Danah Boyd

Directions: Please read this article by danah boyd (she doesn’t capitalize her name), who researches technology and social media; this post is based on a talk she gave about how people use and misuse information on the web; she points out several problems, including what she sees as a problem with the way we teach people to use the internet to get information; it may help to preview the questions below before reading her post; you’ll be asked to pick 3 of the questions below and answer them, based on what danah boyd is claiming in this post: answer any 3 of the questions below. All questions are asking you to respond, based on what boyd claims in her post:a) why do people post info they know is not true, or why do people post info that they don’t even care whether it may or may not be true?b) how do people ‘weaponize’ irony or ambiguous statements? why?c) how can a person’s mistrust of news media lead them to believe that news media are lying to them?d) does teaching people how to create media stop the spread of misinformation(false information that may be spread whether or not the people spreading it know it is false) or disinformation (false information that is spread by people who know it is false)?e) how is the attempt to use critical thinking derailed/manipulated by people who are trying to spread misinformation? Explain the “crisis actor” or Pizzagate example (as described in the article) to support your answer.f) based on the description of gaslighting and its effects on a person, why would some people try to gaslight others?g) how does listening to the host of a tv / radio talk show make the host more ‘real’ to listeners?h) how can looking at info outside of its original context be helpful sometimes?i) how is understanding confirmation bias and selective attention important when we’re trying to make sense of information?Here is a link to danah boyd’s official webpage if you would like to find out more about her work: http://www.danah.org/papers/