Transformation; how the digital creates new realities

A screenshot (sometimes referred to as a screencap, screengrab, or in the earlier days of the internet, as a print screen), can be seen as revolutionary. The ease with which you can copy and paste an image, use it in another context, and share it with others, encourages the use and spread of images on the web. This is especially the case when the images are copyright free. The first step in exploring image recognition is using your laptop to create two screenshots of images of your choice that have been used for the animation ‘Transformation.’

• Start by re-watching the video clip ‘Transformation.’ At any point in the video, pause it (for example, at 0:28 or 2:03), and take a screenshot of a clear image of an object or a person in the paused clip. (Click here for instructions on how to take a screenshot on a Mac or a Windows computer.

For Mac users, the screenshots will automatically appear on your desktop. For Windows users, the screenshots will appear in a folder called “Screenshots” in your “Pictures” folder. Copy those screenshots in the two fields of your answerform (this will be added to this lesson to download asap).

Taking the screenshots automatically generates information about them that we call metadata. Metadata, which literally means “data about data”, is information about the object in question. It is a concept that is key for the management of digital content (including photos, texts, audio or video-files, tweets, or 3d objects). In the case of digitally produced images, this type of metadata is called Exif data, which stands for: Exchangeable Image File Format. These data provide information about the image such as the amount of pixels, the number of bytes, the colour scheme, the date of creation, and the format of the image.

• Watch the video The Metadata Librarian Explains Metadata by metadata librarian Mary Rose of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Libraries that gives you an introduction to the concept of metadata by using the analogy of how we label leftovers in a fridge.

You are now going to inspect the metadata of the first of the two screenshots that you created.

• Click here for access to a PDF with an overview of all the metadata fields, how to access them, and what they mean Using the PDF, you will see all the major fields for metadata information in the tables below.
• Fill out only the metadata fields that are highlighted for the first of the two screenshots you took, either in the Mac or the Windows version, while taking note of all the other types of common metadata

• Check whether or not the metadata that you looked up was correct by using the online tool https://www.metadata2go.com, which helps you find and examine the Exif and metadata of an image, in addition to providing explanations for a number of metadata categories or fields that you might not be familiar with.

The purpose of Image Recognition software is to teach systems to recognize patterns in images in the same way humans do. The software is trained with data that enables it to create a kind of prediction model. This model defines a set of conditions that have to be met and translates those into pixel values, which allows the software to recognize different images by looking for the closest possible resemblances to what it has learned and stored. We are now going to explore two online image recognition services: a well known one, Google Search by Image, and a less-known service, Tineye.

For this assignment, you will choose the second of the two screenshots you took in Assignment 1a (that is, not the one that you analyzed the metadata of) to search for its origin via two image recognition services, Google Search by Image, and Tineye.

• To understand how image recognition through computers evolved first, watch this TED Talk by scholar Fei Fei Li of Stanford University.
• Next, open one tab to Google Images, and another tab to Tineye and upload your screenshot from your desktop to both services. A summary of the retrieved results will appear, along with all the listed hits below.

• Complete the table with your findings. Put a copy of your screenshot in the first field (if you have chosen a portrait page setup, you will need to make it smaller to fit in the field)
• Describe the differences in options to select between the two services
• Describe the metadata components of the summary of the search in both services, paying attention to the differences between the two services. This includes things such as the dimensions of the image, possible related search terms, the file type, and any other information relating to the image itself.
• Describe the metadata components of the search results in both services, paying attention to the differences between the two services. This includes things such as the titles and text of the websites that appear, the number of search results, and any other information relating to the search results generated by the different services.

• Describe the first two search results, first the result of the search and then what you find when you open the link, assess the quality of the image recognition in both services.

