What’s the difference between skepticism and cynicism? Why does it matter?
The whole goal of news literacy is to generate healthy skepticism. You can ask questions, think critically and use verification skills to make informed decisions about what information to trust.
Teens need to know how credible information is produced. If they don’t have those skills, then a conspiracy theory may be just as compelling to them as a peer-reviewed paper. That’s where we get into the territory of cynicism.
If you believe all information is created equally, or believe that all information is equally untrustworthy, then you can be vulnerable to false, misleading or even harmful claims.
How can I help teens navigate social media and other information online?
Even though teens are digital natives, they need explicit teaching to learn how to navigate the information environment. News literacy education helps.
There are so many verification skills that can be taught. Like lateral reading: opening a new tab to investigate the credibility of a source. Or critical ignoring: spotting the signs of information that’s not credible, so you know what to safely ignore and don’t get overwhelmed by the idea that you need to fact-check everything.
What do teens need to know about AI-generated information?
There’s a lot of hype about how realistic AI-generated information has become. So how do you tell what’s real? It’s not as hard as you think.
Look at the account sharing the information. Is it one that frequently shares AI content? Are there hashtags or comments that give clues as to whether it’s real?
If you see something sensational and newsworthy, check to see if standards-based news organizations are covering the topic. If you can’t find any news accounts, that’s a good sign to proceed with caution before you trust the claims being made.
