www.montereycountyweekly.com may 2-8, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 Jevin West studies the science of science. His research, in his words, focuses on “turning the microscope on science itself.” A professor at the University of Washington in Seattle (and visiting faculty at UC Berkeley at present), he teaches classes with mundane names like “Intro to Data Science.” He also teaches “Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data.” West is deeply interested in calling bullshit—and in teaching others how to call bullshit, too. He helped develop Misinfo Day, an immersive day-long experience for high school students, inviting them to learn skills in distinguishing between factual information and misinformation. Since starting in 2019, the event has been replicated elsewhere. For the first time, Misinfo Day is coming to California when it runs in Monterey on Tuesday, May 7, hosted by the newly formed Media Literacy Coalition (of which Monterey County Weekly is a member). Ninety students from Monterey, Marina, Rancho San Juan, Salinas, Everett Alvarez, Alisal and York high schools (plus 14 teachers) are set to participate in a day of learning. There’s fun—an Escape Room activity encourages participants to distinguish between truth and untruth in order to solve puzzles—and there’s plenty of serious stuff. James Boren, executive director of the Institute for Media and Public Trust at Fresno State, presents on how to use fact checking tools online. Daisy Martin, founding director of the History & Civics Project at UC Santa Cruz, presents on how to read and share (or not share) in the clickbait economy. West also presents, on scientific disinformation and misleading data. The local coalition was formed by former journalist Susan Meister, who lives in Pebble Beach and has taken up the cause of media literacy with a passion. “The forces of disinformation are overwhelming and voluminous,” she says. “It’s a symptom of the sickness of our society right now. We don’t agree on anything, especially on facts.” She hopes that eventually the Misinfo Day curriculum in Monterey County might be incorporated throughout the state. New legislation, Assembly Bill 873, requires media literacy education to be incorporated into all K-12 subjects over time. I hope it takes. This is all much more engaging than the dry “Current Events” activity I grew up with in school. Our task was simply to cut out a newspaper article, then stand up in front of class to present a summary of the article. It was simply a reading comprehension exercise, and one that made me wrongly think the news was boring. Misinfo Day should be far more interactive and relevant than just rehashing—it will invite students to ask questions and think about their own thought process. Meister expects participants to ask: “Is it trying to persuade me of something? Am I emotionally reacting to it? I know something’s fishy, and now I know how to investigate it.” (These are, of course, useful tools for adults—and programming for adults is coming from the coalition later this year.) Meister is hopeful, about the future. “We will get back to a fact-based society,” she says. “We have a formula, and our formula is understanding what we are looking at and critically evaluating it. I think it is achievable. But it will take years. I don’t think it will be in our lifetimes. But we start with the leaders of tomorrow.” I asked West to help me imagine this future, in which we return to a fact-based society. What does that look like? Some of his suggestions are remarkably simple. We would pause before sharing on social media (on whatever platforms of the future don’t yet exist)—“a little more thoughtful, less speedy.” Ultimately, we’d learn to be discerning. We would understand we can’t be experts on everything—if you have questions about a vaccine, rely on experts on vaccines. Or for questions about ballot counting, experts on elections. The question is how to know which experts are genuine, and who to trust. It’s important to note that none of this teaching is motivated by a particular politics, but establishing ground rules that enable informed politics. “We can build a more informed society,” West says. “I think most everyone wants that.” Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com. Between the Lines A new media literacy coalition launches with an immersion for students. By Sara Rubin In the Dark…Squid oozed over to the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds on Saturday, April 20 to score a sweet taco wagon party for 50 of Squid’s friends under the sea, as well as for the insatiable bulldog Rosco P. Coltrane, during the Salinas Valley Fair’s kick-off fundraising event. The outright price to buy the “fiesta on wheels” was $4,000, which Squid considers a steal in this day and age (have you seen the prices of tacos lately?). All joking aside, the food experiences and baked goods at this event routinely sell for thousands at auction, thanks to generous bidders. But before Squid could raise one of Squid’s tentacles with a bid, the room went black from a power outage that affected a portion of the city. That was fine for Squid—cephalopods are used to traversing the deep, dark sea—but for everyone else, they couldn’t see very far in front of them, making it nearly impossible for the auction spotters to call out the bids. Fair organizers decided to end the event early, although there were still 17 items left to be auctioned off. To Squid’s relief, the auction is back on, at least virtually: Bidders can battle each other through May 10 online. Squid, though, is disappointed that the tacos to be served up on the wagon don’t come with shrimp. Squid may instead bid on The Club Carmel custom knife to prepare for next year’s fair kick-off, and share it with attendees so they have something to cut through the darkness. Fire and rain…Since Highway 1 slipped out at Rocky Creek in Big Sur, Squid has been taking some time to fix up the old jalopy to get ready for the next outing down the coast. To Squid’s delight, Caltrans announced on Sunday, April 28, that twice-daily convoys between Big Sur and the Monterey Peninsula would continue—but were opening to the general public, not just local traffic, effective Monday, April 29. That meant Squid could go for a drive and do Squid’s part to support the Big Sur economy. As State Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, acknowledged in Caltrans’ press release: “The community has taken hit after hit with fires, floods and road outages.” By Tuesday, April 30, Squid was ready to get a beer in Big Sur. But Squid didn’t get very far, because at 3pm, a quarter-acre brush fire was reported near the Bottchers Gap campground. (Good news is that as of the Weekly’s deadline, Cal Fire officials didn’t expect the incident to spread more than 10 acres.) A fire at a campground—even though Bottchers Gap is located at the upper end of Palo Colorado Road, which has been closed to the public for seven years and counting. Disaster just keeps striking—Big Sur can’t seem to catch a break. Squid, meanwhile, will park the jalopy back in the garage for now. the local spin SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “We will get back to a fact-based society.” Send Squid a tip: squid@mcweekly.com
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