• Evaluate your findings in a short summary (100 words max.) in which you assess the reason for the differences in performance. (Hint: Think about what was said in the TED Talk)

Source criticism is the practice of critically engaging with a source. Historians, for example, have always questioned the origin, meaning, and credibility of the historical sources that they use. However, when a source is digitised, published online, and reproduced by many people, it can become more difficult to trace the origin of the source. In this assignment, you are going to document the characteristics of the image from its original creation to its digital representation online, tracking the changes that happen each time the image is transformed into something else. It is important to remember that while the transformed image communicates the same message as the original in most instances, its artifactual value has profoundly changed.

• Open this visual aid from the Ranke.2 website. You will see the heading ‘Questions to ask about a digitised manuscript published on the web.’ Below, three contexts are identified in which the identity, appearance, and value of a source changes. In each context, different questions should be asked. In this assignment, you will pose similar questions about two images that you will choose below.

The goal here is to understand the difference between ‘the’ image and ‘an’ image. ‘The’ image is the original, that is, the very first of its kind that was ever made. ‘An’ image is a reproduction of the original image. Sometimes the reproduction is in the same format as the original and sometimes it is in a completely different format. Here, you will be tracing that process of transformation from the original image (context of creation) to its digital reproduction (context of digitisation).

NOTE: You may need to do some additional web research to answer all the questions. Some good resources include Encyclopedia Britannica, Google Scholar, and Khan Academy. Keep in mind that some websites do not share the information about the digitization process, so it is OK if you are not able to find all the necessary information.

• Look at the images below, choose two, and take screenshots of them.

• Fill out the tables below using two of the images selected above. For the first section, ‘Context of creation’, we suggest that you repeat the process of Assignment 1b of uploading the screenshot in the image recognition service that you prefer. The list of results that appears will guide you in answering the questions in the first section.

To give you an idea of how to respond to the questions, an example is given below.

• How to find and remove Exif data on a Mac and on a Windows computer: Klein, Matt. “What Is EXIF Data, and How Can I Remove It from My Photos”. How-to Geek, July 10, 2017. Magazine article
• Neatrour, Anna, and Martin Greer. “Using Metadata to Describe Digital Content.” September 30, 2015. Digpublib. Video, 35:51. Youtube Video
• Jagdish, Deepak, and Daniel Smilkov. “The Power of Metadata.” September 25, 2013 at TEDxCambridge. Video, 9:57. Youtube Video
• Read the original article from the team that produced the Google Books Ngram Viewer: Michel, Jean-Baptiste, Yuan Kui Shen, Aviva P. Aiden, Adrian Veres, Matthew K. Gray, et al. “Quantitative analysis of cutlure using millions of digitized books.” Science 331, (6014): 176-182. Harvard Library
• If you want to go more in-depth about the field of Image Recognition software and Computer Vision: Szeliski, Richard. “Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications by Richard.” Last modified May 23, 2022. Website

There has always been a connection between technological progress and the need to introduce new laws to protect the ideas and efforts of authors, inventors, and artists. The first copyright law was enacted in Great Britain in 1710 to protect the rights of authors from the unauthorized reproduction of their works. A similar need evolved with the advent of digital technology and the web, which facilitated copying and spreading original works. Digitisation has made the concept of ownership and copyright difficult to deal with. This assignment is about arrangements that have been made to regulate the use of images on the web.

• Watch Part 4 of Everything is a Remix (22:50-34:30) by Kirby Ferguson to learn about the origin of the concept of copyright. We recommend watching the other parts of this fascinating four-part video series, which show Ferguson’s insights into the world of content ownership and modification.

The ease with which one can make a copy of an image on the web encourages the re-use and re-mix of digital content, as Ferguson explains in his video series. But just because an image exists on the web and you can easily download it does not mean that you are dealing with copyright-free material. The conditions for using the image should be checked first.

Here are a number of ways to check whether or not you can use an image found on the web:

• Have a careful look at the captions of the images on the website
• Check whether there is a watermark; sometimes the watermark only shows when you hover over the image
• If you can download the image, inspect the Exif data (you can follow the indications given in assignment 1a for this) as the Exif metadata comes with the download and sometimes indicates the copyright information
• Sometime copyright issues can be found in the section ‘Terms of Use’ of the website
• If you still can’t find details about the owner, try Google reverse image search, by uploading either the image or the image link into the search box. The search results can help you to find other websites where the image has been used.

