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Yearly Archives: 2024

The Mystery of the Killer Bike Lane

Thursday, August 29th, 2024 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Now that you have our two science camps  and your Science Communication projects behind you  and are  turning your focus  toward the NCEA Externals in a  few months time  I thought I’d wind up  this year’s Science Academy mis/disinformation theme – “The Truth is out  There-  But Can You Find It?  with a short post highlighting some case studies and  the situation here in NZ

 

As some of you know I cycle to and from  campus every day  along  Dunedin’s  wonderful  West Harbour Cycleway.

 

 

In the process of researching for this post  I came across this cycle lane  article from Wellington:

The Mystery of the Killer Bike Lane
A chain of three cafes closed down and the owner blamed cycleways. But none of the cafes were anywhere near one. What is happening?
Joel MacManus from  The Spinoff investigates.

 Just how misinformed  are Kiwis?

Half of NZ has at least one misinformed belief – Expert Reaction

A survey from the Classification Office offers a glimpse at how pervasive misinformation is in New Zealand, and how it’s affecting our beliefs.
See also:

The Disinformation Project

The Disinformation Project is New Zealand’s only independent research group providing best practice monitoring, research and consulting on disinformation and its impacts.
They provide research and guidance to a range of organisations and sectors alongside commentary and resources to help Aotearoa understand and respond to disinformation.

Some tips from overseas on how to analyse an article for fake news from Central Washington University Libraries

 

Misinformation & Fake News

A guide to discerning fake news sources, including articles, videos, and links to other resources. 

And finally, closer  to home  this TVNZ Investigative Documentary on TVNZ Plus is worth a watch:

Web of Chaos 

A deep dive into the world of disinformation, exploring why it’s spreading at pace throughout Aotearoa and the world, with specialists warning of striking consequences for social cohesion and democracy

 

 

“Nobody said it would be easy”
Stay  critical!
Stay alert!
Keep searching for the truth!
It IS out there!

 

 

2024 Short Science Films

Wednesday, July 31st, 2024 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Science Academy 2024 Science Film students were tasked with making a short 2–4 minute film on an aspect of science close to their heart using only their cell phones and i-movie software.  They were introduced to science filmmaking techniques over four 90-minute workshops at our January Science camp. They then planned and developed their ideas between January and July camps and shot the footage they needed in their home area, completing final editing during a further four 90-minute workshops during our July Science camp. The project was tutored by Max Balloch, Otago University Science Communication graduate, Philosophy  student and an alumnus of the Science Academy 2020. Max is also an award winning podcaster.

Check out our 2024 student  films by clicking on the titles below

The Ants are Coming!

Philip Du Preez – Campion College

Isobelle van Mil  – Hauraki Plains College

Science Film Tutor’s  Pick for Top Film

The History of Black Powder

Reece Zimmerman – Fairfield College

Cyrus Kelly – Fairfield College

 

 

 

The Durie Hill Elevator

Quinn Pedley –  Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu

Eyes Wide Shut

Timothy Lee – Rangitoto College

Samuel Ribet – Mercury Bay Area School

 

 

 

The Rise of Mammals

Ashley Novis -Kaikoura High School

 

 

 

 

Genetically Engineering Our Future

Yasmin Hitchen –  Te Kuiti High School

Laila King –  Motueka High School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deep Fake: The Ingenuity and the Implications

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Under  the theme of ” The truth is out there but can you find it?”  there is perhaps nothing more  frighteningly ingeneous than the rise of  `Deep Fake’

‘`Deep Fake’.–“an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.”

See: How Machine Learning Drives the Deceptive World of Deepfakes

Aside from malicious purposes like spreading misinformation, stealing identities and pushing propaganda, in the context of science communication `Deep Fake’  technology opens the potential  for undermining important public  health science initiatives  and misrepresenting  scientific research findings  especially those that rely  on significant  levels of public/political  support.

They could also pose  a new threat to image fabrication in scientific publications

One of the most famous examples of Deep Fake  involved  former  president Nixon  delivering a  speech  on an  Apollo 11 Mission failure.  While  a speech was written  at the in the event  the mission did fail it was never needed, nor was it ever recorded. The Deepfake video was produced at MIT for educational purposes.

And there have been many other examples of Deep Fakes involving past and present politicians.

Check it out here  along with  some interesting background as to why they did it and further exploration of the Deepfake phenomenon.

Former President Nixon delivering speech on Apollo 11 mission failure 

So how do you spot a `Deep Fake’   image or video. Badly made Deep Fake videos can be fairly easy to pick  but identifying higher-quality Deep Fakes  is not so easy and  advances in technology is making it much more difficult..

