Mike Caulfield–first move
Mike Caulfield’s online book Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers . . . and other people who care about facts and his Four Moves Blog are a timely treasure trove of advice for K-12 students and teachers. University faculty would also do well to practice Caulfield’s Four Moves for coping with an issue that, according to Kris Shaffer, is “bigger than the proliferation of misinformation in today’s media landscape.”
Caulfield’s biography on the Educause website states, “Outside of education, he is possibly best known as a co-founder of the 5,000 member online political community Blue Hampshire in 2006, a site described by Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas as ‘one of the most influential blogs in the nation.’” Following Caulfield’s first move, checking for previous work, I briefly read through a number of posts and videos on the Blue Hampshire Blog website, which is introduced to us as “a central hub for news and discussion, Blue Hampshire is an online community focused around progressive politics in the Granite State. Its intended audience includes engaged citizens, public servants, members of the media, community activists. . .” Then I checked out www.bluehampshire.com on the Internet Archive WayBackMachine. Unsurprisingly, this blog was especially active during the 2008 and 2012 Presidential election campaigns:
Global Warming–second move
The March 9, 2018 blog post on the Four Moves Blog is entitled Global Warming Hits the Sahara! The source of the report, “Political-Conservatives-Blogspot” makes us wonder. This blog comes with an excellent Example Lesson Plan which details in Three Acts how a teacher might guide a class in investigating whether a report of snow in the Sahara is credible, and also whether such unusual weather so near the equator gives global warming deniers solid evidence for their argument. Following Caulfield’s second move, go upstream to the source, I used the Snopes Fact-Check site for corroboration. This search concluded that the report was correct, since Algerian news sources and the National Geographic Society carried similar reports. Then I entered the phrase “snow in the sahara 2018” in Google Image. From this search I discovered that the report of snow in the Sahara was also carried by CNN and NPR.
Understanding Polarization–third move
I watched Natalie Decker’s video, Understanding Polarization, with interest. I think her diagnosis of the issue is well articulated. Following Caulfield’s third move, read laterally, I also watched the video Live Discussion with Mike Caulfield for further clarification of the issue, and I checked out the Davidson Now website, which introduces one of their courses with the statement, “How have our online interactions and engagement – as a society – become so toxic? Is there anything we as individuals and citizens can do to stop this trend, or at least stop it from stopping us? Productive participatory engagement builds communities and networks that support real interaction and change. How does that look for a functioning democratic society — when meeting face to face is no longer necessary? What does this do to our institutions – education, government, media? How can we make it work for us, online and off, inside and outside of classrooms?”
Clearly, the issue of polarization not only affects our politics but it affects our communicating in every area of our lives. At MA Lead, our shared commitment to Servant Leadership principles will motivate us as we craft our digital identity. To extend Caulfield’s third move a bit, I suggest another video to contribute to the discussion begun by Natalie Decker. Prepared by Joshua Rasmussen of Azuzu Pacific University it’s entitled How to Solve Political Polarization In introducing it, Rasmussen writes, “As a philosopher, I like to understand the ROOT of things. As I observe our political conversations and fights, I think I see the root of the problem: we have felt devalued in these debates. Respect has been broken.” In seeking to understand before we seek to be understood, we restore respect.
