Links for part one of the midterm

The midterm has three components:

1. An HTML/CSS section
2. A design section
3. A "fake news" section

You will be answering the questions for #1 and #2 in class on Thursday. Look for a link at the bottom of this post if you want to preview the questions ahead of time.

The answers for section #3 are DUE AT THE START OF THURSDAY'S CLASS, PRINTED OUT.  I want you to read the following four short articles, which give some of the institutional and cognitive context to "fake news," and answer the eleven numbered questions that are woven through them.

Want to Know What Facebook Really Thinks of Journalists? Here's What Happened When It Hired Some.
http://gizmodo.com/want-to-know-what-facebook-really-thinks-of-journalists-1773916117

1. Why did FB hire journalists to curate trending news?

2.Why did they have such a high burnout rate?

3. What are the tensions between FB's values and journalistic values?

How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News
https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.kbeJ62LVE#.abeBmaGPL

4. What is the driving motivation behind the fake news sites that sprung up in Macedonia?

5. What allows fake news to be profitable?

Why More Democrats Are Now Embracing Conspiracy Theories
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/upshot/why-more-democrats-are-now-embracing-conspiracy-theories.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1

6. What psychological basis does the article present for the growth of fake news being consumed by Democrats?

7. What is the attraction of "conspiracy thinking?"

WHY FACTS DON’T CHANGE OUR MINDS
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds?mbid=social_facebook


8. How would you define "mysids bias"?

9. How do Mercier and Sperber trace human lack of reason to hunter-gatherer social groups?

10. Explain the "illusion of explanatory depth."

Final question on "fake news" –

11. What steps can or do you take, personally, to reduce the influence of fake news/ alse information in your life?

Lastly, here's the link to the questions and files for Thursday's class:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1uc4vnqkirlb87q/web-class-midterm-2017.zip?dl=0