Classic tips are:

  • Eye movements that don’t look natural  esp  an absence of blinking
  • Facial-features that look a bit off –Lack of facial movement that mirrors the           emotions of what is being said – “facial morphing” that is off
  • Awkward-looking body, posture or movement.
  • Blurring or misalignment around edges of face, body
  • Strange skin tone, discolouration, weird lighting, and misplaced shadows Hair and teeth that look too ‘perfect’- no flyaway hair or outlines of  teeth .
  • Poor audio   bad lip-syncing, metallic sounding voices,weird word pronunciation.
  • Zoom in and/or slow down image video on large monitor. Focus on the lips  to check  for poor lip synching.
  • Reverse image searches. Grab  an individual frame from video  and do a reverse image search on Google (see earlier blog) .This can help find  similar videos online to help determine if an image, audio, or video has been altered in any way.

See also the following online tools:

If you want to test your own ability to detect Deep Fake images  check out:
Detect Fakes – North Western University Kellogg School of Management Project

And their research paper:
Deep Fake detection by human crowds, machines, and machine-informed crowds 

However, researchers believe that in  the very near future  Deep Fakes will be so advanced  the  mentioned above will be overcome and that critical thinking  skills  like those we have  explored in previous blog posts will become of paramount importance. Such as asking ourselves questions like:

  • Is  what happened in video something believable ( esp in the context of the person portrayed?
  • It what he/she saying  in line with what they have said before?
  • What is the reliability of the source where was this video was  published?
  • Has any major major newspaper /reliable news source also mentioned the video?

There are of course positive applications of recent advances in Deep Fake technology:

  • Recasting movies using other actors, or younger versions of the same actor.
  • Education – Bringing history to life in new ways. e.g The Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, Florida has used a controversial artificial intelligence technique to “bring the master of surrealism back to life”.
  • Educating people in a more interactive way by automatically generating lecture videos from text-based content or audio narration.
  • Health and disabilities-  Help patients who have lost motor, speech or visual abilities through neurogenerative disease or injury communicate better.
  • Media and communications – Better  voice transfer and lip-syncing algorithms can could give  media correspondents the ability to easily translate and dub recorded messages into a foreign language more quickly  bringing important messages to an international audience.

One thing is for sure Deep Fake is here to stay.

So keep those critical thinking skills honed and apply them regularly while surfing the web and social media.

 

Bias, Agenda & Opinion- How to spot it.

Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

In earlier posts we have highlighted how to look for ‘trusted sources’.
In this post we will focus a little more on bias, agenda and opinion and how it might influence the information provided and how it is provided by a source.
Check out these short clips from:

CTRL-F Digital Media Literacy-Verification skills course
• Skill: Advanced Wikipedia: Bias and Agenda
• Check the Claim with Jane Lytvynenko

You may also find the links below from University of Wisconsin and American Public University Library interesting and useful. They have lots of useful tips and hints for you to employ when doing your research

• Identifying Bias

No post on bias, agenda and opinion should be without specific mention of what’s known as ‘Cognitive Bias’

In the words of famous physicist Richard Feynman

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”

(As well as being a theoretical physicist Feynman was known for his engaging and entertaining lectures and he had a unique ability to communicate complex scientific ideas to a general audience making him one of the most popular and beloved science communicators of his time.)

 

                                    So, what is ‘Cognitive Bias’?

Psychologist Kia-Rai Prewitt, PhD, describes it thus
“If we have a cognitive bias, we may interpret information based off of our own beliefs and experiences. And sometimes, the ways that we interpret that information may or may not be accurate.”

Check out her article Cognitive Bias 101: What It Is and How To Overcome It where she also gives examples of each.

See also

In our search for what may be ‘true’ knowledge an awareness of bias and how it may manifest itself is key to effective research.

2023 Student Short Science Films

Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Science Academy 2023 Science Film students were tasked with making a short 3–4-minute film on an aspect of science close to their heart using only their cell phones and i-movie software.  They were introduced to science filmmaking techniques over four 90-minute workshops at our January Science camp. They then planned and developed their ideas between January and July camps and shot the footage they needed in their home area, completing final editing during a further four 90-minute workshops during our July Science camp. The project was tutored by Max Balloch, Otago University Science Communication and Philosophy  student and an alumnus of the Science Academy. Max is also an award winning podcaster.

Check out our 2023 student  films by clicking on the titles below

Adventures and the Magic Rocket Ship

Science Film Tutor’s Top Film

 

Alysssa Burt
Motueka High School

Erylle Del Mundo
Maniototo Area School,

 

 

 

 The Resilience of Time

Science Academy Director’s Top Film

 

Gian Hall
TKKM o te ngati kahungunu ki te wairoa

 

 

The Great Ocean Garbage Patch

Nathan Elliot
Murchison Area School

Amber Fissenden
Kaikoura High School

 

 

Algae Just Want to Have Fun

Jess Quinlan
Te Aho o te Kura Pounamu

Phoebe Mulry-Climpson
Golden Bay High school

 

 

Just Science Facts (Nothing Else, Pinky Promise!)