If none of the suggestions yield results, contact the copyright owner through the owner of the website (also known as the webmaster).

If you unintendedly have infringed copyright law, this website offers guidelines on how to handle the problem: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/website-permissions/websites/

• Now choose two other images from Assignment 1c, make screenshots of them, and place them in the table below. You are going to trace back the copyright arrangements or the absence of any regulation for these two images. Just as in the previous assignment, you can start by reverse image searching, but this time only focus on tracing back the rights for reuse. Keep in mind that sometimes it is difficult to find the copyright information for an image. If you can’t find the information, don’t use it.

The information in the assignment above may give you the impression that copyright rules apply to all the countries in the world that are connected to the web via the internet. This is certainly not the case. In fact, copyright laws can be very different depending on the country of origin in which the material was produced or in which the creator lives. In this assignment, we will briefly discuss some of the differences in various countries.

To get an idea of the diversity read pages 197-204 of the article The Tangled Web: Cross-Border Conflicts of Copyright Law in the Age of Internet Sharing by Elisabeth Fiordalisi from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law about the differences between countries in copyright and then respond to the questions below.

• What are the essential differences in copyright law between Europe and the US according to Fiordalisi? (see page 204)

• What is a ‘netizen’ and when was the term introduced? (Conduct additional web research)

• If you would use an image that is licensed without permission on a website that you created in the country you live in, but that is accessible throughout the world, what would be the consequences?

Copyright has been introduced to protect somebody’s unique creation. When considering the variety of technologies, scripts, designs, sounds, and images that are used in an animation, one could say that it is the result of many kinds of creativities. In this assignment, you are challenged to discover which creative input was needed to put the ‘Transformation’ clip together and how we managed to keep the costs of purchasing images low.

Watch part of the ‘Transformation’ clip again, keeping in mind the following questions:

• What different kinds of expertise are needed to create such a clip? To help you out, you can have a look at the credits at the end of the clip.

• What kind of content has been used to create the clip? (sound, text, image) To help you out, check out one of the first versions of the storyboard that was created for the Transformation clip.

• Have the creators of the Transformation clip taken risks with regard to the use of images? For some inspiration, take a look at columns I and J of the storyboard document above.

More information about the first modern copyright law: Doteasy. “THE STATUTE OF ANNE – 1710.” History of Copywrite. 2005. Website

• Cohrs, Lauren. “4 Easiest Ways to Tell if an Image is Copyrighted.” Geminos Creative. Modified January 16, 2014. Blog
• Sandvick, Clinton M. “How to Find Out if Something Is Copyrighted.” Copyright Law. Last modified October 4, 2022. Wikihow Article
• Creative Commons. “Wanna Work Together.” July 23, 2010. Video, 3:00. Vimeo Video
• Creative Commons. “About The Licenses.” Last modified November 7, 2017. Website
• Strebeck, Zachary. “How to find out if something is copyrighted – a quick guide.” Strebecklaw. 2021. Blog
• Stim, Rich. “Starting Your Copyright Research.” Stanford Copyright & Fair Use. Website

The terms ‘metamorphosis’ and ‘transformation’ are related but are not synonymous. ‘Metamorphosis’ is associated with animals that are able to transform from one shape into another (even though this was not its original meaning) while ‘transformation’ is a more generic reference to ‘change’, and is commonly used in combination with ‘digital’. To trace the original meaning or the origin of any word (also called a word’s etymology), before the advent of the internet, you had to use a printed dictionary, of which the credibility and authority would be secured by the status of an organisation or person (normally either the publishing house or the editors). Digital technology can help us retrieve various interpretations of their original meanings instantaneously. It can also help with tracing back how these meanings changed over time. Yet, the importance of applying the same source criticism you would use with printed materials applies equally to information resources that one can find on the web.

