CMDS 1401 Test Review

Reliable sources

Sources with evidence, expertise, and credibility, such as academic journals and trusted news outlets.

Democracy

A system where people have power, usually through voting.

Direct democracy

Citizens vote directly on laws.

Representative democracy

Citizens elect officials to make decisions.

Pros of direct democracy

More public control.

Cons of direct democracy

Impractical for large groups.

Pros of representative democracy

Efficient for big populations.

Cons of representative democracy

Politicians may not reflect public will.

Self-governance

The ability to self rule, often through democratic means. example, Journals set their own quality standards and reject bad research.

Purpose of journalism

To inform the public, hold power accountable, and serve democracy.

Principal-agent relationships

A system where one person (agent) acts on behalf of another (principal).

Information asymmetry

When one party has more information than the other.

Object agent

An agent that simply provides information.

Information agent

An agent that analyzes and explains information.

Principal-agent problem

When the agent acts in their own interest, not the principal's.

Journalism's role in principal-agent relationships

Journalism reduces the problem by keeping agents accountable.

The Fourth Estate

The press as an independent check on power.

Watchdog media

Media that investigates and holds power accountable.

Lapdog media

Media that supports those in power.

Guard dog media

Media that protects certain interests.

The Fifth Estate

Social media and citizen journalism.

Fake news

False or misleading information presented as news.

Disinformation

False information spread deliberately.

Misinformation

False information spread unintentionally.

Types of fake news

Hoaxes, propaganda, clickbait.

Great Moon Hoax

A fake 1835 news story about life on the moon.

Yellow Journalism

Exaggerated or misleading news for profit (1800s-early 1900s).

War of the Worlds Broadcast

1938 radio drama that caused panic because people thought it was real.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to believe information that supports our views.

Signs of confirmation bias

Ignoring conflicting information and only seeking sources that agree with you.

Types of confirmation bias

1. Biased attention

2. Biased interpretation

3. Biased memory

Truthiness

Something feels true even if it isn't.

Bots & Disinformation

Bots (automated accounts) spread fake news.

Dampener bots

Suppress voices, block messages

Amplifier bots

Spread content widely.

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack

Overloading a website to make it crash.

Disinformation & social problems

Fake news spreads distrust and division, harms democracy by keeping people misinformed, trapped in echo chambers, and emotionally manipulated

Online trolls

People who provoke others online.

Russia's Social Media Influence

Russian tactics to manipulate online discussions.

Reconnaissance, placement, propagation, saturation

Steps in an influence operation.

Principal-agent problems & political turmoil

It means that online trolls (agents) create political chaos, acting in their own interest instead of serving the public (principals), leading to a misalignment between what the public wants (accurate information) and what the trolls do (disrupt political discourse)

Synthetic media

AI-generated content (e.g., deepfakes).

How synthetic media can cause harm

Fake videos or images spread misinformation.

Cheapfake

Poor-quality edits.

Deepfake

AI-generated realistic content.

Solving the fake news challenge

Fact-checking, education, platform regulation.

Information literacy

Knowing how to find and evaluate information.

Information problems

Misinformation, bias, and poor research skills.

Task definition

1. Task definition (Baking a cake) → think about them as elements of the task

   1. Define the issue = baking a cake

   2. Identify the information needed

      • Recipe

      • Safety strategies

        • Should i use rotten eggs?

        • Being careful when something is hot

      • Cooking method, etc.

        • the temp, how long etc.

Critical thinking

Analyzing info logically and skeptically.

Civic online reasoning

Skills for evaluating online info.

Civic online reasoning "core competencies"

Who's behind the info? What's the evidence? What do other sources say?

Source triangulation

Checking multiple sources.

How to spot fake news

Look for credibility, sources, and evidence.

Lateral reading

Opening new tabs to check sources.

Taking bearings

Understanding the context of information.

Click restraint

Not clicking on the first result—checking sources first.

What is Wikipedia?

A crowd-sourced online encyclopedia.

Gatekeeping

Controlling what information is published.

The open internet

A free and accessible internet for all.

Internet governance by platforms

Companies like Google & Facebook setting rules.

Content moderation

Reviewing and managing online posts.

Badging

Labels that indicate reliability or credibility.

Directing users & source triangulation

Algorithms guiding people to verified sources.

Google's four levers

Strategies for improving information quality.

Problems with content moderation

Bias, censorship, enforcement issues.

Algorithmic bias

When AI favors certain viewpoints or groups.

Content moderators

People who review online content.

Content moderation at scale

The challenges of managing huge amounts of content.

Information seeking strategies

1. Information seeking strategies (Cake)

   1. Determine all possible sources

      • Cookbooks, the internet, your parents

   b. Select the best sources

   • Guess and check

     • Will i get sick if i used rotten eggs?

   • Trust the experts

   • Who trained the experts? (family or pasty skl)