Return to Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking: Being a Gatekeeper

There was a time that media and journalism seemed objective and factual. The 1950s brought a time of media growth when television became more readily accessible. TV was in black and white. There was three channel reception in the Boston area: 4, 5 and 7. Typical TV episodes consisted of Howdy Doody, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, I Love Lucy and Lassie. In light of today’s fast media, that was a time of innocence. Ads were fairly benign, tugging mostly at the consumer’s purse strings but in mild ways. Soap operas actually began as daytime shows for ways to market and sell soap.

A review of the history of media from the 1950s to our current interactive world of social media with multiple channels necessitates a need for keen discernment and critical thinking. The channel lineup today has hundreds of channels to choose from, available 24/7. In a world of rapid change, new media not only reports the news, but also creates it. Social networking, also known as the Read/Write web, has grown the web exponentially, with sites such as Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. The principal argument of this essay and the key take-away from this course is that it is vital for each individual to be his or her own gatekeeper, assessing and evaluating media for bias and truth. 

Being one’s own gatekeeper requires keen critical thinking. Professor Brad Dowden from University of California, Sacramento, defines, “Critical thinking is the ability to engage in reasoned discourse with intellectual standards such as clarity, accuracy, precision, and logic, and to use analytic skills with a fundamental value orientation that emphasizes intellectual humility, intellectual integrity, and fair-mindedness” (Dowden, 2002).

Critical Thinking in Process: Changes in Media Use
Today’s NPR program, On the Media, featured a 7-minute segment with Clay Shirky. It’s Raining Men highlighted the gender imbalance between men and women as commentators and contributors to the media. The focus was a “Rant about Women” that Shirky posted on his BLOG this past January, to highlight the success differential between the genders graduating from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. Shirky stated that men have an easy time aggrandizing their achievements; women, on the other hand, do not. Women often focus on what others think, seeking approval rather than success.



Shirky wrote, “Women… are bad at behaving like self-promoting narcissists, anti-social obsessives, or pompous blowhards, even a little bit, even temporarily, even when it would be in their best interests to do so. Whatever bad things you can say about those behaviors, you can’t say they are underrepresented among people who have changed the world” (Shirky, 2010).

Reflecting on this conversation brings cause to think more critically. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a watchdog group that criticizes media bias, reports about the study on gender imbalance.  FAIR author, Peter Hart writes, “The upshot is that NPR says it's trying hard to make improvements in this area, and they'll try even harder. But given the fact that 11 of the top 12 commentators on NPR are men, and that the only woman is Cokie Roberts, it looks like they're not trying hard enough (Hart, 2010, para. 7).” It seems in addressing this report in On the Media is an attempt to try harder. Finding the original source expanded and gave more detailed data.

On NPR’s BLOG, Alicia Shepard states, “the goal is to identify and audition new, diverse voices and widen perspectives in stories. Klinger is focusing on new sources in politics, arts and national security….The question [Klinger] is asking right now: Who's missing from our coverage of these topics as experts, analysts, commentator or sources of stories?" Shepard goes on to quote, "Unconscious bias flows through our lives in many different ways, and it is not an easy task to disentangle all strands," said Shankar Vedantam, author of The Hidden Brain, a book about unconscious bias (Shepard, 2010).



Additional research found information about the registration of the FAIR website through www.easywhois.com, the founder of FAIR, Jeff Cohen, the organization in relationship to other watchdog organizations such as Accuracy in Media (AIM), and then again, many commentaries about each of these. This long journey makes clear the biases in the media and in the researcher. In the end, it is up to each individual to weigh and assess the validity of the information. What is fair-minded and intellectually valid? That women have a hard time aggrandizing their achievements and entering the ring, as discussed by Clay Shirky, proved accurate, but only after a thorough investigation looking at reports and commentaries.

There was a time that it was easy to believe something because it was on the news, or came from an “expert” – parents, professors, or clergy. In these media saturated channels, it becomes imperative to engage in critical thinking and view things from a discerning perspective. The example above illustrates a critical thinking process. Each individual must become his or her own gatekeeper. One must apply critical thinking to one’s experience in the use of media.

