DL 275

Using Your Voice

Published: January 23, 2021 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to Digitally Literate, issue 275. Your go-to source for insightful content on education, technology, and the digital landscape.

🔖 Key Takeaways

Historic Inauguration Poetry: Amanda Gorman became the youngest inaugural poet with "The Hill We Climb"
RAND Media Literacy Standards: New standards target "truth decay"—the diminishing role of facts in civic discourse
10,000 Internet Librarians: Experts propose solutions including hiring librarians and training teachers as "informational first responders"
QAnon Radicalization Deepens: After Capitol riots, conspiracy followers joined more militant platforms as "Parler refugees"
Whistleblower Under Attack: Rebekah Jones turned herself in to protect family while fighting Florida's Covid data suppression

Hi all, welcome back. Stay safe. Mask up.

This week I posted the following:

Who Are You? - The 2021 iteration of WalkMyWorld started up. This is an open learning experiment where we encourage you to read, write, and connect online.
Cognitive Bias & The Sunk Cost Fallacy - How do you hit reset and go back to zero? How do you ignore sunk costs and pivot to something new?
Using Twitter for Teaching, Learning, and Socializing - Everything you need to get started with Twitter.
Teaching in the Time of COVID - An overview of my thinking about teaching in online and hybrid spaces.
Make Time for Self-Care - What are the stories I tell myself that interfere with self-love?

📺 Watch

Amanda Gorman - The Hill We Climb

On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris were sworn into office. At the Inauguration ceremony, U.S. Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman made history as the youngest Inaugural poet with her work, "The Hill We Climb."

The 22-year-old's powerful delivery demonstrated how creative expression can serve as commentary on democracy—a voice rising above the chaos of the previous weeks to articulate a vision of national unity and healing.

Here are several ways you can bring this into your life. Use this to talk with students about creative expression as a commentary on democracy. Consider picking up Gorman's upcoming picture book, Change Sings.

📚 Read

RAND Releases Media Literacy Standards

This week, the RAND Corporation released a new set of media literacy standards designed to support schools in combating misinformation.

The standards are part of RAND's ongoing project on "truth decay": a phenomenon that RAND researchers describe as "the diminishing role that facts, data, and analysis play in our political and civic discourse." In an era when conspiracy theories and partisan narratives compete equally with verified journalism in social feeds, these standards provide educators with a framework for teaching critical evaluation skills.

Away from the vitriol, researchers are investigating concrete steps companies, officials, and the rest of us can take to tackle the crisis. Notable proposals include:

Joan Donovan - Hire 10,000 librarians for the Internet
Whitney Phillips - Fund training for teachers, our "informational first responders"
malkia devich-cyril - Understand the limitations of the first amendment

These proposals recognize that content moderation alone won't solve disinformation—we need sustained investment in media literacy infrastructure and the professionals who can help people navigate information ecosystems.

Increasingly Militant 'Parler Refugees' and Anxious QAnon Adherents Prep for Doomsday

Conspiracy theorists enjoyed the Trump presidency. Wild false notions about high-profile deaths and what was really going on in Washington and Hollywood took over certain sections of the internet.

It all came to a head when insurrectionists, who believed the president's lie that the election had been stolen, stormed the Capitol building.

QAnon followers have become more divorced from reality since the Capitol riots as some are targeted by extremists who try to radicalize them further. Extremism researchers are calling some accounts "Parler refugees"—users stumbling onto increasingly militant information streams on smaller, unmoderated messaging apps.

Fired Florida Data Scientist Rebekah Jones Turns Herself In

Rebekah Jones, the former Florida data analyst who accused state officials of covering up the extent of the pandemic, turned herself in after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Timeline of events:

May 2020: Jones fired from Florida Department of Health. State officials cited "insubordination"; Jones claimed she refused to falsify Covid-19 data.
July 2020: Jones filed a whistleblower complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations.
Post-firing: Jones published her own Covid-19 dashboard, claiming to have received proof that state officials "were lying in January (2020) about internal reports and notices from the CDC."
December 7, 2020: Jones' home was raided. She filed a lawsuit alleging FDLE officials violated her First Amendment rights.

This week Jones turned herself in to protect her family from continued police violence, stating: "The Governor will not win his war on science and free speech. He will not silence those who speak out."

Turn Off That Camera During Virtual Meetings, Environmental Study Says

Just one hour of videoconferencing or streaming emits 150-1,000 grams of carbon dioxide. Leaving your camera off during a web call can reduce these footprints by 96%.

A small adjustment with significant environmental impact—something to consider as remote work becomes permanent for many.

H/T to Doug Belshaw's Thought Shrapnel newsletter for this link.

🔨 Do

The Scientific Way to Cut Cake

The triangular slice is not the "scientific" way to cut a cake.

Alex Bellos recommends a different approach, which helps keep any leftovers fresher longer. He cites a Letter to the Editor from Nature, a weekly science magazine, that dates back to December 1906.

Sometimes the most useful knowledge comes from the most unexpected places.

🤔 Consider

I moved through the world never quite fitting in. But words—words were my way of finding my place.

Amanda Gorman

Gorman's reflection on finding voice through language connects to this issue's threads—using your voice to combat truth decay, whistleblowers speaking out against power, and the need for librarians and teachers as informational guides. Voice is power, and power can be used to heal or harm.

Previous: DL 274 • Next: DL 276 • Archive: 📧 Newsletter

🌱 Connected Concepts:

Media Literacy — RAND truth decay standards, informational first responders, internet librarians
Civic Engagement — Gorman's inaugural poem, whistleblower resistance, democratic expression
Privacy Rights — Rebekah Jones data battle, government transparency
Digital Wellbeing — Video conferencing environmental impact, self-care
Philosophy — Voice as power, truth versus narrative