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October 30, 2023
SIU Scholar Audio system Discussion board on Nov. 2 to give attention to media literacy, disinformation
CARBONDALE, Sick. — 5 undergraduate college students will share their ideas on media literacy and disinformation in a scholar audio system public discussion board on Thursday, Nov. 2, within the Scholar Middle Auditorium.
This semester’s subject is “Is {that a} Reality? Media Literacy and (M/Dis)info.” The free, public discussion board is from 7 to eight p.m.
The biannual boards, which occur every semester, started in spring 2002. The discussion board may even be out there by way of the Faculty of Communications Research’ YouTube channel and Fb web page.
Offering a legacy of civil dialogue
The discussion board is sponsored by the Faculty of Communication Research and the Society for Civil Discourse. The society was based in 1999 when SIU Carbondale alumna Barbara Jane Schwartz of Makanda established an endowment on the college “to offer house for college kids to have the ability freely interact in civil discourse” and “assist alternatives for college kids to change opinions and beliefs in matters of curiosity in regards to the Carbondale campus and society,” stated Sandy Pensoneau-Conway, affiliate professor and director of SIU’s communication research program.
Over time, the discussion board has taken on totally different codecs; some semesters have maintained the decision format, whereas different semesters targeted extra on a common theme, Pensoneau-Conway stated.
Deal with the media
This semester’s topic notes that every day individuals are “bombarded with photographs, sounds, narratives and opinions” in regards to the state of the world, communities and neighborhoods. The messages blur political and private, and the “abundance” of data means folks come throughout incorrect info and data deliberately designed to mislead. Defining strategies for “discerning what’s trustworthy from what is dishonest is crucial” for essential considering. The discussion board will look at looking for “dependable routes via the fog” of misinformation and disinformation.
Chosen from auditions, college students who ship a 6-8-minute persuasive speech will every obtain a $1,500 scholarship from the Society for Civil Discourse.
The scholars who will probably be talking are:
- Luca Bulleri, sophomore, pc science, Washington, Illinois — subject: synthetic intelligence.
- Isobel Hamilton, freshman, dental hygiene, South Beloit, Illinois — subject: conspiracy theories.
- Dorian Sparks, sophomore, well being care administration, Metropolis, Illinois — subject: mis/disinformation.
- Anthony Mootry, sophomore, sports activities administration, Flossmoor, Illinois — subject: athletes and social media.
- Blessing Smithley, junior, psychology, Field Elder, South Dakota — subject: algorithms.
Scholar-led effort
Pensoneau-Conway believes top-of-the-line issues in regards to the discussion board is that it’s fully student-led, with a graduate scholar serving as lead organizer. The assist employees can be primarily graduate college students with the enter of a college adviser. She credited this yr’s discussion board coordinator, T. Brown, a graduate instructing assistant within the Faculty of Communication Research, for his in depth outreach to tutorial applications on campus and making the discussion board extensively identified.
College students chosen for the discussion board “get an unimaginable occasion so as to add to their portfolios” together with gaining precious public talking expertise, she stated.
“I particularly love when a scholar who has public talking nervousness is ready to work with and thru that nervousness to ship a speech to a stay crowd, in addition to a digital viewers,” Pensoneau-Conway stated. “I could not know them, however I really feel so happy with them. All through the discussion board course of, scholar audio system enhance and develop their self-confidence, they enhance their oral communication abilities, they improve their essential listening and important considering abilities, they develop their means to reply to oral arguments they usually develop their organizational, public talking, management, teamwork and administration abilities. It is also nice to see how they assist and encourage each other.”
For extra info on the occasion, contact T. Brown at todd.brown@siu.edu.