In this assignment, you are going to look up the etymology (origin) of the words ‘metamorphosis’ and ‘transformation’ in the Online Etymology Dictionary

To check whether you can trust the information on any website, one strategy is to read and apply the criteria for ‘detecting CRAP’ as outlined in this page from Canvas Network’s massive open online course (or MOOC) ‘Understanding Media: Facts, Authority, and What We Believe.’ Read over this page.

Now, look up the etymology of the terms ’metamorphosis’ and ‘transformation’ in the Online Etymology Dictionary and write down the origins of the two terms in your own words in the boxes below. Pay attention to the different parts of the terms, such as any prefixes, verbs, nouns, or suffixes.

To evaluate the quality of this resource, use the CRAP strategy from above and answer the questions that each letter represents in the box below. Note: You may not be able to find all the information requested - that is OK.

The contexts in which particular terms are used is affected by technological, cultural, and economic changes in society. How the use of terms changes over time can be traced with the help of a tool called the Google Books Ngram Viewer. This is a search engine created by Google that charts the frequencies of a term in 18 million books available in the public domain in the English language that were printed between 1500 and 2008. This is done via statistical analysis of yearly counts of words. Although it is not fully representative, it can give a good impression of how the meaning of a term can change over time.

Here is the link to the Google Books Ngram Viewer. You enter terms in the Ngram into the search bar at the top and separate them with a comma. After pressing ‘Search lots of books,’ the Ngram viewer will then show a graph of each term you entered. Have a look at the example below with the terms ‘Albert Einstein,’ ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ and ‘Frankenstein.’ Below the graph, you can also see a set of time periods, arranged chronologically. These are links to a list of books that have been published in this period and are part of the corpus of 18 million books.

To get a quick overview of how Google Books Ngram Viewer works, read this article from Lifewire

Metamorphosis

• Now enter the term ‘metamorphosis’ in the Ngram, select the first time period where the term appears below, and glance over the books that appear in that time period.

• What are the topics of the books with ‘metamorphosis’ in the title? In what kind of section of the library would you find them? How would they be tagged to be traced online?

• Now go to the last time period, open the link and skim the titles that appear. Is there a change in the kind of context in which the term is used? Is its meaning the same as in the first period?

• Now open up some links to other time periods. Can you find a title of a book in which the term is used in a different way?

Transformation

• Now put a comma after ‘metamorphosis’ and add the term ‘transformation’ to your search.

• What strikes you when you compare the two graphs?

• Compare the book titles from the first time period to the time period with a peak. Is there a difference in the topics of the books with ‘transformation’ in their title that were published in the early period and with those that were published at the peak of the graph? Identify and list the topics for the early period and for the peak.

Digital Transformation

• Now delete the terms ‘metamorphosis’ and ‘transformation’ and instead search for the term ‘digital transformation’

• How would you characterize the topics of the books in the first time period that contain this term in the title?

• Do you see a difference with the books listed in the last time period?

• Conduct a search on Google with the term ‘digital transformation’. What strikes you with regard to the contexts in which the term is most present?

While the Good Books Ngram viewer is a useful tool, it is important to note that it also has its drawbacks. Read this article in the American magazine Wired about the pitfalls of using the Google Book Ngram for research.

Evaluation

• How would you judge the results of your searches and assessments now, after taking the criticism of the article in Wired into consideration?

Metamorphosis (also known as shapeshifting) has been used as a recurrent theme in mythology, folklore, and speculative fiction since the dawn of time. One of the most influential works inspired by Greek mythology which deals with this topic is Ovid’s epic poem the Metamorphoses. Ovid (known in Latin as Ovidius) was a Roman poet who lived from 43 BC to 17/18 AD and became fairly famous during his lifetime and even more so after his death. His epic poem Metamorphoses consists of over 250 myths centered around the idea of ‘forms that change,’ and recounts the ‘history’ of the world from its creation until the time of Caesar. Metamorphoses has had a significant impact on Western culture ever since its creation including providing inspiration for several of William Shakespeare’s plays. In this assignment, we will explore some of the main themes found in the poem.

