Blog Assignment 7: To Snopes or Not to Snopes?

After navigating through Snopes.com I noticed that the majority of the articles that are featured are on topics that I've seen floating around on my Facebook feed or possibly emailed to me at some point. The purpose of the site is mainly to "Fact Check" the validity of these topics and headlines. Even though in the About Us section the authors are reported to show their work and how they came to the findings, I would not consider using this site as my sole source since the site was funded "as an expression of his interest in researching urban legends". The site claims to run on its own and have no "business or editorial relationship with any sponsor, political party, religious group, outside business organization, or government agency" and has displays a badge that deems the organization as compliant with IFCN  (International Fact Checking Network) however, if the sources that they use are biased, so can be the findings, therefore I would do further research on the sources used. Snopes.com has a section subheading the About Us section about Topic Selection, where they claim Transparency and claim not impose judgement. According to Snopes.com, the way they chose the topics they will cover depend on the availability of sources they have, how much they can cover and the available staff. I'd never heard of Snopes.com prior to doing this assignment but I found it to be rather useful to get started on brainstorming topics for future assignments or just for fun! It certainly helps that the site has the Transparency policy and they are compliant with IFCN.

Blog Assignment 6: The Sentinel

Although there are different categories in the Sentinel, I mostly focused on reading the News section. I wanted to see what KSU students consider News worthy and also get a feel of what the News on Campus is since I'm an online student. From reading the headlines of some of the articles I got the feeling that the students at KSU are very focused on what is going on within the school, what affects the school directly and its students. Kennesaw State University is a community of its own. Headlines not only showed concern for safety of the students at KSU but also sympathy toward the staff and pride in its security. For example, one article about a man that walked into the military recruiting office across from KSU warned students about the potential danger of this individual and at the same time consoled the students by letting them know that the incident had already been reported to the police. There was also an article about a professor that passed away, the article was heartwarming and emotional and showed how the passing of the professor has affected staff and students alike. Among the articles, I felt a sense of pride when I read the one about KSU police being among the first of the first responders to show up at a deadly plane crash. The article started out describing the sense of urgency KSU police felt to respond when they witnessed what was happening that they wasted no time to make their way to the scene of the accident. All in all, KSU (as I stated before) is a community all of its own, that looks out for its students and staff and that has the interests and safety of those on campus (and off) always in mind.