FALLIBLE FOX

When you process content you find online, it can be valuable to consider who the author or speaker is and the social context in which the piece appears (e.g., where it was published). However, we can also sometimes end up being misled or distracted by such contextual information. In short, some contextual information is useful, some that we should put aside entirely, and a whole lot that lies somewhere in the fuzzy middle.

 

First and foremost, so that you're not wasting time, it's essential to have the tools to determine whether what you're reading, watching, or hearing is real and not intended to deceive. Part 1 will deal with this concern.

 

Once you know you're dealing with legitimate content, you want to consider whether the author’s education and credentials suggest expertise on the subject. We'll take steps into more uncertain territory, too—for instance, given an author’s affiliations and where their piece is published, is there good reason to be concerned about bias?

 

As we move through this module, it’s important to keep the state of your own knowledge and possible biases in mind (see Metacognition module). Have you, for example, heard something negative about the author or website where the work is published? Ask whether you have good reason to be believe this information to be correct and whether it's relevant to your assessment of the piece. It may already be impacting your perception of the work.

 

It's often hard to know what to do with info we have about contextual factors lying behind the works we encounter. In fact, there's a lot of variance in opinion about precisely what we should do with personal information about authors and their affiliations—for instance, various people will have different ideas about whether aspects of the authors identity, such as their gender identity or cultural background, matter to interpreting what they've written or spoken. As such, depending on your education and politics, there may be ideas here with which you disagree. Remember that it's a good idea to make sure you have good reasons for your views before dismissing what you read (see Arguments & Truth Claims module).

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Contents of this module

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This module is organized into the below sections. Click the links to navigate to each. Below this menu, you will find the People & Context Library, which contains additional resources.

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