And in Conclusion...
Richard Paul, founder of The Critical Thinking Community, poses the question, “What kind of thinker are you?” He states, “You are what you think. Whatever you are doing, whatever you feel, whatever you want—all are determined by the quality of your thinking” (Paul, n.d.).

There is a compelling scene in a David Bowie film, The Man Who Fell to Earth. It is a science fiction story, released in 1976, chronicling the journey of an alien who falls to earth with a mission to ship water to his home planet suffering from draught. Newton, the alien character, at one point in the film, fixates on a high tech room filled with many TV monitors. He simultaneously watches all the channels of media, each playing a different show. It is as if he is trying to grasp and understand this world through the media.

The past several weeks exploring urban legends, bias on the web, marketing and the psychology of the consumer, and social media, social networking has sometimes felt much like that. I have explored this question of my own thinking during this course. Learning, internalizing and applying critical thinking principles has opened a new perspective. 

According to XPLANE, The visual thinking company, we have access to 1,000,000,000,000 webpages, 65,000 iPhone apps, 10,500 radio stations, 5,500 magazines, and 200+ cable tv stations (see video below). Continued awareness and discernment, realizing the biases present in this sheer volume of media as well as my own biases, will help to inform ongoing research and scholarly development during this Media Psychology program. As with any skill, practice will help mature and develop the ability to think and analyze critically.



This is a beginning, one that promises to be both challenging and fulfilling. The definition that I wrote of critical thinking at the beginning of this class hold true for me as I continue to learn how to apply these principals.

Critical thinking is the ability to apply logic, open-mindedness, rigor, and logical principles, to analyze and discuss topics, claims, situations, and issues in a clear and precise manner, citing supportive evidence.” ~Catherine Seo

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References
Dowden, B. (2002). The definition of “critical thinking.” Retrieved from http://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dowdenb/4/ct-def/def-of-ct.htm

Goodman, W. (1990). TV VIEW; Let's be frank about fairness and accuracy. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/17/arts/tv-view-let-s-be-frank-about-fairness-and-accuracy.html

Hart, P. (2010). NPR studies NPR's gender balance. Retrieved from http://www.fair.org/blog/2010/04/05/npr-studies-nprs-gender-balance

Paul, R. (n.d.). Professional and personal development. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/starting/business.cfm

Shepard, A. (2010). Where are the women? Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2010/04/where_are_the_women.html

Shirky, C. (2010). A rant about women. Retrieved from http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/01/a-rant-about-women/

Vedantam, S. (2010). The hidden brain: How our unconscious minds elect presidents, control markets, wage wars, and save our lives. New York, NY: Spiegel & Grau, Random House Publishing Group.

Social Media

Social Media - A Cultural Revolution

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” ~Thomas J. Watson Sr., IBM Chairman, 1943

Social media is ubiquitous. Technology, the Internet and the rapid rise of social networking/media have impacted how we communicate, work together, share information, and even live our day-to-day lives. We are in the midst of a cultural and social “revolution” facilitated by the use of these social media technologies. I believe that this revolution is nothing less than a fundamental development in the phenomenon of self-expression, human bonding and group action.  In this piece, I explore the ways in which social networking creates a unique platform for communication, conversation, connection and collective action. 

My own experience reflects this phenomenon with the use of Facebook, twitter, linkedin and other social networking sites. I have been delighted to reconnect with old friends who I had lost contact with but remember fondly. One such connection, Larry, a friend from college days in the late 1960s, who now lives in LA, reconnected with me through Facebook over a year ago. We have caught up on our lives through postings; recently Larry visited with me while on a brief trip to Boston. We then had another visit when I was in CA in March for NSO. We’ve had an opportunity to catch up, support one another, and find commonalties in our current life situations. I don’t believe that could have happened without the social media tools. 

Social Media Revolution

I begin all of the technology classes that I teach with the Watson quote above. In 1943, the world was a very different place than it is today, in 2010. Social Media is creating a revolution in mostly every aspect of life. And we are just at the beginning of its evolution.

In Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, Erik Qualman explores the ways that social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are fundamentally changing the way businesses and consumers behave, connecting hundreds of millions of people to each other via instant communication. This is a massive socio-economic shift that is changing the way consumers and companies communicate and interact with each other (Qualman, 2009). Indeed, Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter and other social networking sites have changed our boundaries of time and distance. 

The video below is based on Qualman's book, posted on YouTube July 30, 2009 and as of April 11, 2010, only 8 and 1/2 months has had 1,746,220 views. 

Bonding and Self-Expression

I believe this revolution in social media is based on a fundamental human instinct that has driven social interaction throughout our evolution, the need for connection, for bonding. In Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices, Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria state, “…humans, all humans, share an innate drive to bond…this drive is a primary one.” They go on to argue, “Humans have an innate drive to form social relationships and develop mutual caring commitments with other humans (Lawrence & Nohria, 2002).” Humans also have a distinct and innate drive towards individuation and self-expression. Social media provides a new platform for both of these drives to take different forms. 

Rungs on the Ladder

According to Clay Shirky, and I believe based on the instincts we share for connection and self-expression, we humans are great at forming groups. In his talk at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and in acclaimed book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, Shirky describes 4 rungs on the ladder of social interaction specific to the Internet and the social media platform.

SHARING

Jack is interested in nature. He finds lots of websites on the web that he bookmarks on delicious.com, the social bookmarking site. He can post pictures on flickr.com, the picture-sharing site. He can invite friends, share with them what he has discovered. His friends do the same. Their collective knowledge expands. Sharing has become a platform for coordination rather than the other way around.

CONVERSATION

Conversations on the web allows for the forming and building of “Communities of Practice” that support one another, especially around common interests. Shirky shares an example of learning High Dynamic Range photography through picture sharing and conversation posting on flickr.com. It could take years to learn how to do this, but the postings, examples and conversation allowed for a 3-month learning curve.

COLLABORATION

A small group who shared a love for animae – Japanese animation gathered together online and built a website for collaboration. They began creating their own version available in English. They organically formed into a community to develop a sophisticated and content rich website - all for free. From their website: “The Aegisub Project is a community-driven effort to write the BSDL licensed cross-platform subtitle editor Aegisub. Composed completely of volunteers passionate about subtitling, as a project it strives to be open, fair and most of all: free.” Wikipedia is also a great example of collaborative engagement in collectively writing the world’s largest encyclopedia.

COLLECTIVE ACTION

Collective action is a groups' cooperative effort directed to a specific outcome. It is much more difficult to achieve. A good example: In January 1999, a Northwest flight was stuck on the tarmac for 7.5 hours. A class action suit is brought and Northwest eventually settles out of court in order to avoiding passenger’s obtaining legal rights in court. A similar thing happened on American Airlines in 2007, the plane was 8 hours on the tarmac. This incident resulted in legislation and a passenger’s bill of rights for the state of NY. One person on the plane, Kate Hanni, took a stand and published on the web about what happened. She googled for articles about the flight. She comments on all of them, in detail. At the end of each comment, she asked others on the flight to contact her. She coordinated a group effort and establishes a website: Coalition for an Airline Passenger’s Bill of Rights. Tens of thousands of people link and sign a petition. She used the media to get results, to initiate change coordinating the support of many. Shirky summarizes by saying “Publishing is for acting, when you get people together all of who have the same information, you synchronize them to do something together.”

The first three: sharing, conversation and collaboration require more synchronization of the individual with the group. Collective action is more difficult to get going and maintain.

Generations: Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

Another key factor in this cultural revolution is the younger generations’ ease of use with technology. Morley Winograd and Michael Hais discuss the impact of Millenials, those born since 1982. This generation is also referred to as Digital Natives, they have only known a digital world, one with computers, mobile devices, email, instant messaging, a world where connection is multiple and instant. While Winograd and Hais discuss the political implications, how the Millenials participation impacted the Presidential campaign of 2008 and the election of Barack Obama, there are additional aspects that I find very interesting.

I have been curious about how Millenials, Digital Natives, bond and connect and if there is a generational difference. When my old college friend Larry and I met face-to-face after a time of reconnecting on Facebook, a young friend of mine was surprised. Meeting up would not be what she would do. Our meeting meeting face-to-face seemed like a natural next step, at least for us from the baby boomer generation. We prefered face-to-face while the millenial generation, one of digital natives, would more readily opt for continued online conversation according to my young friend. Is this tendency an indication of the digital gap between the generations? How is this being considered in the digital revolution?

