Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#1

Post by ascertain » Fri, Oct 11, 2019, 8:34 PM UTC

Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)
medium.com

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#2

Post by chrisweekly » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:12 PM UTC

Author Blake Ross ("founder @firefox and former prod dir @fb") makes great points about poor quality / outright lack of investigative journalism in reporting. Worth the 2 min to read.

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#3

Post by CM30 » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:52 PM UTC

Good read. Definitely shows how little work is often put into investigating a story nowadays, even from publications considered reputable in the past.

And it's worth considering given how many controversial stories that lead to internet mobs and threats had just as little work done on the investigation side as this one. The covington kids story had no real investigation done on it, since if someone had actually asked witnesses or looked into video evidence beyond the original tweet, they'd have seen a completely different series of events. Same with the story of that guy thrown off a plane for speaking Arabic; a bit of research would have proven the story was not what it seemed there either.

And there are plenty of stories where non existent people/companies/organisations have been written about after a troll submitted a fake news tip or what not. Hell, it's surprisingly easy to get a questionable story into the media, since often no one will investigate it properly. I know, I did that by accident.

As for why that's the case? Eh, probably time. The internet has led to a 24/7 news cycle for every publication in the world, and has created a situation where being 'first' is often seen as more important than being right. Even sparing the 10 minutes necessary to investigate a story like in the article is presumably seen as a 'waste of time'.

Either way, good article.

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#4

Post by methehack » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 4:02 PM UTC

It's seemed to me for a while that you could take an infosec-style approach and use voluntary controls, policies, procedures and third-party non-government certification via accounting firms to give the public more confidence in the press, something that is obviously fundamental to a democracy.

Just like in infosec, controls (etc) do not guarantee safety (accuracy), but they let you know that processes were followed and that fact is documented. Third parties (accounting firms) confirm that you have the evidence of having followed your processes. Corruptable? Sure. Better? Definitely yes.

Just like in infosec: if you have evidence that every week you've plowed through the access logs, you're more likely to have caught an intruder/mistake. The approach tends to route out single acts of sloppiness and subterfuge and turn mistakes in to conspiracies, which is a much harder thing to pull off than a single actor looking for fame or a raise.

For my part, I genuinely believe these organizations are trying their best to do something very hard but that their own efforts at fairness can be undermined by a lot of factors, especially money. The natural incentives (clicks/$) need to be counterbalanced with self-imposed "regulation" that is third-party verified.

[EDIT: s/factories/factors

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#5

Post by vvanders » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC

Seems a bit like pot calling kettle black considering what Facebook allows to be advertised these days.

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#6

Post by htk » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 5:01 PM UTC

vvanders wrote: post #5

Seems a bit like pot calling kettle black considering what Facebook allows to be advertised these days.

This wasn’t posted by Facebook. The author used his experience working there to further question news pieces.

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#7

Post by taneq » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 5:34 PM UTC

Can I just take a moment here to plug how vital Internet Archive (mentioned by the story, sounding like it's just a thing that the internet does) is to, well, most things, and getting more important by the day?

I haven't donated to them yet but I'm going to now.

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#8

Post by cortesoft » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 5:35 PM UTC

I don't quite understand how you are supposed to follow that advice... no one has time to personally investigate everything. We have to outsource SOME of our thinking.

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#9

Post by yodsanklai » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 5:37 PM UTC

> We are lucky to live in a time when we are all so empowered.

I remember when I was a teenager, before the internet era. Our science teacher thought us about critical thinking and not blindly trusting the media. Everything he said made sense, but still, I felt that I was lacking the proper tools and expertise to challenge what was said in reputable medias.

It's much easier nowadays, Thanks to the ability to search the web, better knowledge/expertise in some fields, better understanding of how medias work... yet it's not easy. It is a skill that needs constant practice, and one shouldn't fall in the other extreme not to trust anything.

I really think this should be taught in school. Examples of bad journalism, recent government lies, marketing and PR...

Re: Don't Outsource Your Thinking (2015)

#10

Post by yodsanklai » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 5:44 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #8

I don't quite understand how you are supposed to follow that advice... no one has time to personally investigate everything. We have to outsource SOME of our thinking.

I don't think we have to investigate everything, but we should try to detect patterns of wrong information (can be government propaganda, marketing, incompetence), and not trust blindly every piece of information.