12: Identifying Good Sources of Information
We live in a world positively saturated with information. Information technology—computers, networking and the internet, mobile networks, online platforms like social media and video and audio hosting platforms, and mobile devices like smartphones—has us embedded in a world where almost any piece of information is readily available and we are flooded on a daily basis with information in the form of social media posts, podcasts, videos, news articles, fake news articles, and countless other media.
One of the most troubling results of this is that it’s not always easy to tell what is good information—to sort the reliable sources from the unreliable, the misled from the misleading from the well-informed, the thoughtful from the ideologue. Here’s a short guide to some considerations to take into account as you attempt to engage with the deluge of information you are faced with each and every day.