Baby boomers did not grow up in a digital world. Rather we process differently. What makes social media so ubiquitous is that the tools are simple, easy to use. CommonCraft’s series of tutorials allow for understanding the ways that social networking can be used. These tools make it possible for the largest growing demographic on Facebook to be women, 55+. "The number of US women over age 55 using Facebook grew by 175.3% since September 2008, making mature females one of the fastest growing demographic groups on the social network, according to usage statistics released by independent blog Inside Facebook." Baby boomers, finding ways to express and connect online, are joining the digital revolution and beginning to have significant impact.

Evolving Revolution

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, stated “I think the Internet is still on Day One…If you look at it in terns of the development of the first aeroplane, we haven’t had the CD-10 yet, still less the jet engine… You can’t predict some of the really big changes. Who would have said that the development of the automobile would have led to suburbia?” (The Independent, 2002)

As I sit here and reflect on my learnings over the past several weeks, and how far I've come in such a short time, I imagine where this evolution will take me over the next several years. There is a discovery process I feel we are in the midst of and that this emerging cultural revolution will take us in directions we can’t even imagine but only hint at. I’m ready for the journey.

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References

Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons. 

Shirky, C. (2008). Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.

Smith, J. (2009, February 2). Fastest growing demographic on Facebook: Women over 55. Retrieved from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/02/fastest-growing-demographic-on-facebook-women-over-55/

Consumer Psychology

“…the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.” ~ Peter Drucker

Introduction
Markets have influenced our acquiring/buying habits from the earliest days of our evolution, perhaps as early as bartering systems in pre-historic times. One tribe had an excess catch from hunting; another tribe had an excess of hides from last season's catch and the market is born. The exchange of goods is motivated by need and its reptilian drive, "survival of the fittest”. 



Fast forward to today’s modern marketing. As the science of marketing has developed, several concepts have gained wide-spread application. The primary focus today is that fully understanding and tapping into the consumer’s motivation, which can be deeply subconscious, results in brand loyalty in purchasing products and services. An example is Clotaire Rapaille’s approach that to understand the “collective unconscious" and thereby articulate the "code" opens the way to desired marketing success.

The foundation of marketing science is based on market research strategy, to know the customer and to fill needs that need filling. Understanding the customer can produce high-quality products, such as Apple has done. On the other hand, some marketing approaches have turned into manipulative endeavors to sculpt the customer to believe they need what’s being sold. This form of marketing is distorted and disturbing. This BLOG post reviews the history and development of marketing as a science, then explores the power of modern customer-centric marketing updated for the digital age, and then looks at the downside of manipulative marketing.

Background - Development of Marketing as a Science
Early development of marketing as a science included Louis Cheskin and Neil Borden. Cheskin contributed the “customer-centric" approach, rather than the top down approach that had been previously popular. The earlier approach to marketing was top-down, where a company would create a new product with the assumption that it would sell. A customer-centric approach is based on consumer feedback, often through customer focus groups and observation. This approach defines the needs of the customer thereby providing products and services that meet those needs. For example, through customer research, Cheskin helped engineer the success of margarine by changing it's color from white to yellow, and advertising it's similarity to butter (Cheskin, 1959).



Borden, in his seminal article, “The Concept of the Marketing Mix,” named the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion (Borden, 1964). The evolution of technology has brought with it increasing speed as well as additional Ps: People and Performance. We have moved from a top down approach, where the consumer was thought to be one amongst many and easily influenced, to a customer centric approach, where individuality, instinctual desires and inner drives have become the focus of marketers.

Purpose of Marketing
I believe there is a true purpose to the original intent of marketing. Discovering human needs and providing the products or services that support those needs is the most effective formula for exchange in the marketplace.

In Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences, the authors state, “We envision a time when customers increasingly make their purchase decisions based on deeply valued meanings that companies evoke for them through their products and services - in other words, meaningful consumption - as opposed to simply responding based on features, price, brand identity, and emotional pitches” (Diller, Shedroff, & Rhea, 2008, p. 1).

