淺談「假新聞」

最近上課時學到一個新單字「positionality」，讓我想到當前社群媒體上，不停看到的「fake news」——假新聞。

簡言之，「positionality」(位置性) 被定義為於種族、階級、性別、性取向以及能力等狀態中，創造你身分的社會與政治背景。位置性還描述了你的身分如何影響你對世界的理解與看法，以及潛在的偏見。

positionality 位置性；定位
https://terms.naer.edu.tw/detail/3390885/
https://www.lexico.com/definition/positionality

以下是我對「positionality」與 「fake news」的些許觀點：

“Fake news” has permeated all facets of life, ranging from social media interaction to presidential elections. Fake news can be defined as “fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in organizational process or intent” (Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1094). The creators and outlets of fake news do not ensure the accuracy and credibility of information, but rather disseminate misinformation or disinformation for purposes ranging from personal amusement to creating deceptions to achieve political aims. At times, fake news is created and disseminated by state or non-state actors using social media accounts and networks of bots designed to hijack feed algorithms of platforms such as Twitter or Facebook (Prier, 2017, p. 54). In the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Facebook estimated that up to 60 million bots were used to post political content. Some of the same bots were then used in an attempt to influence the 2017 French election (Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1095). Such campaigns can be understood as a form of information warfare, a comprehensive attempt to control and influence every facet of the information supply chain, thereby influencing public opinion and behaviors. (Prier, 2017, p. 54). Often, fake news is not directly created by actors that seek to manipulate but by journalists or content creators whose content favors or aligns with the narratives of these actors (Doshi, 2020).

從社群媒體的互動到總統選舉，「假新聞」（fake news）已滲透至生活的各個層面。假新聞可被定義為「在形式上而非組織過程或意圖上，模仿新聞媒體內容所捏造的資訊」（Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1094）。無論是出於個人愛好或為達政治目的而有所欺瞞，假新聞的製造者與傳播管道並不保證資訊的準確性與可信度，反而是為了散播錯誤訊息（misinformation）或扭曲訊息（disinformation）。有時，假新聞是由國家或非國家行為者（state or non-state actors）所製造與傳播，藉由社群媒體帳號及網絡機器人來劫持諸如臉書與推特等平臺的推送演算法（Prier, 2017, p. 54）。在2016年的美國總統大選中，臉書估計有多達６千萬個機器人被用來發布政治貼文。其中，有部分機器人被用於影響隔年的法國大選（Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1095）。此類行動可視為資訊戰（information warfare）的一種形式，一種對控制與影響資訊供應鏈各環節的全面嘗試，從而影響公眾輿論與行為（Prier, 2017, p. 54）。假新聞通常是由記者或內容創造者（content creators）所創造，而非試圖操弄的行為者，前者的內容偏好符合後者的敘事（Doshi, 2020）。

Nevertheless, while the term “fake news” is commonplace, there is no universal, measurable way to quantify the fakeness or truthfulness of news. There are many fact-checking and media-bias detection tools, but they cannot objectively detect and clarify the more subtle and nuanced aims of manipulative actors that play a crucial role in news production. It can also be argued that the veracity of news depends not only on the actors that seek to manipulate it, but also on the positionality of its consumers. Therefore, one’s initial line of defense against misleading news lies not in the plethora of fact-checking devices but more in one’s pre-existing dispositions and skills to think and act in response to misleading information. This ability can be referred to as critical thinking, which can be more concretely expounded as “reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do” (Ennis, 2011, p. 15).

然而，即便「假新聞」一詞隨處可見，卻沒有統一、可衡量的方式來量化新聞的虛假性或真實性。目前有許多事實查核與媒體偏見檢測工具，但它們無法客觀地檢測與說明行為操弄者更狡猾、更細緻的目標，而這些操弄者往往在新聞的生產中發揮著重要作用。我們也可以說，新聞的真實性不僅取決於試圖操弄它的行為者，同時還取決於新聞受眾的位置性。因此，一個人對抗誤導性新聞的第一道防線，不在於這些五花八門的事實查核方式，反而在於個人所固有的性格，以及針對誤導性資訊的思考與行動等相關技能。這種能力可稱為批判性思考（critical thinking），意即「專注於決定相信什麼或做什麼的理性思考與反思性思考」（Ennis, 2011, p. 15）。

Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China (ROC), is at the forefront of information warfare. It is wedged between the geopolitical struggles of global and regional hegemonies such as the United States and China, the People's Republic of China (PRC). Compounding the matter are the Taiwan’s own political actors vying for influence and power. This struggle seeps into all aspects of life and practice, mainly manifesting itself on social media, a battleground of information warfare. The Ministry of Education of Taiwan is cognizant of these information campaigns, and efforts have been made to introduce media literacy into all parts of its education system. According to the ministry, the government has tried to promote media literacy education since 2000 (MOE, 2002, p. 1), with one of its primary goals to cultivate its “citizens” abilities for independent learning, critical thinking, and problem solving” (MOE, 2002, p. 2).

臺灣，也被稱為中華民國，正處於資訊戰的最前線。這是全球霸權與地區霸權之間——如美國與中國（中華人民共和國）——的地緣政治對抗。使問題惡化的是臺灣自身的政治行動者對影響力與權力的奪取。這場對抗遍布於現實生活的各個面向，主要於社群媒體中——資訊戰的戰場——展露無遺。臺灣的教育部注意到了這些資訊的煙硝，並已努力將媒體素養引入其教育體系。據該部稱，自2000年以來，政府一直試圖推展媒體素養教育（MOE, 2002, p. 1），其主要目標之一是培養「公民獨立學習、批判性思考以及解決問題的能力。」（MOE, 2002, p. 2）。

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上述段落認為，由於個人的位置性(positionality)，「假新聞」極難定義。此外，有許多人把不符合自身成見與偏好的新聞逕斥為假新聞。這其實相當危險，因為個人觀點將會變得愈發孤立與激進。

閱聽人應意識到，他們在網路上看到的每個資訊都有特定立場。是否真有毫無立場的新聞文章？為了對抗操弄性或強制性資訊（coercive information），我們必須意識到權力於個中的作用，以及我們自身的位置性如何形塑我們的詮釋。這是我們的第一道防線。

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參考文獻

Doshi, R. (2020, January). China steps up its information war in Taiwan. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved March, 21, 2021, from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2020-01-09/china-steps-its-information-war-taiwan

Ennis, R. H. (1985). A logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills. Educational leadership, 43(2), 44-48.

Lazer, D. M., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., ... & Zittrain, J. L. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380), 1094-1096.

MOE (Ministry of Education), Taiwan. (2002). White paper on media literacy educational policy. Retrieved March, 21, 2021, from http://english.moe.gov.tw/public/Attachment/ 2122416591771.pdf

Prier, J. (2017). Commanding the trend: Social media as information warfare. Strategic Studies Quarterly: SSQ, 11(4), 50-85.

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教育時評: http://bit.ly/39ABON9

相關詞彙: https://bit.ly/2UncrfI

TED相關影片: https://bit.ly/3BDsDKl

[專頁公告] 英文學習「生態系」更新

English Learning Ecosystem Update

As I began exploring Instagram, I struggled to find a way to deliver useful academic content. Instagram posts typically focus on images, short clips, and concise text, which are attention grabbing but not always entirely conducive to language learning. I looked over the posts of established Instagram English learning accounts, and experimented with vocabulary posts and even news posts for a couple of weeks. Not wanting to post just images, I thought about creating something new even with the rigid format of the platform.

當我開始研究怎麼用IG，我想盡了各種辦法，希望能提供大家一些實用的學術內容。 IG 的特色著重在圖片、短片以及簡潔的文字，這樣的方式雖然很容易引人注目，卻不全然有助於語言學習。我瀏覽了 IG 上英文教學網紅的貼文，並在這幾週嘗試發了一些學術單字與新聞相關的文章。我並不想只是發一些圖片，而思考著要如何在既有框架下創作一些新的東西。

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A tenet of using tech in education is to engage students with what they are familiar with, not give them an entirely new platform that is difficult to use. So, how could I create a new series of Instagram posts that is both educational and unique? I thought about my goal to disseminate academic English resources, and how I could leverage my experience as a curriculum writer and voice recording artist for public school textbooks.