• Listen to the first 10 minutes of this BBC podcast as presenter Melvyn Bragg, author A.S. Byatt, and literary critic A. Catherine Bates discuss the appeal and several themes of Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses and then answer the questions that follow.

• What is Byatt’s explanation for the appeal of Ovid’s poetry from ancient times to the present? (1:34 - 3:58)

• During the exchange of opinions on Ovid, in the first eight minutes the experts refer to six mythological forms of transformation, mentioning the names of the deities that are involved. Try to identify them by making use of the hints and the indicated time-stamps in the table.

This is a link to a translated version of Ovid’s work by Anthony. S. Kline, published online in open access by the University of Virginia and made searchable. In the index you can look up the names of the mythological protagonists in Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Use the resource to trace the stories in the poem that are connected to the names you have identified in the podcast. Put the link in the field with a short description of what the context is. (75 words max.)

It was the Roman poet Ovid’s fascination for the world being in a constant state of flux that led to the creation of his epic poem Metamorphosis. The fact that this fascination is everlasting is illustrated by the massive impact of his poem, especially on Western culture. Renaissance and Baroque artists frequently depicted mythological scenes and characters from his poem while famous authors such as Shakespeare and Chaucer drew on his work. Ovid would probably have been thrilled to learn that nowadays the structure of his work can be analyzed with the help of digital tools. The recurrent use of the term ‘transformation’ when referring to the impact of digital technology on today’s society echoes Ovid’s enchantment with change. In this assignment, you will identify themes from the Metamorphoses that are depicted in paintings which, thanks to digital technology, we now have instantaneous access to.

As mentioned, Ovid’s Metamorphoses has had a significant impact on Western culture, especially within the art world. While themes and scenes from the Metamorphoses can be found in literally hundreds of paintings all over the globe, here we will examine several which are the most well-known.

• Contextualise two of the paintings in the table below by researching the title of the work, the painter, and the year(s) it was painted in and put the information (as well as a link to the image) in the second column. You can use a reverse image search service such as Google Search by Image or Tineye, or you can try to describe the image using the usual keyword search on a search engine of your choice. To use reverse image search, make a screenshot of the images you have chosen, and upload them in the search box.

• Next, describe in your own words the myth being depicted in the painting. Then, find the corresponding passage about the mythological figures that is depicted in the painting in this online version of the Metamorphoses hosted by the University of Virginia in the USA and paste it in the table with its corresponding link, in size 8 font. Take into account that the spelling of the names may vary and that the online version of Ovid’s poem contains an alphabetical index of all the names used.

• For the last column, conduct web research to find out whether the mythological figure(s) depicted in the painting and described in Ovid’s poem have inspired any contemporary artists. If so, document the name of the author, the work of art, the context in which it was made, and a link to the work or an article about it.

Question	Answer
picture
Name, author, date	The Death of Niobe’s Children, Johann König (First half of 17th century)
Which is the Myth depicted (with description of characters)?	The twin children of Latona, Phoebus (Apollo) and Phoebe (Artemis), kill all 14 of Niobe’s children in punishment for her refusal to worship Latona. From: Bk VI:204-266 The gods’ vengeance: Niobe’s sons are killed
Link to corresponding passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses?	“There was a broad, open plain near the walls, flattened by the constant passage of horses, where many wheels and hard hooves had levelled the turf beneath them. There, a number of Amphion’s seven sons mounted on their strong horses, and sitting firmly on their backs, bright with Tyrian purple, guided them using reins heavy with gold. While Ismenus, one of these, who had been the first of his mother’s burdens, was wheeling his horse’s path around in an unerring circle, and hauling at the foaming bit, he cried out ‘Oh, I am wounded!’ and revealed an arrow fixed in his chest, and loosing the reins from his dying hands, slipped gradually, sideways, over his mount’s right shoulder.
	Next Sipylus, hearing the sound of a quiver in the empty air, let out the reins, just as a shipmaster sensing a storm runs for it when he sees the cloud, and claps on all sail, so that not even the slightest breeze is lost. Still giving full rein, he was overtaken, by the arrow none can avoid, and the shaft stuck quivering in his neck, and the naked tip protruded from his throat. Leaning forward, as he was, he rolled down over the mane and the galloping hooves
Name contemporary artist and work of art?	https://www.widewalls.ch/banksy-art-from-gaza-and-then-more-banksy/ Banksy in Gaza – image of Niobe (courtesy of banksy.co.uk)