Annalise McDonnell
Queens High School

Kate Hayward
Queens High School

 

 

 

Psych Show

Maia Rakete-Gray
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti

Ella Watts
Queen Charlotte College

 

 

Caffeine- How it keeps Us Going.

Cian O’Brien
Stratford High School

Sandee Barroga
Maniototo Area School

 

 

Trips over Trappist

Ashton Hasler
Ellesmere College

Caspar Denyer
Kaikati College

 

 

 

The Truth is Out There!… But Can You Find it?

Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

It’s no secret that the amount of misinformation and dis-information on the internet is increasing exponentially. Many young people struggle to evaluate information successfully (Osborne et al 2022)

This is the first in a series of Blog posts exploring a range of techniques that strive to identify mis/disinformation in the course of online research.

 

1. Wikipedia: Worthwhile or Worthless source?

You are quite likely you have been told by your teacher “Don’t use Wikipedia?”

Reasons often given are …………………..

  • Questionable Reliability:

It’s not always accurate

  • Susceptibility to Bias:

As anyone can create and/or edit Wikipedia articles we know nothing about the contributors or whether they have specific agenda.

  • Vandalism and Hoaxes:

Sometimes articles are vandalised for fun or written by individuals with a particularly strong viewpoint or agenda.

Won’t the same issues apply if we just did a google search on a new topic we want to explore?

If our goal is to find reliable information and sources on our topic are we ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’ by slamming the door on Wikipedia completely?

Let’s remind ourselves on what Wikipedia is and how it works.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopaedia founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001 and run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Content is written collaboratively by its users with the goal of striving to provide accurate information from a neutral point of view on any topic covered.   Contributors to the site are governed by 10 Rules and Five pillars.

Wikipedia is the 7th most visited website on the Internet at time of writing and its reach is increasing (Zickuhr& Raine 2011).

While some teacher’s may disapprove of its use, studies have shown that a teacher’s disapproval of Wikipedia has little effect on whether student uses it (Chung 2012).

Let’s be honest, we’ve all used it!

So, let’s look at some of the Pros:

  • It is a great starting point for research with citation links that point to further sources, many peer-reviewed.
  • Wikipedia strives to police itself efficiently and correct factual errors as promptly as possible.
  • Articles are timely and can be updated without waiting for a new print edition.
  • Wikipedia has the potential to contribute to how students learn to think critically about sources and develop the skills to differentiate between knowledge that is supported by reliable evidence and unverified narratives.

Let’s be clear, I’m not saying you should be citing Wikipedia as your primary source but as a first stop it can provide links to peer-reviewed   research and help with identifying other keywords for exploring the topic further. It also has the potential to be a tool in helping us determine the veracity of other sites and help spot mis/disinformation.

Echoing the thoughts of Piotr Konieczny in his study ‘Teaching with Wikipedia in a 21st century classroom: Perceptions of Wikipedia and its educational benefits’ “educators and librarians need to provide better guidelines for using Wikipedia, rather than prohibiting Wikipedia use altogether”

To that end, check out these two YouTube clips for tips on how to use Wikipedia, despite its limitations, and make up your own minds as to whether it’s a useful research tool.

One is from a Washington State University Digital literacy Expert  and the other from two reporters specializing in debunking fake news on the internet, formerly from  the Pulitzer Prize Winning and now defunct Buzzfeed News.

Think about the techniques they outline, try them out, and make up your own minds as whether Wikipedia could be ONE potentially useful tool in your research arsenal for debunking mis/disinformation.

In future posts we’ll explore other tools and techniques for spotting mis/disinformation when researching online sources.

Any tips and comments from students and teachers  on techniques you use welcomed.

References:

Chung, Siyoung. 2012. “Cognitive and Social Factors Affecting the Use of Wikipedia and Information Seeking.” Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology 38 (3)

Osborne, J., Pimentel, D., Alberts, B., Allchin, D., Barzilai, S., Bergstrom, C., Coffey, J., Donovan, B., Kivinen, K., Kozyreva. A., & Wineburg, S. (2022). Science Education in an Age of Misinformation. Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Piotr Konieczny. Teaching with Wikipedia in a 21st-century classroom: Perceptions of Wikipedia and its educational benefits. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2016.

Zickuhr, Kathryn; Lee Rainie, 2011. “Wikipedia, past and present.” PEW Internet and American Life Project Survey, Jan 13, 2011.