Comments on: Cloaked MLK Website Draws Millions This Time of Year

By: The Internet Angle: Cyber Racism and Domestic Terrorism | racismreview.com

The Internet Angle: Cyber Racism and Domestic Terrorism | racismreview.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:54:19 +0000

[...] in order to fool the unsuspecting web user about their purpose. As I’ve written about here before and in the book, the cloaked sites draw millions of readers each [...]

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: racismreview.com » Blog Archive » Racism Online in the Obama Era

racismreview.com » Blog Archive » Racism Online in the Obama Era — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:57:32 +0000

[...] the presence of racism and white supremacy online in the Obama era. I’ve referred to this here and elsewhere as cyber [...]

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:29:20 +0000

Wow, this is just disturbing:

So, for example, one of the respondents in my study said that she wouldn’t trust the legitimate King Center site because it was “created by his widow, so you know, it might be biased.”

You’re absolutely right about the critical thinking skills necessary for evaluating the biases in these sites… something our educational settings, sadly, are lacking for so many young people.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Jessie

Jessie — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:50:14 +0000

Thanks Lou, Danielle for comments, glad you liked the post. Lou, In interviews (and in my classes), none of the young people I spoke with understood how Google (or other search engines) work, but instead, has some vague notion that people at Google HQ were in an office evaluating the sites, rank ordering them as each request came in, and then sending them out on the web. So, they have an implicit trust in the sites that appear on the front page, near the top, like this MLK site. And, as one respondent said, “I, like, never go past the first page of results.” Good to know. Danielle, that sounds like a great idea for a blog ~ you should do it! I don’t address anything like that in the book, but that sounds like a rich source of data. I’m sure that UT has a fabulous Internet literacy program (it being my alma mater and all), the problem with most of these types of program is that they stress a skills-based approach rather than a critical-thinking approach. In a skills-based approach, “evaluate the URL,” is one of the key skills. Unfortunately, this only makes the cloaked MLK site seem more legitimate, rather than less. The other thing that the skills-based approaches tend to do is stress “looking for bias” without acknowledging that “bias,” or point of view, is often precisely what makes a site worthwhile. So, for example, one of the respondents in my study said that she wouldn’t trust the legitimate King Center site because it was “created by his widow, so you know, it might be biased.” So, just teaching skills-based Internet literacy doesn’t adequately equip young people to be able to decipher these hidden political agendas.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:42:17 +0000

Jessie–thank you for sharing. I know that some libraries (I know ours at UT Austin) has a literacy program for determining the content, etc. of sites. I wish more elementary, middle, and high schools had similar programs to help students do this.

Also, I’ve wanted to start a blog called “My Racist Uncle” to illustrate how much literal GARBAGE there is distributed over email. Particularly with this past election, I cannot tell you how many disturbingly racist rants, images, etc. my partner and I received from family members.

Do you cover this in your book? Very excited to see it in print!

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Lou

Lou — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:31:21 +0000

Hi Jessie, I want to agree with Julie that this is a great post and I look forward to reading more in your book. There is extreme importance in sharing this type of information with my students. All too often they simply go to one of the first sites listed for information and there an numerous opportunities for unknowing students and others to fall victim to these cloaked sites.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Jessie

Jessie — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:41:06 +0000

Hiya Julie, Victor ~ (V. see the post on top this morning in response to your query). Julie, thanks for your kind words about the post. I think that, increasingly, there are lots of people in higher education taking new media literacy seriously. For example, the link I included in the post above is from someone at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Howard Rheingold recently pointed to social media literacy as one of the key trends in 2009. So, that idea is out there. The thing that most all of these leading thinkers miss, however, is the importance of what we might call a racial literacy to go along with the new media literacy. That’s the crucial bit for being able to accurately parse the cloaked sites from the legitimate ones. In my interviews (and in the classroom), when I ask young people to make sense of the cloaked sites, the young people with some awareness of racial politics are a step ahead in being able to do this successfully, regardless of their new media skills. So, just knowing who David Duke is, and that he’s a white supremacist, helps students recognize the cloaked MLK site for what it is. And, once young people are aware that cloaked sites exist, they’re much more quickly able to suss them out. What’s crucial is having both kinds of critical ability – new media and racial literacy.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Victor

Victor — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:07:48 +0000

I am surprised this cite hasn’t said anything about the Oscar Grant shooting yet. Here is the video, info., and a way to get involved.

http://www.racewire.org/archives/2009/01/5_things_you_can_do_right_now_1.html#comments

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:47:24 +0000

wow! really interesting and a great post. thanks for bringing this phenomenon to our attention. what are your thoughts about how we might encourage folks (e.g., high school and college administrators) to take new media literacy seriously?

Like or Dislike: 0 0