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United States Education Government Social Networks

The US Department of Homeland Security Urges 'Digital Literacy' (cnn.com) 56

In the war against misinformation and social media-inspired violence, ultimately the social media platforms are just one front. But what about the people consuming misinformation? In June America's National Security Council unveiled a "National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism," which argued that "pursuing the goal of preventing, disrupting, and deterring acts of domestic terrorism... can mean, broader still, cultivating the type of digital literacy that can empower the American public to resist those who would use online communications platforms and other venues to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize to violence."

This week America's Department of Homeland Security warned the country still faces "a diverse and challenging threat environment" including the possibility of violence "by individuals and small groups...including domestic violent extremists and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences.....These actors continue to exploit online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity." (Though they add that the agency "is not aware of an imminent and credible threat to a specific location...")

But besides offering links to mental health resources and info on law enforcement tip lines, the agency also suggests Americans "Maintain digital media literacy to recognize and build resilience to false and harmful narratives" — linking to an online publication about "Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Online."

Here's our look at the documents they're making available — and the language that they're using to convey the threat.
The two-page PDF file includes this checklist with "Key steps for digital media literacy," which boils down to:

- Consider the source, triple-check the source, and identify the author
- Inspect the URL, examine spelling and punctuation
- Seek alternative viewpoints
- Think before you share

It warns that misinformation (and intentional disinformation) "can undermine public confidence in our system of government and its institutions. However, communities and individuals can equip themselves with effective tools, knowledge, and resources that do not impede the free flow of reliable information — a cornerstone of a healthy and functioning society. Every individual plays an important role in recognizing and building resilience to false and harmful narratives."

To help, the document ends with a list of online resources from various government agencies, including a "Social Media Toolkit" from America's Centers for Disease Control and a Department of Education document titled "Teaching Skills that Matter: Digital Literacy". There's also a document for state and local officials called COVID-19 Disinformation Toolkit: "We're in This Together. Disinformation Stops With You."

But what's really fascinating is that among the links are something called "Resilience Series graphic novels" — presumably aimed at young learners. And they were created by the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA):

"CISA's Resilience Series...communicates the dangers and risks associated with dis- and misinformation through fictional stories that are inspired by real-world events... The Resilience Series highlights the importance of evaluating information sources to help individuals understand the risks from foreign influence operations on our society and democracy."

In the series' second graphic novel, the protagonist uses their "wits and journalism skills to uncover a disinformation campaign set to damage Fifth Generation (5G) critical communications infrastructure in the United States."

I've wondered if our schools would have to start teaching "digital media literacy". But if they do, apparently educational materials have already been made available.
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The US Department of Homeland Security Urges 'Digital Literacy'

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  • It's clear that the DHS doesn't want any more of the "wrong" kinds of leaders in their midst. Still, even knowing their agenda here. I can't disagree with everyone being encouraged to trace the provenance of the crap they encounter on the world wide web or within print media. Perhaps once folks learn how to think critically, large conglomerates will stop censoring so-called extreme viewpoints in favour of preserving speech, no matter how stupid it may be.

    Let's all do our bit to make nimping acceptable a
    • by Anonymous Coward
      Yep, Putin is definitely 200% behind this. On his "off nights," he is actually in control of KGB Cyber Command. Fueled by White Russians Putin Style (coffee with vodka in lieu of creamer), he loudly hacks at a mechanical keyboard in a filthy, old Stalingrad decommissioned munitions factory in the late hours of the night. He stops to ponder for a minute--that Corsair backlit Soviet Control Panel of all those Cyrillic letters flashing from red to white to pink to blue to orange in some homosexual European fas
  • As the first posts prove, digital literacy has no correlation with the willingness to believe nonsense on the internet. People believe whatever reinforces their own prejudices.
    • Re:Will it help (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @12:56PM (#61987389) Homepage Journal

      Many people don't like critical thinking. I have met such people. They have already decided what is and isn't true, and they outright hate anything that gives them good reason to question those decisions. I encountered this a lot when I was in philosophy class studying formal logic. Some were religious people who started getting really resistant when they realized that the logical fallacies we were learning about were, in fact, used very prominently in their religious teachings to reinforce belief. Even though the teacher never once brought up the topic of religion and never once used religious-related examples to demonstrate the logical fallacies (everything was very deliberately kept mundane and safely neutral), the more these students made the connections the angrier and more defensive they got, until they just dropped the class.

