This is a webinar organised by the Nigerian Library Association, Delta State Chapter, in collaboration with Digital Citizens. The aim of the webinar is to equip library and information professionals with necessary technologies and strategies needed to play key roles in the dissemination of correct information, and in the information literacy of citizens, in this era of fake news and misinformation.

1. Tools and Strategies for Library and Information Professionals

2. Talk given by
At a webinar
Organised by the Nigerian Library Association, Delta State Chapter,
in collaboration with Digital Citizens
May 13, 2020

3. Webinar Overview
In an era where information spreads amazingly fast, one of the resultant effects is people craving to play
frontline role in the dissemination of information, in manners suggestive of some sort of gains in being the
first, or among the first people to burst the news. Consequently, a lot of what is churned out is alarming, and it
has become a norm overtime to mislead people and contradict stories with catchy headlines. While some of
these information put out there are a result of shallow research and ignorance, some others are deliberate,
with the author meaning to misinform and mislead people, and to spark off emotional responses.
What does this mean for library and information professionals?
Among other information commons, librarians play a key role in the dissemination of correct information, and
in the information literacy of citizens. However, with the emergence of improved information and
communication technologies, which enhance the information services of library and information
institutions, comes also, faster and wider spread of negative information. This is a challenge for all information
professionals and a challenge for the society at large. For this reason, it is imperative that library and
information professionals upgrade their fact-checking skills, using appropriate technologies and strategies, if
they have to occupy front line in the war against fake news and misinformation.
Fake news and misinformation spread fast, and they have the potentiality of causing grave damage. Hence, this
programme has been designed to help you stay informed correctly and stay on track, while helping others
know how to differentiate between what is real and what is not, and not be victims and channels of confusion.

4. Everyone is entitled to his
own opinion, but not his
own facts."
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Newsweek, 25 August 1986, p. 27.
“

5. A form of news consisting of
deliberate disinformation or hoaxes,
spread via traditional news
media (print and broadcast) or
online social media
Information that is not correct or
accurate, with or without the
intention to mislead or cause
harm
Fake news is written and published usually with the intent to mislead in
order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and/or gain financially or
politically, often using sensationalist, dishonest, or outright
fabricated headlines to increase readership.
Vs

6. – CREATOR’S INTENTION
Disinformation: Information that is false and deliberately created
to harm a person, social group, organisation or country
Mal-information: Information that is based on reality, used to
inflict harm on a person, social group, organisation or country
Yellow Journalism / Yellow Press: Information that
uses sensationalism and exaggerated titles to attract readers. It is
usually not well-researched and often only tells one side of the
story.
Clickbaits: Information (usually text or image) designed to make
readers want to click on a hyperlink, especially when the link leads to
content of dubious value or interest

7. Propaganda: Information that is used primarily to influence an
audience and further an agenda, which may not be objective and
may be presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular
synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an
emotional rather than a rational response to the information that
is presented.
Spoof News: Information that seems to be about a serious matter
but is actually a joke.
News Satire: A type of parody presented in a format typical of
mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content.

8. – LOOK UP
Black propaganda
Grey propaganda
White propaganda
Computational propaganda
Junk news
Pseudo-news
Hoax news
News Parody
Rumour
FAKE NEWS
FACT-CHECKING

9. Online Information
Credibility Research

10. Fact Checkers
At highly regarded news
outlets
Undergraduates
Stanford University
Historians
PhD, with full-time
faculty positions at
universities
10 1025

11. TASK A
TASK B
AAP – The largest professional organization of pediatricians in the world
ACPeds – A much smaller advocacy group that characterizes homosexuality as a harmful lifestyle choice
A Silicon Valley entrepreneur financed the legal
team, a fact not always mentioned in news reports
about the lawsuit.)

12. FACT CHECKERSUNDERGRADUATESHISTORIANS
Largely expressed the
belief that both sites
were reliable sources of
information
Easily identified the
groups’ positions
Overwhelmingly judged
ACPeds’ site the more
reliable one
Read vertically Read vertically Read Laterally
Often taken in by unreliable indicators such as a
professional-looking name and logo, an array of scholarly
references or a nonprofit URL, etc
Bamboozled by the ruses that are part of the toolkit of
digital deception today
“Understood the web as a
maze filled with trap doors
and blind alleys,”…“where
things are not always what
they seem”

13. FACT CHECKERSUNDERGRADUATESHISTORIANS
Even historians and students who did read laterally
did not necessarily probe effectively:
Showed what the
researchers called click
restraint, reviewing
search results more
carefully before
proceeding
They failed to use quotation marks when searching
for contiguous expressions
They clicked indiscriminately on links that ranked
high in search results, not understanding how the
order is influenced by search engine optimization

