Fact or Folly: Authenticating online information

Research shows that three per cent of children think all information on the Internet is reliable and another 36 per cent think "most of the information" is reliable. While printed resources have traditionally had gatekeepers-editors, proofreaders and fact checkers-to weed out mistakes, lies, hoaxes and incomplete or erroneous information, the Internet, in many cases, has no such gatekeepers. Anyone can be a publisher or an "expert." To get the most out of the Internet, kids need to learn two things: how to find good information; and how to question and evaluate online sources. The Fact or Folly workshop explores examples of misinformation on the Net and provides guidelines and techniques for finding and verifying Internet resources.

Duration: 1 hour

Online discussion November 4-10, 2010