      I don't think you can force an education on people who don't want it. They LIKE their biases, and the mental shenanigans they pull to confirm those biases. The misinformation evokes a sense of superiority, or security, or petty joy in them, and they do NOT want to give that up. So when you give them the education they need to see through the bullshit for themselves, they resist and just add anti-intellectualism to their list of cognitive dysfunctions.

      That's what I have observed anyway. I would be happy to be proven wrong about this. Maybe the number of people who are like this is much smaller than it seems, and educational campaigns would help. That just doesn't seem likely.

  • by BardBollocks ( 1231500 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @12:29PM (#61987303)

    You can't pretend to support digital literacy while you are simultaneously making reading 100% accurate historical documentation that deals with the activities of various entities who have been manipulating the populace for decades verboten.

    If anything has been revealed in recent times, it's that organisations like the department of homeland security live in a bubble, where Whistleblowers, Journalists, Lawyers and Activists are 'hostile intelligence operatives' because they act in the interest of the Public - and that is NOT in the interests of the influential.

    • Don't mess with the American dream. They're the good guys, bringing peace & democracy to the world while 'Muricans can have it all if only they work hard enough & anyone who's poor is just plain lazy, stupid or both.
  • Imagine a government agency saying people need to be more educated when it comes to people not believing bullshit. Now imagine Republicans getting their panties in an uproat by claiming they're being targeted.

    Think I'm lying? Check the news cycle this week. Guaranteed there will be Republicans whining how this is about shutting them down and "censoring" them. If they can go after Big Bird with a straight face, they'll go after this.

  • but that's literally a hot button political issue [washingtonpost.com], hence "digital literacy"...
  • and there is no cure other than the individual pulling their head out of their ass. No Federal mandate helps here.

    If you have 9 out of 10 scientists saying something is true (let's just say "climate change"). The rational mind will look at the evidence, see there is a consensus, and find it more likely than not that something is so. With Conservatives you have a group of people who cling to old information because it affirms their antiquated views. So in the same scenario, rather than seeing the consens

  • by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @01:58PM (#61987633)
    ...to research & disprove misinformation & disinformation is many times greater than the time it takes to make it up & spread it around. It's not a fair contest.
  • https://arstechnica.com/tech-p... [arstechnica.com]

    A US Judge saying when you "pinch zoom" a video on a tablet, he doesn't know if it creates details not present in the original video and so making it a pain for the prosecutor.

    Get your own house cleaned first, before you try to teach others,

    • by BranMan ( 29917 )

      That is not really something you can dismiss out of hand. So not a good example for making fun of someone elses ignorance.

      Granted "creating details not in the original" is not happening, BUT every video codex is a lossy compression and rendering them is a lossy presentation. There IS the possibility that small details of the original video are present, but are being masked as "too small to matter" during a playback at a certain zoom factor, but are visible during playback at a higher zoom factor (i.e. aft

      • So if what you suggest is true, zooming in will not create details which were not present but will show details which were present in the original, but not visible without zooming in.

        So even more reason to allow (or even mandate) zooming in, so that everyone is able to see more details on what was happening.

      • The prosecution wanted to show a video of the event. They wanted to pinch to zoom in, so some details could be seen easier. In this particular case, the defense claimed that when you used pinch to zoom in, that Apple's "AI" on the iPad showed you what you wanted to see,. As if the tablet could read your mind, and manipulate the video to please you... And BTW - there is no AI involved on pinch to zoom on Apple devices. The judge's response to the prosecution - do you have any proof it doesn't? WTF?!?!?
  • 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.'
    People who have already made up their minds about something, even sans actual factual information, aren't going to be swayed by any attempts to 'educate' them, they'll immediately dismiss it all as attempts to mislead them, even if they've already been mislead.
    The people they're talking about in TFA have already bought into what they've been told by loud-speaking so-called 'strongmen' who for the most part are just telling them what they want to
    • ... feel like TOTAL FOOLS ...

      They tried that with terrorist militia groups in the 1960s: Acolytes did stop believing the A was the anti-Christ and person B was their saviour. They started believing that B was the anti-Christ and A was their saviour. The acolytes needed to be in an echo chamber that 'knew' the truth, the name of the 'demon' was irrelevant. (IE. I'm OK, they're not OK.) Americans use the word "patriot" and Christians "second coming", to similar effect.

      Blame and shame is built-in to US culture, it's why misinforma

  • "misinformation" and "disinformation" is newspeak for "things the party does not agree with".

The fancy is indeed no other than a mode of memory emancipated from the order of space and time. -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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