I found many similarities between Deedee’s post for task 9 (Golden Record Network) and my own as we both manipulated the nodes to better analyze the visual data. One aspect of Deedee’s analyses that stood out to me was the level of investigation as Deedee had read the posts made by classmates for the same task to analyze their reasons for choosing their songs. I think this was a great example of deep sleuthing as she used multiple sources of information to gain a better understanding of why such connections were made. I was also impressed that she broke the groups down even smaller than I had to further clarify the connections of song choice.
I agree with Deedee that when we have access to more and more information, it can assist with further analyzing a topic. I think that this holds true for any situation and especially in the context of education. I often encourage students to question what they are learning in school and strive to go deeper beyond the lessons and material they are presented with to help with their understanding and to make new discoveries. A lack of obtaining enough information can easily mislead us and others into believing what is promoted on social media and in the news. Topics such as climate change and vaccination are both great examples of how misinformation can create havoc and confusion among the general public.
Claiming that vaccines cause autism is a good example of how a lack of information can mislead. Many years ago a study that appeared to conclude that vaccinations could lead to autism became very popular in the news media outlets. As it turns out, the study never actually supported a link between autism and vaccines, but one of the researchers involved falsely claimed it did on television which resulted in several celebrities relaying this information and therefore influencing the general public because of their social status. Despite all of the corrections and further studies that support that there was indeed no link between autism and vaccinations, it is still believed to be true because of the false claim that was made over 20 years ago!
References
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. (2021). Do Vaccines Cause Autism? The History of Vaccines. https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/do-vaccines-cause-autism