LIS 568 Week 10 - RumorGuard

 New Tech Tool: RumorGuard

Kaitlyn Casper

LIS 568 Week 10 (7/28-8/3)


    For this week's new tech tool, I decided to explore RumorGuard, inspired by a fellow classmate's post. I had never heard of RumorGuard before, but I was intrigued by the fact-checker aspect of it. Fake rumors and A.I.-generated content is becoming more and more relevant, so it is becoming more crucial to teach our students how to fact-check information and prevent the spread of misinformation.

    At first glance, RumorGuard's homepage cuts right to the chase and starts debunking popular or viral stories that have been shared on social media. The interface seems pretty user-friendly, with clear "headlines" about each fact-check. Users are able to click on each fact-check to see the image or video as well as more context and reasons why it can be declared fake. Users can also search for keywords if they see a photo online that they want to verify, which is where this might be most helpful for students.

    I really love how RumorGuard breaks down each fact-check into true and false information associated with them. For example, the current headline on RumorGuard investigates a video that claims that animals are leaving Yellowstone because of an impending volcano eruption, and RumorGuard carefully explains how the videos are mostly A.I.-generated, outdated, or taken out of context. RumorGuard also explains how exactly to fact-check online information, including applying critical thinking to captions, reverse-image searching, and checking authoritative sources. RumorGuard also breaks down fact-checks into 5 different factors that can influence fake content, including authenticity, source, evidence, context, and reasoning. RumorGuard thoroughly explains how this video lacks all 5 factors, meaning that it is safe to say it is fake.

    In a school library setting, RumorGuard could be used for individual fact-checking lessons and for every-day fact-checking. It would be interesting to have students explore RumorGuard to see if any of the stories on there are things that they had previously seen or believed online. However, since RumorGuard does share a large variety of posts, it is not guaranteed to be kid-friendly. Some posts touch on topics like the war in Iran or other politically-charged stories. It would probably be best to have students use RumorGuard under direct supervision, or limit it to upper middle school and high school students. 
RumorGuard homepage at the time of this blog post.





Quick fact-check.

Five fact-check factors.



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