Fact Check.Org - Truth vs. Facts

Fact Check.org is a nonprofit, nonpolitical resource for citizens that have learned to verify before trusting anything from a political, corporate or public resource.

Funded by the Annenberg Center on Public Policy and located at the University of Pennsylvania, Fact Check.org evaluates the truthfulness of statements made by politicians, advocacy groups (both politically left and right) and other organizations that use the media to advance their message. It accepts no monitary donations.

On the day that I visited there was an explanation that a false e-mail is being circulated that members of Congress don't pay Social Security taxes. The site provides the documentation to validate that members of Congress do indeed pay Social Security taxes and can received benefits.

Another section deals with the claim that the Republicans created the Department of Homeland Security when in fact the White House resisted the departments creation. Again there is documentation to support that fact.

The Democrates do not get off easy either, they ran an web video that associated terrorism with undocumented workers. The video has since been removed.

With the political season about to begin this site is a necessary resource.
http://factcheck.org

Hindsight Is A Wonderful Thing...

I'm excited, new school year, getting closure to my goal of graduation. I gave the first of my presentations to the Lib 104 class.

Yikes! The class must have thought I was a nut job. I was talking really fast and presented a lot of topics without enough explanation. Here is the thing. I knew what I wanted to say. I did say it but I discovered I did it backwards. I either talk too much or too fast.

Doing presentations is hard. But learning to give presentations is an important part of the program. It is also a part of the library assistant's job when you have to explain concepts to patrons and/ co-workers.

The only way to learn how to do them perfectly is to muck up once in a while and then find the help that you need. So after beating myself up for a few minutes, the length of a 25 minute bus ride, I think I can find some help.

The first place I checked out was Ask Oxford's section on giving presentation. Very helpful.

Another page on Oral Presentation Skills by Mark D. Hill had a section on Academic Interview Talks which kinda matched what I was trying to do in format. I'm sleeping with that printout.

Guy Kawasaki is one of the pioneers of computing. He was around when Apple computers were just being born and is well known in computer land. Guy is also a great writer and speaker. He gives great tips on his blog.

Finally, from an unexpected source, Dyslexia at College has a really neat page on helping dyslexic give presentations. It is a brief, step by step guide. I don't have Dyslexia (I think) but it really made a lot of sense to me.

So here is what I should have done:

1. Slow down. I had twenty minutes. I used 15 of them.
   
2. Ask the question "How many folks know what a blog is and have you been to one? I did do this but asked at the end of my presentation. I could have helped people understand better what blogging is and gave a better foundation for the talk.
   
3. Give an overview of what blogging is and show a few examples.
4. Introduce the PCC Library Tech blog
5. Explain why it is important for my classmates to know how to do this, and more importantly what is the return on the investment. Like job opportunities, networking, skill building, gaining information. The good stuff.
   
6. Ask for their contribution to the blog.
7. Offer to train anyone that wants to learn how to blog. It really doesn't take a lot of time.

Now that I have my tools in place I will be ready for the next classes. I can't promise that I will slow down, (I can try) but I do think it will be different.

I hope. If you were in the Lib 104 class and actually followed up on the "unofficial homework" please leave me a comment. Just click the comment link down below and you can tell me what you experienced.