Unspun Chapter 7Osama, Ollie, and Al

Tom Guttschow and Kegan Saajasto

BAM! BOOM! BANG!

• The Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life. ~Andrew Brown

• The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow. ~Bill Gates

IntroductionChapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 Chapter 7•Thesis•Purpose•Preview

You are here.

PRÉCISA concise summary

The Internet

• Solution to Spin• Full of information• Everyone is an author• True and False

Information

Example of Bad Info on the Net

• Osama, Ollie, and Al• Message circulated via

E-mail• Easily Disproved

Good sources of Info on the Net

• .gov• .edu• News stations• Wikipedia• blogs

Blogs

• Personal diary viewable by everyone

• Everyone is an author• Can be influential• Bloggers go places

ordinary news stations cannot

• Verify information

Due Diligence

• What are they selling?• What’s their

reputation?• Can I verify?• Who’s behind it?• Who’s paying?• Who are the people?

READER RESPONSEConnections and Examples

Connection to 1984

• Winston and the Ministry of Truth

• Censorship and Emmanuel Goldstein

• Differences from Unspun

Unreliable Websites

• Wikipedia.org

• politico.com/blogs/bensmith

• martinlutherking.org

Reliable Websites

• usa.gov

• cnn.com

• eece.maine.edu

Sample Hoax

• “A few highlights from the first 500 pages of the Healthcare bill in congress Contact your Representatives and let them know how you feel about this. We, as a country, cannot afford another 1000 page bill to go through congress without being read. Another 500 pages to go. I have highlighted a few of the items that are down right unconstitutional.”

Connection to Language Awareness

• Weasel Words: The Art of Saying Nothing at All

• Indirect connection

• Weasel Words purpose compared to Unspun

How to stay Unspun

• In Sum –

• How to find Good information

I command thee to go forth now and be Unspun!