一個使用科技進行教育的原則是用學生熟悉的方式與他們互動，而非用了全新的平台卻使他們難以學習。那麼，我應該如何創作獨特且具教育意義的一系列全新 IG 發文呢？我想到了我傳遞學術英文資源的目標，以及思考到該如何發揮身為教科書編輯者與音頻錄製者的經驗。

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So far, this is what I have at the moment. I will post Word of the Day (每日一詞), high frequency vocabulary words that you see in academic texts and sometimes on the news. These Tier 2 academic vocabulary words are not exclusive to a single domain and complement the theme-based approach I’ve taken with my mind-mapping vocabulary class. You can find other vocabulary learning methods here.

這是我目前所想到的內容：我會發布「每日一詞」，也就是學術文章或是新聞中有時出現的高頻字彙。這些Tier 2學術詞彙並不限於單個領域，更補充了我在心智圖詞彙攻略課程中採用的主題式學習法。你還可以在下面網站找到其他詞彙學習方法。

🎓 詞彙學習方法：http://bit.ly/2JGXKvK

In these posts, I added the pronunciation, collocation, and example sentences of each word for students. These words will be helpful to university-level students who often read academic texts and the news. Students can access them by simply clicking on the hashtag 學術英語單字.

在這些貼文中，我為學生提供了發音、搭配用法和例句。這些單字會對經常閱讀學術文章和新聞的大學程度學生有所幫助。學生只要點貼文上的＃學術英語單字即可看到貼文。

🎓 學術英文單字: https://bit.ly/3cxH091

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To help students use more precise and common academic phrases, I then added Academic Phrases (每日一句), set phrases that appear in both academic speech and writing. These phrases have varying functions from introducing a topic to comparing and contrasting ideas. There is a difference between speech and writing, so I picked words that could be used for both. If one is used only in a specific context, I will make note of it in the video recording. This series of posts will help students with language output, and can be found under the following hashtag 學術英語片語.

為了幫助學生使用更精準、更道地的常見學術用語，我們接著會進入「每日一句」，也就是在學術演說與寫作中常見的用語。這些片語具有不同的功能，範圍涵蓋介紹主題到比較、對比想法等等。而演講和寫作之間也有不同，所以我選擇了都可以使用的片語。如果只能在特定情況下使用，我會在影片中特別說明。該系列文章將會幫助學生提高語言輸出能力，可以在 # 學術英語片語找到。

🎓 學術英文片語: https://bit.ly/3aqaQcP

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Last, I will follow up with an abridged version of breaking news (時事英文) with high frequency collocations and audio recordings. This will provide students with the input of not only individual words, but how to use them in output (speech and writing) with context. While all these news posts might seem independent at first, I will eventually link and organize them by theme when there are enough posts. Along with my news class, these extra posts will help students stay aware of current events, acquire set phrases used in journalism, and develop critical thinking. These posts can currently be found under the hashtag EEL時事英文.

最後，我們會跟進精簡版的「時事英文」，其中包含高頻搭配詞與錄音資料。這些內容不僅可以提供你們輸入單字，而且可以幫助你們知道如何搭配情境輸出，再將這些內容使用在口說與寫作中。這些貼文一開始雖然看似獨立，當素材足夠後我會再將他們進行連結與整理。這些貼文和我的新聞課程將幫助學生維持對時事的敏銳度，掌握新聞中使用的固定用法，並養成批判性思維。這些貼文目前可以在 # EEL時事英文。

🎓 批判性思考問題大全: http://bit.ly/34rdtJ7

🎓 EEL時事英文: https://bit.ly/36tDusv

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There is a lot more I want to do to create an ecosystem of free academic English learning materials. I will continue modifying our post format to meet your needs, but these are my plans for Instagram thus far. Join us on our journey to make bilingual academic English resources more readily available to all! Let’s continue to learn and grow together!

建立免費的學術英文學習系統是件大工程，我會持續修改我們發文的格式以符合你們的需求與習慣，這些只是我目前 IG 學術英語學習計畫的一部分。加入我們的旅程來讓雙語的學術英文資源更加普及！讓我們一起學習與成長！

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🎓 學術英文單字: https://bit.ly/3cxH091

🎓 學術英文片語: https://bit.ly/3aqaQcP

🎓 EEL時事英文: https://bit.ly/36tDusv

🎓 批判性思考問題大全：http://bit.ly/34rdtJ7

🎓 該如何學習英文？http://bit.ly/3inxdCP

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