BLOG #10: EOTO 2 What I Learned

Throughout the Each One Teach One projects, I learned a ton of new information. Not only did I learn information about my topic, False Flags, but I learned information about many of the other students' topics. A few that stood out to me were Disinformation vs Misinformation and Gatekeeping.

Misinformation 

To begin, misinformation is defined as incorrect or misleading information. When talking about the topic of misinformation, I learned that it is basically false rumors spread either for an intent or not for an intent. It is just a bunch of lies that are spread, and people think that it is true. A technology develops over the years, it is extrmely easy for misinformation to spread. People often believe this information without a reliable source or even factual information to back up the rumor or news. Throuought the EOTO presentations, my classmate gave a great example to explain misinformation using rumor of DiCaprio donating millions of dollars to Ukraine. This was completely false information that was spread throughout the world. DiCaprio even put down the rumor by saying it was not true.

Disinformation

In contrast to misinformation, disinformation is defined as false information deliberately spread in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth. Disinformation is often edited in order to look like something it is not. People use this tool to make others believe something that is not true, yet back it up with content such as the edited photo so people genuinely think it is real. This happens a lot in our world today, especially on Twitter. I constantly come across posts that I know are disinformation because I have seen the real photo versus the edited one. If I was someone who never saw the real photo, I too would probably believe the disinformation and partake in spreading false information. 

Above is an example my classmate used to demonstrate disinformation. You can see that the photo on the left was edited from the photo on the right. Many people believed that Stacy Abrams sided with communists because of this very post, when indeed it was taken completely out of context from the photo on the right. 

Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping is defined as someone who takes it upon themselves to decide who does or who does not have access to certain information. When my classmate was speaking about gatekeeping, he mainly focused on the news and media. The news often decides what they want to realease to the public. They also often choose when or when not to address where they got the information from. In today's society, gatekeeping has become a more widely used term especially on social media, such as Tik Tok. For example when an influencer posts a picture in a dress and people are asking where she bought if from but she wont tell them, that is an example of gatekeeping. Another example would be a video editor posting a video that goes famous and people asking him what platform he used to create it, but he will not tell anyone. Basically, the old term and the new term of gatekeeping mean the same thing (withholding information), yet the definition has definitely shifted gears for the younger generation.