Who hasn’t been tempted to click on a story on Facebook about Chipotle planning to close all of its restaurants across the U.S.? What??? How can they??? Or how about the “World’s 1st Successful Head Transplant”? I mean after all, there is a photo to prove it, right? It must be true.
Most of us know of the availability of Snopes.com to check on the accuracy of many so-called “stories”. But here is a very valuable resource: Snopes’ Field Guide to Fake News Sites and Hoax Purveyors. You will likely be surprised to find out some of the news sources that are fabricating their “reporting”. Here is a partial list that the field guide mentions:
National Report: This is the most prominent and popular example of false news reporting on the internet. Facebook has tried to establish algorithms to prevent the spreading of this type of vicious false news. In response, sites like National Report now use the domain names of legitimate news outlets such as the Washington Post and USA Today which mirror the National Report‘s content.
World News Daily Report: This one often mixes together incorrectly attributed and stolen photographs to spread long-held misinformation.
Huzlers: Uses the names of popular brands and restaurants to spread vicious rumors.
News Examiner:Gets around Facebook’s new algorithms by combining real news and listed items in with its fabricated news stories.
Each month we’ll bring you a compiled list of fun national holidays, birthdays of authors, and publication dates of favorite books. You can use these for your own personal use or for some library inspiration!
Here is a great idea to break up the monotony of the winter months. A middle-school teacher in Oklahoma City has transformed her classroom into a Harry Potter-themed room. Most of these ideas can also be used in the school media center to capture students’ attention.
She begins the adventure by papering her door to look like a brick wall and the entry to the Hogwarts Express, Platform 9¾. She also made her room into the different school houses including a potions station and a three-headed (stuffed) dog. She also has a good stack of Harry Potter novels handy for the students to read. What ideas have you done with this fun Harry Potter theme?
Now that it is mid-year for schools and mid-winter for the rest of us, its a great time to communicate with your staff, faculty, students, families, and stakeholders about all your successes and new programs so far this year. Here is a wonderful resource to help you think through and start a newsletter or freshen up an existing one. Tips like: knowing your audience, making the newsletter attractive, keeping it fun, and giving usable tools to your audience will help you present an attractive and professional communication piece that everyone will enjoy reading.
Who hasn’t been tempted to click on a story on Facebook about Chipotle planning to close all of its restaurants across the U.S.? What??? How can they??? Or how about the “World’s 1st Successful Head Transplant”? I mean after all, there is a photo to prove it, right? It must be true.