For example, Apple captured the MP3 market with the iPod and iTunes. The iPod became an emotionally constructed appendage that represents much more than just a music device. It has become a cultural icon that people purchase not only for usefulness but also for a sense of belonging, an image of appearing “cool,” and much like a stylistic piece of jewelry, it comes in hip colors and unique styles. 

The Evolution of Marketing Research
Concept Engineering, a market research approach developed by Gary Burchill at MIT, uses an ethnological immersion process called “Voice of the Customer.” Key people on a new product team visit customers, interviewing and observing them in order to discern what the true need is. They are especially trying to discover “latent needs,” needs or wants that the customer has but is not consciously aware of. They then target their new product or service to fill that need or want. This process of listening to the customer allows the new product developers to make meaning of the consumer’s direct experience. Innovation and customer satisfaction can follow (Burchill & Brodie, 1997).

Apple - A Case Example

Apple is a great example of the power of understanding customer needs and providing products and services to fill those needs. Apple has become a cultural icon for our technological era and this digital age. As I wrote in this week’s forum post, Steve Jobs announced Apple’s newest, latest, greatest and COOLest product this past January with global fan-fare: the iPad.

In typical Apple marketing fashion, Apple required customers to wait several months for the iPad’s release. During this time Apple launched a marketing blitz, including an iPad frenzy on Twitter. iTunes has just launched an update for interfacing with the iPad, just in time for the iPad’s release. There was a Netflix app available for the new iPad even before the iPad’s release. Many people tweeted that they were downloading it in preparation for getting their iPad. There were 240,000 pre-orders awaiting the iPad.



Apple has found the “code” for “cool,” at least for this digital generation. Apple is a cultural phenomenon, as the MacHead photo illustrates - "the cult of mac.” There are many who are fervently dedicated. The iPod is jewelry in addition to music, an emotional as well as pragmatic piece of “cool,” coming in different colors and styles to match each person’s individual uniqueness. Apple understands its customers and has successfully tapped into their latent needs, capturing the market by storm.

Daniel and I picked up our iPads on Saturday, documenting and interviewing folks in line. On the whole, the Saturday crowd are early adopters who do respond to Apple's advertising. There were 2 mechanical engineers and another student, among many others. The wait was short. The Mac Genius who waited on us was knowledgeable and responsive. We left with our questions answered, our iPads and leather cases in hand, and BIG SMILES.



The picture below shows four generations of Apple users: Stephanie, her Mom, her Grandmom, and her son. This was a family adventure for them. Their smiles and excitement might indicate a bit about their psychology. They said they considered this a bonding experience as they upgraded their technology together and supported one another. They were really enjoying playing with their "new toys." 

Apple sold 300,000 iPads on Saturday according to reported figures. This first rush of purchases is the "early adopters" phase. Apple’s next marketing target is to reach more of the general population.

Downside of Manipulative Marketing
There is a downside to current day marketing. The episodes we watched from Frontline highlighted the hidden and manipulative side of marketing in our digital culture. For example, the use of “product placement.” Product placement is a form of embedded marketing.  Branded goods are placed, without explicit advertising, in the storyline of movies, TV shows, or other programming. This is often not disclosed at the time the product is being featured. (Wikipedia).

Consider that the star of this week’s episode of “Modern Family” is YES: The iPad.  On the eve of the iPad’s launch – Phil Dunphy, one of the main characters in this season’s runaway hit sitcom and touted to be the best new comedy of the year, celebrates his birthday. He is all encompassed in his desire for an iPad. His wife misses the early morning rush to stand in line at the Apple store, eventually getting there only to find they are “sold-out”. Message to audience: get there early, get there or you will miss out. Eventually, Phil’s son manages to get an iPad from one of Phil’s friends through social networking. Phil gets the iPad, everyone is happy, all is right with the world.

Advertising Age reports that this was just a very clever storyline; using Apple is like using a cultural icon, and not product placement. How it’s perceived is another thing though. Advertising Age states, “Even without Apple plunking down any cash, last night's episode was tantamount to a huge wet kiss of approval for a product that has yet to be tested by actual consumer use (Steinberg, 2010).”

Whether it was product placement or not, it caused significant stirrings and fans perceived it as such reporting being furious. A typical post on IBDb forums stated, “Tuned in for comedy, sat through a 30 min iPad commercial (Bershad, 2010).” Consumers are becoming increasingly aware and critical of manipulative marketing, either actual or perceived.

