Information Evaluation: 30-Day Growth Guide

Belangrijkste inzichten

• Give the month a fixed ten-minute slot and a one-line log, because thirty small checks teach more than a weekend of reading about misinformation.
• In week one practise only the pause: name your feeling, then find what the article actually claims beneath its headline.
• In week two check the messenger before the message by asking who runs an account, what they gain and whether they know the subject.
• In weeks three and four test images, quotes, numbers and dates, then turn the same checks on stories you would love to be true.
• When days slip, build a two-day bridge: repeat the last task you finished, then carry on, rather than starting the month again.

In deze bit

1. Before day one: slot, log and baseline

   A month of checking works best when it asks for very little each day. Before day one, set up three things.

2. Week one: the pause and the actual claim

   Week one practises a single skill: pausing long enough to see what you are dealing with. On days one and two, name your feeling before anything else: angry, scared, pleased, smug.

3. Week two: who is telling you this?

   Week two moves from the message to the messenger. Each day, pick one account, page or channel that reached you and ask one question about it.

4. Week three: images, quotes, numbers and dates

   Week three tests the evidence itself, one kind at a time. Days fifteen and sixteen cover images.

5. Week four: turning the checks on yourself

   Week four is the hardest, because the evidence under examination is your own judgement. Confirmation bias is the tendency to accept information that fits what we already believe and to pick apart information that does not.

6. Measuring the month and bridging missed days

   Four numbers tell you whether the month worked. The first is days practised out of thirty.