Bias and stereotype could make huge impacts on the readers, most readers would be affected based on how they view things, such as controversial topics, especially on new generations. However, in this unit, we learned how to detect bias from social media properly which is an important skill that protects us from being affected by media bias which improved my thinking skills based on IB learner profile, thinking, consider whether the content is biased by using bias detection techniques, There are few important skills I need keep for detecting bias effectively, such as find out the primary purpose of the content, then detect biases that are shown in the content based on the way it spreads messages to the audience.
We did some activities that improved our skills at detecting bias, in my opinion, one of the most effective action was probably Checkokology, it has 4 modules in which each module teaches us new skills, module one was pretty basic but it is useful, it teaches about filtering news information, such as detecting primary purpose, and which article is more newsworthy.etc, moving n to the second module, it teaches us civic freedoms, basically, there are five freedoms, which is Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom to Assemble Peaceably and Freedom of Petition. In the third module, it teaches us about internet personalization and in the fourth module, we were tested if we were a fair journalist. These activities are short but helpful, the techniques from these lessons can be used in daily life for everyone, every age especially when technologies and internet are becoming more indispensable. we practiced detecting news articles and commercials the most, we improved as we practiced more, I see my improvements over this unit based on detecting news articles, at the beginning of the unit, I barely explain about my annotation in my work, I only label it, it was unorganized, no color coded. However, as we practice more, I learn more. so I think this activity was also really helpful, too. What I should improve on and practice more about is detecting bias from commercials or TV shows, it was harder than I thought, that’s is what I have to keep working on.
Activities:
- News & TV Bias
- Checkology Modules 1-4
- Annotation Bias In Media (Summative)
- Analysis Bias in Media (Summative)
- Product Bias In Media (Summative)
Detecting bias is a great technique that can be used on the internet, news articles or digital articles, advertisements.etc it can be used on everything that involved controversial topics, opinions, issues.etc. We don’t just roughly go through the content, we detect bias from the content, so today’s challenging information from social media, newspaper.etc would not affect us. Overall, this unit brings a huge impact on me, when I applied it to Taiwanese news articles, I realized how bias it is, I realized how many people are being affected by the media every day, every moment, before learning this, that biased news made me so emotional, I just felt the way they wanted me to feel, that’s always the purpose of being biased in news. Now, I would see if the news is biased or not because it’s actually fun to see if the news is biased, after detecting this, I would share my results with my parent, they also joined me, simply put, they can also detect bias now, this is the reason for why I think this unit taught me a lot and brought a huge impact on me.