Marketing’s Message: CONSUME
The message most marketing is driving home to the consumer is MORE IS BETTER. While this is a fallacy, the marketer’s job is to create more and more desire linking satisfaction or fulfillment to their product or service, to continuously consume.

In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, Barry Schwartz explores the world of excess and its impact on our daily lives. In a local supermarket, he found over 30,000 grocery items available, including 285 varieties of cookies. He concluded that having too many choices is bewildering, erodes our psychological well-being, and becomes restrictive rather than freeing (Schwartz, 2005).

So, in fact, this culture of consumerism is in a crisis of sorts. Product and service images come rushing towards us from every channel of media available, print, web, movies, tv, mail, email, and others. The message is clear and in many ways enticing. BUY! This onslaught has effected us and our culture. We have become a nation of consumers.

"If I were dictator of my own small island, it’s not capitalism that I would get rid of, it’s marketing. That ever-present force telling us we should be more beautiful, happier, drunker, skinnier, hipper, and whatever else it takes more money to attain." ~ David “Oso” Sasaki

The Future of Consumerism

Internet marketing continues to develop forums for making the strong voice of consumers heard. Dee Dee Gordon, founder of Look-Look, an online trend tracker, focuses on the younger demographic, those 14 - 30. She is a key contributor to product development. She provides the voice for this younger digital generation by gathering data about their needs, wants, habits, and lifestyles, listening to them and describing their world.

Marketing will continue to be a major influence on our decisions. The more we understand our own motivations as well as the marketing techniques used by professionals, the more discerning we will become.


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References
Borden, N.H. (1964). The concept of the marketing mix. Journal of Advertising Research. 4(2), 7-12.

Bershad, J. (2010, April 02). iPad product placement on Modern Family, actually wasn’t, still irked fans. Retrieved from http://www.mediaite.com/online/ipad-product-placement-on-modern-family-actually-wasnt-still-angered-fans/

Burchill, G. & Brodie, C.H. (1997). Voices into choices: Acting on the voice of the customer. Madison, WI : Joiner Publication.

Cheskin, L. (1959). Why people buy: Motivation research and its successful application. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Diller, S., Shedroff, N., & Rhea, D. (2008). Making meaning: How successful businesses deliver meaningful customer experiences. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit, New Riders Press.

Schwartz, B. (2007). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishing. 

Steinberg, B. (2010, April 01). ‘Modern family' featured an ipad, but ABC didn't collect. Advertising Age, Retrieved from http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=143105

Web Bias

Understanding the Nature of Bias and Authenticity on the Web

"I want the news delivered unbiased. I thought that was the whole point with journalism." ~Aaron McGruder

Wikipedia reports that as of 28 March 2010 there are approximately 3,235,437 articles in the English Wikipedia, built collaboratively by over 11 million contributors since it's beginnings in 2001.  To consider that this is only one source available on the world wide web gives a sense of enormous numbers, the internet becomes a staggering resource for information. With such information easily accessible to anyone with an online connection, for the content to be useful, it's critical to analyze how to best ascertain reliable information.

Definitions
It's helpful to begin with clarity of meaning

BIAS: a particular tendency or inclination, esp. one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question; prejudice.

AUTHENTICITY: worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact. 

So the purpose in researching, finding material and authenticating it is to have some reasonable assurance that the information is unprejudiced, not skewed and based on fact.

Controversial Sugar Substitute
I'd like to focus on the example I began in this week's forum: ASPARTAME: the name for an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in many foods and beverages.

In 1995, a friend of a friend became diagnosed with M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis). She had been exhibiting weakness and numbness in her limbs, pain and irritation, trouble walking along with various other symptoms. The symptoms had been going on for some time with increasing severity and impairment in her daily life. It eventually came to light that she was a heavy user of sugar substitutes including aspartame. When she stopped using these substances, the symptoms eventually disappeared. Needless to say, I became aware of my own use, and have reduced it considerably, turning to Stevia which is a natural product. 

