With so much historical content on the Web, it’s a good time to remind students and citizens not to accept all that information at face value.
Today citizens learn much of their historical information from digital and visual media. Citizens should be able to ask smart historical questions, understand historical context, and recognize when a historical fact is being misrepresented or distorted.
The Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest has created a resource called, “6 Steps To Historical Literacy.” When readers find historical information, a historical statement, or a reference to historical fact in any online media, we encourage them to ask themselves these questions above and think critically about the information they encounter.
Issued on the occasion of Media Literacy Week 2017, the resource is available as a free download for all educators, students and citizens.
For questions or more information, please contact lepage@villanova.edu