At the beginning of class, Dr. Holt asked the class if they had any questions related to the midterm. She also mentioned that she added the titles of the documents onto the exam, but she also said that students must know the sources’ time periods. Professor Holt also reminded students to sign up for their Wikipedia posts by class Friday (10/4). She also announced that there is no HAP due Friday, but students must bring their laptops to class for a Wikipedia workday. Afterward, Shane presented his LA in the News on protests occurring in Haiti. Then, Holt presented infographics on which Wikipedia pages receive the most views.
The historical questions discussed in class were: “What is public history and why is it important?,” “Who reads Wikipedia and what do they read about?,” and “What sources do and do not meet Wikipedia’s criteria?” In class, these questions were discussed in relation to the websites for Granma and the Cuban American National Foundation. Both websites presented information on Cuban news and affairs. Also, both websites served as examples of our main class discussion on how biases may be present in certain sources of information. For instance, the class looked at the about pages for both websites and discussed the biases present in both pages. Also, the class discussed how the different aesthetics on both websites are likely catering to different audiences.
Key Terms:
- Plagiarism: the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.
- Granma: The official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. It is also the name of the yacht that carried Fidel Castro and 81 other rebels to Cuba’s shores in 1956, launching the Cuban Revolution.
- The Cuban American National Foundation: An organization with a commitment to bring freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights to Cuba.
Links:
- https://ncph.org/
- http://en.granma.cu/
- https://www.canf.org/
- https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/14/wikipedia-at-15/
Questions:
- How is the information presented on Granma’s website and the Cuban American National Foundation’s website to promote either website’s agenda?
- How is it possible to look for and identify biases within a source and determine whether information from a biased source should still be used on Wikipedia?
- What kinds of cultural and political influences could the Granma website or the Cuban American National Foundation website have?