14. strategieSStrategies

15. • Unusual URLs, site names, or social
media profiles that try to look like
legitimate news or information sites,
but aren't
• Mission, purpose and contact info
• Determine type (creator’s intention)
• Considered an authority and credible?
• What the web says about the source,
against what they say about themselves
• Authors – are they real and credible?
• Establishment and accountability
Investigate
the source

16. Rely on
established
and
accountable
sources
• Trade Up
• Rather than relying on the source where you first saw the
information, go out and fetch same information from a higher
quality source
•Float a trusted information source to
the top of a search result page
•If the information seems true, but a
credible mainstream source hasn’t
reported it, dig deeper

17. Check the
publication
date
• Is the story relevant and
up to date?
• Does the date of
publishing support the
date/period of the
event?
Check for
signs of an
original
source
Check the
supporting
sources
• Are there pointers to
another source for the
full story?
• Is the source
acknowledging another
as the source?
• Check out the supporting
sources sited in the story,
to determine if the given
information actually
supports the story

18. • Credible authors make
less repeated spelling
and grammar mistakes
• Headline grammar error
or typo in a red flag
• All-caps words and a lot
of exclamation marks are
red flags
Bad
English Logo Clickbaits
• Is the organisation’s logo
used in the message,
same as that on the
official website?
• Over-encourages you to
click or share a
hyperlinked text, image
or video
• Sparks off an extreme
reaction in you – anger,
fear, or smug
If it:
Suspect a misleading

19. If you have
to read..
Be
objective
Get help
• The story doesn’t have
to agree with your
opinion, but has the
author done every other
thing correctly?
• Put personal biases in
check. Remember you’re
a professional
Seek assistance or
confirmation from
colleagues or other experts
• Read beyond the
headline to understand
the whole story
• Don't just read down
the page, read around
the page

20. Cross-
reference
Use fact-checking sources before
trusting or sharing
Use search engines to look up
the title of the article to see the
Web’s judgement of its status

21. CANNIBAL KILLER SLAUGHTERED
AND ATE 23 PIZZA DELIVERY MEN,
6 JEHOVAH WITNESSES, 2
POSTMEN IN PAST 7 YEARS
Ivan Fedorovitch Yanukovych,
56, could be linked to a number
of mysterious disappearances in
the area believe officials.
Yanukovych was interrogated by
police after neighbors
complained about him using a
chainsaw late at night and
reported the man
being “covered in blood.”
USA
Nigeria
Nigerian Taxi Driver Threatens To Spread Coronavirus
RUNS FOR PRESIDENT
IN KENYA, 2021
BARACK OBAMA
WhatsApp Owner Brian Acton Says Online
Those Who Share This Message Will Continue
Enjoying WhatsApp Free Version

22. Sources
Tools

23. Monitors online content in local
languages, from Amharic to Hindi,
Mandarin or Malaysian
AFP Fact Check
https://factcheck.afp.com/
Exists to promote accuracy and
honesty in public debate and the
media in Africa
Africa Check
https://africacheck.org/
NEWS STORIES NEWS STORIES
Independent news platform dedicated
to transparency, democratic reform,
government accountability and
corporate responsibility
Canada Fact Check
https://canadafactcheck.ca/
NEWS STORIES
A big database of domains and whois
records, as well as an online
investigation tool
DomainBigData
https://domainbigdata.com/
DOMAIN NAMES

24. Monitors the factual accuracy of what
is said by major U.S. political players in
the form of TV ads, debates, speeches,
interviews and news releases.
FactCheck.org
https://www.factcheck.org/
U.S. POLITICS
Online application that lets you take a
deeper look at images – size, dimension,
file type, colour components, resolution,
date and time original image was created,
date of creation (edited), artist, etc.
EXIFdata.com
https://exifdata.com/
IMAGES
Educates and engages Canadians in critical
thinking and evidence-based political
decision-making, to hold politicians
accountable for their words, and to
encourage honesty in political debate
FactsCan
http://factscan.ca/
CANADIAN POLITICS
Search returns similar images, the
websites that contain these images, and
other sizes of the picture you searched
with.
Has Android, iPhone and iPad apps
Google Reverse Image Search
https://images.google.com/
IMAGES