I applied and researched this topic as a focused study into fact-checking for bias and authenticity on the web. On initial google search, there are numerous and differing points of view offered, and 2,190,000 instances found. After researching and reading general history, several differing perspectives applying John Hopkins University's model for authenticating internet information my point of view has changed considerably about this substance.

I believed that much of what I knew before beginning this exercise fits in better with last weeks topic of Urban Legends. In conducting research and applying the fact-checking tools we have been using, easywhois.com, checking authorship, credibility, currency, place within the body of knowledge on the topic, I have opened my perspective.

Nill Ashley at the Harvard Law School reports the following. Aspartame is the most controversial and most consumed food additive in the U.S. "Sloppy research methods" were used and the substance approved by the FDA. "FDA's approval of aspartame for human consumption, and the agency's tenacity in holding on to its position on this matter led to a heightened level of public scrutiny of the agency as well as increasingly virulent attacks on aspartame." Ashley goes on to report the controversy and empirical data proving that in fact, there are no clear indications for it's dangerous reputation. This study helped to dispel many of the myths that I held and attributed to Aspartame and its potential dangerous side effects. (Ashley, 2000)

In Conclusion

Ashley concludes with "As the controversy surrounding aspartame has petered out in governmental forums for example, it has once again flared through scare tactics amongst consumers. The Internet provides the public with access to enormous amounts of data, but that data is oftentimes one-sided and not entirely reliable." (Ashley, 2000) This served as an eye-opening exercise in critical thinking for me. Dispelling long held beliefs by using tools and techniques to validate and truly assess information is a key skill that I will continue to improve and use on a daily basis.

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References
Ashley, N. G. (2000). The History of Aspartame. Retrieved Mar. 28, 2010, from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA. Web site: http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/244/Nill,_Ashley_-_The_History_of_Aspartame.html.

Urban Legends

Authenticity and StoryTelling

"It's all storytelling, you know. That's what journalism is all about." ~ Tom Brockaw,  Northwestern University Byline, Spring 1982

Storytelling has existed from our very earliest ancestors. Word-of-mouth or the “oral-tradition” has been the very basis of our cultural mythologies. Tribes told “stories”, myths evolved, "old wives tales" were passed down generation to generation and eventually fairy tales developed and were written down. In addition to cultural stories, family myths developed and were passed down one generation to the next, sometimes embellished. As a species, we humans keep alive our messages to one another through communicating and through story.

Cultural Norms
There is a story I often tell when teaching about cultural norms that become outdated yet continue to live on. I heard it as a story then customize it to match my family history. My version goes something like this:


BECAUSE THAT'S THE WAY IT'S ALWAYS BEEN DONE!
Every holiday, for as long as I can remember, my mother would prepare a special meal. Favored by eveyone was a wonderful ham, the recipe passed down from my grandmother and from her mother before her. Every year Mom would take the ham, cut off about 3”, cover both pieces in a combination of spices, and bake side by side. Always cooked to perfection, it was a family favorite.


One year, a friend came to share in the holiday and asked why the ham was cut into 2 pieces. My mom responded with various reasons, "it's better that way", "each piece gets more heat and is crispier", etc. but eventually came to, "that’s the way it’s always been done". My Aunt Annie, who is a bit older than my Mom, chimed in, “well, that’s the way Grandma did it." 

The answer was simple, Grandma immigrated from Italy and lived through the great depression. They only had ONE SIZE ROASTING PAN, so they had to cut the ham to fit it. Though enough years had passed, and we could all afford multiple roasting pans, everyone was still doing it the way they were taught, “because that’s the way it’s always been done.”


Family Myths and More

Whether family or cultural, stories are shared one to another representing a "truth" that has some importance. Tom Saunders explores this in his article, Family Mythology: The Final Frontier: "family mythology as stories of explanation which family systems develop as "truth" about how its members interact" (Saunders, 1992). My story above can reveal several "truths"depending on my purpose for telling the tale, one being how the system resisted change and awareness about learning to adapt. The "truth" is that the story above is a STORY - never happened in the way or with the characters detailed but is adapted and customized to serve a purpose.


There is an element of "truth" that is maleable in service of an important message. It is human nature to tell, to share, to communicate. Our earliest stories were cave images. As I was growing up it was pictured as folks around a fire, and talking over a fence. In fact, as an organizational development consultant, we referred to this tendency in organizations as "water cooler" conversations, it's the stories, rumors and undercurrent that gets shared, distorted, and then proliferates in the company, much like the old telephone game.


