• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Women's Legacy Project
  • Home
  • About
  • How To Curate
  • Our Collective Legacy
  • Writing Online Memoir
  • Blog
Women's Legacy Project > Blog > How To Curate > Progressing Together on Firm, Factual Ground – Five Methods

Progressing Together on Firm, Factual Ground – Five Methods

Written by: womenslegacy
Published: February 5, 2022 -- Last Modified: February 7, 2022
2 Comments

Environmentally. Politically. Socially. We move forward together. We must do this in a well thought out way with decisive care if we want to be effective in reaching out to others so as to build, construct, and grow though present forces at work in the world seem hell bent on demolition, destruction, and death.

We cannot let despair or complacency insinuate themselves into our attitudes and actions even though they seem to have become ever-present companions in this Huxlean brave new world in which we find ourselves.

The Future

The future is female, or at least it incorporates and represents women and the female point of view. This statue is called The Future and is located the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Request Sources

When encountering mis- or disinformation, request the source of the information. This alone can disarm a person who has stated something without having the information to prove it. It does not have to be done in a confrontational or hostile fashion. A simple, “I would love it if you would share the source of that with me,” puts the ball back in the hands of the person with the questionable info.

Check Sources

The New York Public Library recommends the following verification sources to check the facts of behind questionable information. These are still great sources.

Snopes: One of the oldest, most reliable fact-checking sites on the web. Updated throughout the day to debunk fake news, hoaxes, and misinformation.

Politifact: A fact-checking initiative from the Poynter Institute

ProPublica: An independent journalism non-profit 

— NYPL

Collect Easily Accessible Sources

Storage and tagging are the keys to successfully have information you can share at your fingertips. When you find information rich, verifiable source material, note where and what.

Primary sources are most effective in “proving” a point. It can be tempting to use an easy access and all encompassing tool like Wikipedia for fact checking, however primary sources or respected, well-established sources like encyclopedias are far better. Wikis can be a first stop but should not be your main or only source of information source.

A bit of an anglophile, and an info nerd, I really enjoy using the The Encyclopedia Britannica. It has been around since 1768, and is well-respected. One of the easiest and least expensive ways to access a reputable, up-to-date encyclopedia is through your local library as an electronic resource.

Save articles or resources you find that are information rich in topics you discuss with others. Read it later, or call it up again, or send it to someone, by using an app that does more than just create a bookmark and can be accessed from any of your devices. Many of these apps can save the entire article for you. Do be sure to use tags to describe the main points or subject of the article so you can easily retrieve them from where you stored them in your cloud. I use Evernote® for this purpose as well as for general note taking. I have far too many categories and tags. But the system still works.

What If I Can’t Access the Internet?

Well then dearies, you are f***ed. I have access to the interwebs in at least two different ways. Phone connects one way, computers another. And I store all my best stuff on a desktop backup drive. I should have print backup too, but I just can’t kill the thousands of trees that would take. What do the people who do not have highspeed internet do? It isn’t fair. The post office should offer free high speed wifi in rural areas. I think freedom of communication, maybe with a small tax like a stamp, is written into the constitution.

Yep. I’m sure of it.

– When the Constitution was ratified in 1789, the Postal Clause in Article I, Section 8 gave Congress the power “To establish Post Offices and post Roads” and “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper” for executing this task. Aug 17, 2020

Article 1 Section 8 – U.S. Constitution

Literacy

There is another whole level to fact checking that many people miss and that is reading or listening to the real left wing progressive media. You inadvertently get Fox even if you try to avoid it, and sometimes MSNBC and CNN are indistinguishable. But is isn’t easy to get the stream of progressives without digging a bit if you do not already know where to go. So pop in to some of these sources occasionally. It is part of literacy. I used these all the time back in my CodePink days (pre-2010.). 2010 is when I went to a CP thing in DC and didn’t know anyone in the ranks except the leaders and their interns, so I realized I wasn’t in the IN group cause I didn’t get invited to any of the after-parties. I wasn’t a high enough roller I guess, at least not if you want to hang out with Alice Walker. That and one of the founders boyfriends dissed a jewish radical lesbian friend of mine who had kept the grassroots tour going on her own for a couple of years (with a tiny bit of help from me.) Screw people who don’t know how to say thank you. I paid for the pink house cable to get c-span for over a year. Yes. I have a file.

truthout.org/

https://www.commondreams.org

https://www.rawstory.com/

https://www.c-span.org/

So what is holding you back? Get out and do something

Research, believe the scientific findings, until the next results emerge.

How are you supposed to do that?

Science News

I find that Science News is a great source for science news. Really. Been reading it since the 1970s.

Access

So, I also inadvertently watch the Lone Star Channel (via my husband who watches in the background to get back at me for watching Josh Gates) to stay up on Mid-20th Century propaganda techniques to wipe out nationalistic tendencies here at home in the Good Ol’ USA. This is particularly in response to Hands Across the Border followed closely by an older film that also has Roy Rogers and Sons of the Pioneers in it. I think I first saw these with my brothers (born 1939 to 1946 and died 1998 to 2014) before they tossed me out of the tv watching room. Anyway…. know your sources and share them freely. And if you don’t have highspeed internet. Insist on access.

Later Gator.

Categories: How To CurateTags: build back a better world, data, information, know the difference, opinion, truth

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org
Previous Post: « Winter’s End, Groundhogs, Magic Numbers for a Water Tiger Year
Next Post: A is for About »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Connie McLeod

    February 7, 2022 at 8:54 am

    I am a newsie and I get my informations from several different sources. That said, I have cut way back on my consumption. It is better for my mental health. One benefit of the pandemic is I’ve cut back on tv/news consumption and have picked up more reading. I have purposefully selected a more diverse range of authors and my world is better for it.

    Reply
    • womenslegacy

      February 7, 2022 at 1:51 pm

      I get that. I know more about hauntings and bigfoot than I ever thought possible. But seriously audio books have gotten me through these past couple of years. Yet I still run across balderdash being spewed.
      womenslegacy recently posted…Progressing Together on Firm, Factual Ground – Five MethodsMy Profile

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Ending, and Beginning
  • For Our Daughters
  • Stand and Write
  • Context and Little Things
  • A Month is Just a Month… as Time Goes By
  • Processing Two Very Different Deaths
  • A Dehydrated and Delusional Friend Found Wandering in 100° Heat
  • About Women’s Legacy & Hill Research
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Archives

Powered by
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
View my Flipboard Magazine.

© 2023, Nancy Hill, Women's Legacy Project of Hill Research Services, LLC

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT