S.I.F.T. through all information to determine if it is accurate, reliable, and credible.
STOP
First, when you first hit a page and start to read it — STOP. Ask yourself whether you know and trust the website or source of the information. If you don't, use the other moves to get a sense of what you're looking at. Don't read it or share it until you know what it is.
Second, after you begin the process and use the moves it can be too easy to go down a rabbit hole, chasing after more and more obscure facts or getting lost in a "click cycle".
INVESTIGATE THE SOURCE
The key idea is to know what you're reading before you read it.
Knowing the expertise and agenda of the source is crucial to your interpretation of what they say. Taking sixty seconds to figure out where it is from before reading will help you decide if it is worth your time, and if it is, help you to better understand its significance and trustworthiness.
FIND TRUSTED COVERAGE
Care about the claim the article is making. You want to know if it is true or false. You want to know if it represents a consensus viewpoint, or if it is the subject of much disagreement.
Do you have to agree with the consensus? Absolutely not! But understanding the context and history of a claim will help you better evaluate it.
TRACE CLAIMS, QUOTES, AND MEDIA BACK TO THE ORIGINAL CONTEXT
A lot of things you find on the internet have been stripped of context. Maybe there's a video of a fight between two people. But what happened before that? Who started it? What was clipped out of the video and what stayed in? Maybe there's a picture that seems real but the caption is questionable.
You must trace the claim, quote, or media back to the source, so you can see it in its original context and get a sense if the version you saw was accurately presented.