Direct access to the life of celebrities who promote particular lifestyles enhances the tendency to be unsatisfied with one’s appearance or personality while digital technology facilitates the urge to ‘craft’ or ‘model’ a different personality then the one that is determined by our genes. In this assignment, you are going to explore this phenomenon which is linked to one of Ovid’s poems about a man named Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection.

• Watch this 5-minute TED Ed lecture in the form of an animation by psychologist W. Keith Campbell about the myth of Narcissus and how this is linked to the psychological condition known as narcissistic personality disorder.
• Then, read this blog post ‘I’m in Love With Myself: The Age of Digital Narcissism’ published by journalist Chloe Metzger of the magazine Marie Claire that offers a personal reflection on the use of social media and the impact it can have on one’s self perception.

While Campbell explains narcissism as a personality feature that is inherited or more likely to occur due to a particular upbringing, Metzger stresses the impact of social pressure in the formation of narcissism. Reflecting on the two videos, answer the following questions:

• Contrary to the popular belief that generations that grew up with social media are more ‘narcissistic’, the research that Metzger cites shows a decrease in narcissism among the American student population. How does she explain this contradiction?
• What is the argument that Campbell makes for dismissing the term ‘narcissism’ for the intensive use of social media?
• What is the argument that psychiatrist Erin Vogel makes for labelling social media as potentially addictive?
• What is the position of psychiatrist Elias Aboujaoude about social media? Does he promote stopping its use?

In a review by William Saletan in the New York Times, two books are discussed that are relevant to our topic: Dr. Elias Aboujaoude’s book Virtually You and Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken (both published in 2011). You can find the review about ⅓ down the page from the online course “Internet and Society,” offered by the online magazine Medium, Aboujaoude’s view on the impact of the internet on people’s mental health is juxtaposed with the positive view of game developer Jane McGonigal and compared to the worldview of two famous philosophers: Hobbes (Aboujaoude) vs. Rousseau (McGonigal). Keeping in mind the book review, respond to the following questions (max. 75 words per question):

• Whose side is Saletan on? What is his main argument?
• Why does he compare the two authors to the political philosophers Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau?
• What is your own stance on this? Have you known periods in which engaging with the internet influenced your life in a disproportionate way?

While there are certainly negative aspects of social media that should be kept in mind, transforming our appearance with the help of apps can also be used simply for enjoyment. We can make fun of ourselves, our friends, or celebrities by adding features to our face or by distorting or morphing them. Let’s explore the inner workings and background behind some well-known and commonly-used digital transformation technologies.

• First, take a look at this clip in which five face changing apps are demonstrated.

• What’s the difference in the way the presenter uses the term ‘narcissism’ (0:06-0:11) compared to how it’s used in Keith Campbell’s TED video and the Chloe Metzger’s blog post in Assignment 4a?

• Next, watch this clip from Vox that explains the technique behind one of the world’s most well-known apps, Snapchat, and answer the following questions:
• What is the Viola-Jones algorithm?
• What is the business model of Snapchat? How can they earn back the $150 million they paid to buy Ukraine company Looksery and their technology?
• Have you ever used one of the five apps mentioned? What is your personal experience with them?

One of the negative effects of excessive uses of the web and digital applications is the risk of increased depression and loneliness. As people substitute digital connections for physical ones, these negative effects are having larger and larger impacts around the world. In this assignment, you are going to learn about the context of some of these adverse effects.

• Listen to the first 22 ½ minutes of this podcast by entrepreneur Anil Dash, titled: We Can’t Just Log Off: Mental Health and Tech, in which he talks about both the positive and negative potential of the web.

