if you are watching something which will informyour views on the world, that’s a different issue.


I thought I would take a step back from the nuts and bolts of our Internet gadgets, and talk about what happens when we use them.


You may have heard the phrase ‘fake news’ used a lot recently. Collins diconary defines it as, “False, oen sensaonal, informaon disseminated under the guise of news reporng”.


But when we access the Internet on our connected devices, how do we know what is true and what isn’t? We naturally choose the informaon websites we agree with editorially, and aer all, that’s what people have done for many years with their choice of newspapers and journals. So what’s different?


Mulmedia is so much more compelling. You see a video and hear the commentary, and will tend not to filter what you are seeing and hearing, as much as if you were reading words. We are used to doing this because of television, but most aspects of television are regulated by Ofcom (www.ofcom.org.uk), whereas there is currently no such regulaon of the Internet. This is not so important if you are just watching entertainment, but


The trouble with the Internet is, that you don’t really know where the arcle or video came from originally, and whether the commentary is the original. With modern technology, it is so simple to download a video, add a new soundtrack and upload it as represenng something it never did originally.


There have been very many recent examples of this happening, with the resulng videos being shared with dubious intent by many other websites. Photos are even easier.


The first rule of thumb is to think twice, before believing something you have seen or read on the Internet. There are a number of technical ways in which to check the veracity of images and videos; somemes a simple Google image search is enough. But mostly we don’t have the me or inclinaon.


There are authority websites, which we might reasonably expect to be truthful, run by naonally or internaonally recognised news organisaons, and we would expect them to be factually correct. Trouble is, they have to keep up the stream of new material to get visitors coming back, and are somemes duped themselves.


For a handy info graphic, Google, ‘How to spot fake news,’ and visit the IFLA website (www.ifla.org ).


Paul Wood Please menon The Village Voice when responding to adverts 53


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