When we spoke about the fact check credential in class I was slightly worried that it would be hard to pass, and I would have to write a reflection on how I was one of the few that failed the test. Thankfully (and surprisingly), I passed with flying colours as I was able to apply everything I’ve learned in previous studios and work to the test. I also found that the modules were both very informative and clear about what each component was.

While I found the majority of the test easy to pass, the one module I got stuck on was the ‘Original Sources’ module. I kept selecting the options that stated that statistics listed on another form of media (like a newspaper) as an original source. I’ve now learned that an original source must be the statistics in their original form, or an even closer source like an eye witness.

Another module that stuck out to me was the image-verification module. I noticed that whenever I was presented with a new image, my immediate assumption of whether it was false or factual was correct. However, the longer I looked the more unsure I became. I was able to confirm whether or not they were real by right-clicking and doing an image search on google, for all but one. There was one image of a prime minister dancing with a girl that I was certain was false, as it just looked photoshopped- but once I did an image search nothing came up. I then selected ‘true’, but it turns out my instincts were correct. This has taught me that I should use my instincts, but still spend more time with each image to verify their validity 100%.

I really liked the information that the course modules provided, as I was able to learn a lot of facts that I previously did not know. For example, I was shocked to learn that 63% of people can’t tell good journalism from falsehoods, and 59% of people say it is hard to identify trustworthy news sources. It really hit home just home important fact-checking is in this day and age.