• List one positive and one negative feature in Dash’s account.
• Positive:

• Negative:

• Do you recognize some of the elements in Dash’s account in your own life? Reflect on your own experience with the internet or a smartphone in different phases of your life: as a child, an adolescent, a university student, (and potentially even) as an adult with a job or hobby. Some themes/keywords that might help jump-start your reflections are: fascination, fun, disappointment, bullying, learning, sharing, contact at a distance, mobilizing people for an initiative, or being deceived.
• Child:
• Adolescent:
• Student:

• Adult:

• One of the experts who is interviewed by Anil Dash is Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, who is also mentioned in Assignment 4a. Dr. Aboujaoude discusses two elements that distinguish the transformation of society after the introduction of technologies such as the telephone, radio, and television, on the one hand, and after the introduction of the world wide web, on the other (6:46 - 9:04). Describe the two distinguishing features below:

• Do you agree with Dr. Aboujaoude’s opinion about the impact of social media and app use on society? What are your personal experiences with this effect? (13:43 - 16:27)

• What are Dr. Aboujaoude’s thoughts on tools or utilities that web developers create to manage their own mental health or unhealthy behaviors? (16:27 - 18:55). Would you trust such an application to check whether you need to consult or go straight to a doctor?

Source criticism is essential for both historians and journalists; the crucial difference between the two is the time frame. Journalists cover contemporary facts and events, whereas historians analyse the past (and have the advantage of hindsight). One of the biggest challenges for historians is to understand both the selection and the manipulation processes that determine which historical sources are available, retrievable, and trustworthy online. Fortunately for historians, the risk of running into a forged copy of a document is relatively low compared to the amount of flawed information journalists are confronted with on a daily basis. To be able to trust the digital, we have to combine the critical approach of both historians and journalists. In this assignment, you are going to learn about the evolution of the concept of ‘fake news’ and why we have a natural tendency to be attracted to features of fake news.

‘Fake news’ has been a much debated topic in the last four years, especially in relation to the US presidency of Donald Trump and his distrust of the press.

• On the website of the Centre for Information technology from the University of Santa Barbara, go to the page A Citizen’s Guide to Fake News.
• Click on the tab on the left titled, ‘A Brief History of Fake News’, and read about the fact that while the concept has a much longer history than you might think, the way in which it is now being generated has changed dramatically in recent years.
• Next, read the tab on the left titled, ‘Where Does Fake News Come From?’ where you will find information on what is specific about ‘fake news’ in comparison with flawed information that is incorrect and misleading.
• After reading these two texts, complete the table below and mark the differences between incorrect or misleading news in general and news that is created by misusing the characteristics of digital technology.

Now, read the tab titled, ‘Why We Fall for Fake News’ about the role that cognitive biases play in how our brain interprets information.

Four aspects of this bias are listed below. Reflect on how these aspects play a role in your appreciation of news.

• Hint: think of news on controversial issues. Examples might include Brexit, coronavirus, the climate crisis, the increasing numbers of refugees in Europe in recent years, the war in Syria, the news coverage of populist parties, and the news coverage of some of the largest and most influential companies in the world, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, or Apple.

• Do you tend to only read the headlines?
• Are you ever critical about a message coming from social media that is appealing to you?
• Are you able to be critical about a message that matches your worldview?
• Do you think you would be able to speak out when your peers or people in your social network believe information that has been proven to be false?

If you click on the link in the caption of the Wikipedia cognitive bias visualisation shown at the end of the ‘Why We Fall for Fake News’ tab and then click on the + to magnify the image, you will end up with this high-resolution image of the four categories of biases:

1. What Should We Remember?
2. Need To Act Fast
3. Too Much Information
4. Not Enough Meaning

In the table below, there is a list of psycho-sociological reflexes, each of which belongs in one of the four categories. Look up which category they belong in and put the matching number (1, 2, 3, or 4) after each term.

