Information Validation
How would you validate the information sent to you via a text message?
You would call the person to see if it was really them. Depending on the information received, you could either ask the person if it's true or pursue validation further by questioning other people or searching the depths of the Internet and your local library.
How would you validate a $25.00 check in the mail?
You would look at the return address or just the envelope in general to see if it's from a credible source. If that's not enough validation for you, you could proceed to call the company and question them on why you would receive that amount of money.
How would you validate information about a death of a close person?
You would either have to call the people closest to your "close person" and see if they can validate the information or you could request to see their dead body yourself. Seeing is believing.
How would you validate information you received from an e-mail?
Like the text message, you could call the person who sent you an e-mail and see if they can validate the information. Or, you could read the e-mail and probably tell whether or not the information was true or not on your own.
How would you validate information from a local newspaper?
You would have to contact the newspaper and request proof of their information. Or you could read about the same subject from other sources and decide whose information was more valid from there.
How would you validate information from local TV NEWS?
Once again, you would have to contact your local news station and request credible proof and sources for their information. If that fails to work, consult the local newspapers, other local news stations, the Internet, and other sources to see if their information is more likely to valid or not.
How would you validate information from a website?
You can generally tell if a website is a credible source of information or not. But if that's not good enough for you, you could consult other websites or other sources and see if the original website's information is accurate.
How would you validate information from a billboard?
Most of the time, there's a number to call or a website to visit on a billboard. So, you would go investigate further into those two sources. If you still can't validate their information, turn to other sources to compare and contrast the credibility of the billboard's information.
How would you validate information given to you during a class from an instructor?
Instructors shouldn't lead you astray but in the situation that they do, further research into the subject through books, newspapers, the Internet, other people, and other sources could help validate or invalidate the instructor's information.
Situations where I would bypass the validation process:
- I already knew without a doubt that the information was true.
- I didn't care enough about the information to validate it.
- I trust the source enough not to worry about misinformation.
Overall, my main method for validating information is comparing it to other sources' information on the subject. This generally gets the job done if you know what to look for but other times it can be completely fruitless. It really depends on what type of information it is and the odds that the source you received your information from is wrong. Luckily, humanity comes readily equipped with a plethora of cynicism and doubt in other people, so perhaps most people are already armored against such misinformation.
This assignment forces you to think about the credibility of everyone around you. Is this money I just received really legitimate? Is my grandmother really dead or is this some sick joke? Do my instructors really know everything? Granted, it's not healthy living in constant fear of misinformation and never being able to trust anyone but it's still prudent to at least check your sources every once in a while.
