Truthiness (noun) :
1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)
2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/06words.htm)
So. We all know everything you see on the internet is correct, right? Well, some people certainly think so, which is why silly email forwards circulate about how Bill Gates is going to give you $1,000 for each person you send the email to or how George W. Bush waved at Stevie Wonder to get his attention. Do you know where to go to check the facts when something on the internet just doesn't sound right?
If it's a regular run of the mill e-mail forward, Snopes.com is your best bet. They cover all sorts of urban legends, old and new, and have an extensive community where people research those that haven't quite made the main website yet. They break these into categories like "politics", "frauds and scams", and "inboxer rebellion", but there is also a search window to find specific myths and a list of the 25 most searched urban legends on the site. (As of this typing, the top three were Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, and burundanga business cards.) Articles are marked with the date it was last updated, as well as a list of resources used to prove or debunk the myth.
Speaking of politics, what better time to know about the websites that can help our patrons make informed decisions on election day? There are several websites that separate the fact from fiction in ways that are easy to understand and easy to verify.
Politifact.com is a website run by the St. Petersburg Times, and details political claims by all parties, giving them labels like "true", "barely true", "half true" and "pants-on-fire". Users can search by politician, political party, or ruling. Also handy is the "flip-o-meter", which lists issues that candidates have changed their stances on. The writer, researcher and editor are all listed on each article, as well as sources used.
Factcheck.org is another nonpartisan website (provided by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania) that covers political claims by politicians. This site checks entire ads (and now the debates), so these articles are not nearly as short as the Politifact site, but articles are still written clearly and show readers exactly what was said in a specific ad and whether or not it is correct. Author and Sources are included with each article.
GoogleLabs "In Quotes" compares politicians stances on issues side by side. Users can select two politicians, up to four issues, and see direct quotes from each candidate. Quotes are accompanied by a source article, where users can read more.
This PBS.com article discusses nonpartisan fact check sites, and their partisan counterparts.
Your challenge: Browse these fact check sites. Which ones do you find most helpful? Would you recommend these to patrons? Is there anything about any of these sites you do not like?
Bonus Link:
File this under video games doing awesome things: X-box Live is allowing users to register to vote without ever leaving their television.
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