Speak up! Recording in progress
Ferndale Library podcast interviews experts about information literacy
In 2020, Americans are politically divided while anxiety over the economy and coronavirus pandemic has us sleepless, feeling isolated and confused. And it’s
not that we can’t get information about
what’s going on — quite the opposite. We
are inundated with information, much of
it conflicting.
So who do we believe? How do we cut through the noise to get to truth?
The Ferndale Library is offering some help. New episodes of its podcast, “A Little Too Quiet” began coming out in July, including a miniseries on “the Infodemic.”
Originally planned as an in-person panel discussion for a live audience, library staff shifted their focus on information literacy for the podcast. The series features exclusive conversations with professors, librarians and journalists who address the public’s ability to evaluate the variety of information we all encounter daily through social media and online news outlets.
Guests include Pradeep Sopory and
Laura Sheble of Wayne State University. Sopory researches risk communication and has investigated the effects of messages in the media and how they are designed to influence beliefs and behaviors. Sheble has done extensive research on public health reporting and co-edited the book “Misinformation and Mass Audiences.” Sopory and Sheble offer results of research that reflects upon the reporting of health news and the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.
Broadcast and print journalists have been interviewed by “A Little Too Quiet” host Jeff Milo and his guest host, librarian Michelle Williamson. Reporter/pro
ducer Jake Neher and digital content editor Shiraz Ahmed of WDET-FM (101.9) were featured on an episode together, and Detroit News Digital Director Lauren Abdel-razzaq is scheduled for a Sept. 15 installment.
Finally, Jo Angela Oehrli, the learning l brarian at the University of Michigan, contributed perspectives on how the librarians are preparing for their role in mitigating the spread of misinformation. Oehrli was recently recognized in 2017 by the American Library Association for her work on information literacy.
The canceled panel discussions were timed with the buildup toward the presidential election to train voters to be their own fact-checkers in the avalanche of political news. But with these podcast episodes, listeners will be able to dive deeper into how the media are reporting developing stories.
Topics covered in these episodes include:
• Confirmation bias and information bubbles: Anyone surfing the internet for news finds headlines and memes that reinforce their own opinions and world views.
• “Deep fake videos”: New technology allows content makers to alter visuals and audio to make videos that look real and present events that did not happen. They can seem like a person or politician is making statements that they never actually said.
• Guarding against misinformation: Listeners will learn illuminating methods for recognizing misinformation, such as how to read laterally, consulting with reliable third-party sources and the S.I.F.T. approach, where readers find out how to trace claims and quotes back to a story’s original context.
Episodes are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. More information is provided in the show notes of each episode, posted to the library’s podcast website, alittletooquiet.podbean.com.