25. A tool that visualizes the spread of
articles online. It shows how unverified
stories and fact-checking efforts on those
stories spread online. Users are the judge
here
Hoaxy
https://hoaxy.iuni.iu.edu/
NEWS STORIES
A web-based integrated toolset for the
verification of newsworthy user-
generated videos and their context
spread via social media
InVID
https://www.invid-project.eu/
VIDEOS
Produces and disseminates peerless data
and analysis on money in politics to inform
and engage Americans, champion
transparency, and expose disproportionate
or undue influence on public policy
OpenSecrets.org
https://www.opensecrets.org/
U.S. POLITICS
A website that rates the accuracy of
claims by elected officials and others
on its Truth-O-Meter
Politifact
https://www.politifact.com/
U.S. POLITICS

26. Provides evidence-based and
contextualized analysis, and documents
their sources so readers are empowered
to do independent research and make up
their own minds
Snopes
https://www.snopes.com/
NEWS STORIES
Helps understand what people are talking
about on Twitter. A search for a word or
phrase automatically returns the most
commonly used words and hashtags and
the most frequently shared links
twXplorer
https://twxplorer.knightlab.com/
TWEETS
Finds duplicate and modified copies of
images with MatchEngine. Helps in image
verification, matching, or reverse image-
search solutions
TinEye Reverse Image Search
https://tineye.com/
IMAGES
V
Urban Legends Online
https://urbanlegendsonline.com/
LEGENDS
A computational knowledge engine or
answer engine. Easily verifies statistics and
raw facts. Can perform mathematical
calculations on the spot, make
comparisons, and answer direct questions

27. WHOis.net
https://whois.net/
DOMAIN NAMES
Whois Lookup — Domain Names Search,
Registration and Availability
A computational knowledge engine or
answer engine. Easily verifies statistics and
raw facts. Can perform mathematical
calculations on the spot, make
comparisons, and answer direct questions
Wolfram|Alpha
https://www.wolframalpha.com/
SPECIFIC ANSWERS

28. – web native
skills – for speed and accuracy
USEFUL TIPS d
Understand different
types of content
If you build a fact-checking
habit, overtime, you'll build
a library of trusted and
untrusted sources
Always be mindful of information that
arouse strong emotions, positive or
negative
Use care before sharing
BUILD CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
Africa Check Tips
https://africacheck.org/how-to-fact-check/tips-and-advice/

29. However, before you share or publish such stories,
make sure the story passes all fact checks

30. Bibliography
Caulfield, M. (2018, June 29). Online Verification Skills. Pullman, Washington State, U.S.A.:
NewsWise. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBU2sDlUbp8
Cornell University Library. (2020, May 1). Fake News, Propaganda, and Bad information: Learning to
Critically Evaluate Media Sources. Retrieved May 3, 2020, from Cornell University Library:
https://guides.library.cornell.edu/evaluate_news
Filucci, S. (2020, March 25). How to Help Kids Sort Fact from Fiction About the Coronavirus.
Retrieved April 1, 2020, from Common Sense Media:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/how-to-help-kids-sort-fact-from-fiction-about-
the-coronavirus
InvestInTech.com. (2020). Top 8 Tools To Fact Check Your Research. Retrieved April 3, 2020, from
InvestInTech.com: https://www.investintech.com/resources/blog/archives/9120-fact-check-
tools-tips.html
Karolina. (2017, January 27). Alternative Facts and Fake News – Verifiability in the Information
Society. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from IFLA Library Policy and Advocacy Blog:
https://blogs.ifla.org/lpa/2017/01/27/alternative-facts-and-fake-news-verifiability-in-the-
information-society/

31. Spector, C. (2017, October 24). Stanford scholars observe 'experts' to see how they evaluate the
credibility of information online. Retrieved April 1, 2020, from Stanford News:
https://news.stanford.edu/2017/10/24/fact-checkers-outperform-historians-evaluating-
online-information/
UNESCO. (2019). Journalism, 'Fake News' and Disinformation: A Handbook for Journalism Education
and Training. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from Journalism, 'Fake News' and Disinformation: A
Handbook for Journalism Education and Training
Vanderslott, S. (2020, March 20). How to spot coronavirus fake news – an expert guide. Retrieved
April 9, 2020, from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-
coronavirus-fake-news-an-expert-guide-133843
Wikipedia. (2020, May 2). Fake news. Retrieved May 3, 2020, from Wikipedia: The Free
Encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news
Wikipedia. (2020, March 5). News satire. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from Wikipedia: The Free
Encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_satire
Your Dictionary. (2020). Examples of Yellow Journalism. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from Your
Dictionary: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-yellow-journalism.html
Link to demonstration: https://youtu.be/DMVpiCat5Wo