Now, choose two of the biases from each category, conduct web research, and add a short explanation (75 words max.) of their meaning in the table below

Can you think of a topic in which you have recognized one of the effects described above in your own appreciation of news or knowledge?

The democratic nature of the web is both a blessing and a curse. The ease with which information can be published and spread without the filter of an expert opens up space for diverse voices, but at the same time it creates opportunities for manipulation and intentionally misleading the public. In the previous assignment, you learned about the evolution and specific character of ‘fake news’. In this assignment, you are going to explore different strategies to check the reliability of news.

In the webpage, A Citizen’s Guide to Fake News from Assignment 5b, the suggestions for verifying news are focused on assessing the quality of fact-checking websites, in order to be able to weigh the reliability of politically-oriented news in the United States.

What is the advice they give with regard to verifying information? Hint: Look at the tab ‘Why We Fall for Fake News.’

Another way to assess the reliability of information on the web is by using the acronym CRAP (also discussed in Assignment 3a), which stands for:

• Currency
• Reliability/relevance
• Authority
• Purpose/Point of view

This acronym is said to come from the writer and journalist Ernest Hemingway, when asked what he regarded as a crucial skill to become a good journalist. It is said his answer was a good journalist needs ‘a built-in, shock proof, crap detector.’ Another famous quote with regard to the importance of distinguishing truth from lies is also attributed to an American writer, the author Mark Twain, without any evidence to verify the claim.

Watch this short Ted Ed lecture from Noah Tavlin which starts off with Twain’s quote and explains a recurrent feature in coverage of news called ‘circular reporting.’

List one of the examples given in the video that relates to English-speaking countries:

Doing your own web research, try to find a similar example in a different language (Fr, Ger, Sp, It, Nl, Dan, etc.):

We are now going to apply the CRAP principle to a number of web resources. Go to the website of the university Sewanee in Tennessee and open this guideline to CRAP. Try to answer the four key questions of two web resources (listed below) in two languages that you speak. You can also try out languages that you do not speak by using Google translate or another translation tool.

French

• Covid-19: la Chine sur la sellette, France 24, 25 Mai 2020 https://www.france24.com/fr/asie-pacifique/20200525-covid-19-la-chine-sur-la-sellette
• Nord Presse
• Les spécialités de la cuisine française, Espace français https://www.espacefrancais.com/specialites-cuisine-francaise-1/

English

• No More Fake News - archivierte Website
• Real News Right Now
• One Nation
• Global Research
• Living Presence

German

• Der Postillon
• Junge Freiheit
• Selbstheilung Online
• Spick

Italian

• “Fonti storiche: come si classificano”. Studenti. 2023 https://www.studenti.it/classificazione-fonti-storiche.html
• Lercio
• David Puente. “Coronavirus, audio di un italiano bloccato in Cina: teorie di complotto e cattiva informazione”. Open. 2020 https://www.open.online/2020/01/30/audio-di-un-italiano-bloccato-in-cina-teorie-di-complotto-e-cattiva-informazione/
• La Fucina - archivierte Website

Dutch

• “Category: Digitale Kunst”. Neoavantgarde. https://neoavantgarde.de/digitale-kunst/
• Dumpert
• “Standpunten”. Forum voor Democratie. https://www.fvd.nl/standpunten

Spanish

• “Anuncio de Navidad Campofrío 2019: ‘Fake me’”. Vozpopuli. 2019 https://www.vozpopuli.com/espana/anuncio-navidad-campofrio-2019-fake-me_0_1310269475.html
• “¿Estás buscando un espacio de psicología online?”. Expat Psi. https://expatpsi.com/psicologa-para-expatriados/
• Mosteiro de São Bento do Rio de Janeiro https://www.mosteirodesaobentorio.org.br/vida-monastica/o-que-e-vida-monastica
• Repositorio institucional. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México. http://ri.uaemex.mx/handle/20.500.11799/104743

Danish

• Denmark.dk
• The Local
• Frederiksbergmuseerne
• Stjarnhealing