Myths and Urban Legends at the Speed of the Internet
The digital age, the speed of the Internet, and the ease in communicating has fueled the development of storytelling and its distortion in the form of Urban Legends. These stories and legends have a common purpose: to somehow generate an emotional hook. Many are based on fear, caution or unusual circumstances of some kind, an example of phishing that I shared on the forum is a good example.


As I explored many components about our current day Urban Legends, the definition I most resonated with from Princeton Web: a story that appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously in various forms and is usually false; contains elements of humor or horror and is popularly believed to be true. Looked at objectively, these stories tend to be unbelievable or another version is "to good to be true." Often playing upon our emotions in order to control behavior or to illicit some kind of response. A good example is the story about a "hook-hand killer" which began in the 1950s and has had many versions. It's primary purpose was to warn, caution and prevent premarital intimacy specifically in cars.





Authenticity - True or Not

So many of the urban legends that circulate the web have elements of truth. The more plausible stories have just enough detail and just enough truth to bypass our internal discernment. Cognitive dissonance allows us to overlook information that doesn't fit when enough of the story does fit. So perhaps the best way to assess is with objective and critical thinking.


Along with the "debunking" sites, snopes.com and factchecker.com, I found Shermer's Baloney Detection Kit very helpful to this end.

1. How reliable is the source of the claim?
2. Does the source make similar claims? (eg. if you are into magic (or evolution), then all your ideas have a magic (or evolution) bent)
3. Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
4. Does this fit with the way the world works?
5. Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
6. Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
7. Is the claimant playing by the rules of science
8. Is the claimant providing positive evidence? (it's too easy to just bag the other side)
9. Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?
10. Are personal beliefs driving the claim? 

Gatekeeping & concepts of self in media...

Media and Manipulation of Body Image
I have long been aware of and concerned about media's manipulation of images especially of womens' bodies. This practice has created an epidemic of eating disorders and body dysmorphia, especially in adolescent girls trying to fit the media presented norms. Recently, Filippa Hamilton, a Ralph Lauren model made news when an extreme distortion of her image appeared on the cover of fashion magazine Marie Claire.

"I was shocked to see that super skinny girl with my face," she told the Daily News. She was fired from Ralph Lauren for "being too fat." While the cover was pulled, it created a controversy reported on various news channels and blogs.

As Karen Dill explained, often the sense of self is informed by perceptions from media. Media's influence on us, our culture and our society, continues to grow more and more powerfully.

Idealization of Impossible Beauty
Research suggests that the idealization of body image via media is in increasingly serious issue.  Young girls strive to achieve this impossible beauty and thinness often debilitating into serious life-threatening eating disorders. Renee Botta in her article in Journal of Communications states, “Media images have a potentially indirect effect by forming an unrealistically thin ideal, as well as a potentially direct impact on body image disturbance.”  (1999)

There is an extreme social pressure to be thin that is exacerbated by these images in magazines and through various media channels held up as today’s image of beauty. The magazine cover shown above is visibly distorted and not even proportionately possible.

Questions about its efficacy and ethical practices are of importance to me and to the future of media. How does one discern truth from fiction or embellishment or in this case distortion? Photoshop gives advertising a very powerful tool to manipulate our visual field and perceptions of reality.


Personal Experience
I much prefer the real me...very strange to see the distortion and experience it personally - my own sense of self became distorted.
Since I have some experience with Photoshop, I experimented with the images below. I have struggled to maintain a thinner body, with the aging process fast winning out. Instead of appreciating this thinner image, my subjective experience is not pleasant but rather distorted. I have had a similar reaction to young girls who I sometimes mentor. They can be super -thin. The influence of media in this plays an increasingly visible and manipulative role.

Additional reading
Eating Disorder Recovery Center
Media/Advertising
Society pays a significant amount of attention to body image and physical attractiveness, youthfulness, sexuality, and appearance. The covers of magazines display pictures of men and women alike, whose images are offered as near perfection in society's consensus. These photographs are often additionally computer-enhanced and taken in near perfect circumstances. more...