First Year Seminar (FYS-101) Research Exercises

Welcome to FYS Research Exercise #5!

Outcomes

When you complete this research exercise, you will be able to:

• Evaluate the authenticity of images at a preliminary level
• Search for images 
  • Find images on the open web that are under Creative Commons licenses for open use (and understand what that means)
  • Find images in library databases
• Search for videos
  • Find videos on YouTube and web resources
  • Find videos in library databases

To complete this Research Exercise, you will take a quiz located under "Course Menu"  and "Quizzes" in your FYS101 Brightspace course.

Evaluating Images for Authenticity

With all the image editing tools available today, it can be hard to know if an image is accurate or has been "doctored" to convey a certain message, especially with historical images. 

For example:

When researching Billie Holiday for FYS Collection 8: Drugs & Disparities, images of the actress who played Billie Holiday in a recent movie will come up when you search for Billie Holiday in Google Images. Be sure to verify the original date of the image and compare it to the years Billie Holiday was alive.

Take the Verifying Content Online Challenge!

This challenge was created by First Draft This link opens in a new window, an organization whose mission is to protect communities from harmful misinformation. They work to empower society with the knowledge, understanding, and tools needed to outsmart false and misleading information. This interactive exercise will help you verify images, places and accounts that you find online. One of the quickest ways to verify content online is by using reverse image search, and a bit of geolocation. We'll need Google Images and Google Maps to complete this challenge, so be sure to have those open and ready in another tab. (This challenge is best on a desktop/laptop) Click on the image below to get started, and keep track of the strategies you learn along the way.

How did you do? Did you get a perfect score? How might you use what you've learned in the future to verify images you see on websites or social media? Let's review the strategies highlighted in the challenge:

Strategies for verifying online images

In this challenge, you are offered both hints and How-to's. Some strategies involved using free online sites. Here's what First Draft says:

Has the image been published online before?

Just like you can ask search engines like Google, Bing or Yandex to check for facts and names, you can also ask them to look for whether an image has been published online before, which will allow you to know the original context of the photo. Here's a quick reminder of one reverse image searching method:

Using just one search engine:

1. Click on the image to open it in your browser, then download it.
2. Open Google Images This link opens in a new window or TinEye This link opens in a new window
3. Upload the photo and ask it to search 
4. Scan the results to see if the image has been published before

Where was the photo/video taken? (Geolocation)

If we look closely, images and videos have lots of little details that can help us determine where they were shot. Geolocation is the practice of looking for these visual clues to help verify a place. It can be a process of elimination, where you start with the whole world as a possibility, and then gradually narrow it down. 

Can you see anything in the image/video that you could search for online to try and find out where it was taken? For examples: businesses, street signs, words/languages, license plates, architecture, clothing, weather appropriate to the time of year, reflections in windows that show words, signs, etc.?

Google Maps This link opens in a new window - Use information observed in the photo to look up precise locations in Google Maps to confirm you're in the correct place.

Why is it important to be able to verify images?

Ever heard this saying before?

(Although often attributed to Fred R. Barnard's December 1921 article in Printer's Ink on the effectiveness of graphics in advertising, he attributed this quote to a Japanese philosopher. Many have found similar quotes prior to 1921 and so the actual origin is unknown.) 

In today's society images and videos are widely used to communicate whether it is SnapChats or Instagram posts, YouTube or TikTok, business logos, news sites, blogs, or instructional texts. With the advent of widely available technology to take and edit photos and videos, images are now able to be easily manipulated to convey desired meanings by their creators, whether that information is true or not. Images have the capacity to quickly transmit information, much faster than reading text. Therefore they may also rapidly spread misinformation, disinformation or malinformation, as we learned in Research Exercise #2. 

Developing skills to quickly verify the validity of images will serve to protect you from those forms of dubious information. Check out the "Want to Learn More?" box at the bottom of this page if you'd like to try more challenges and games recognizing fake from real photos and learning about the algorithms, tools and how they're used to intentionally create false images and how you can learn to recognize them.

Searching for Images

Now that we know more about verifying images, how do we go about finding images that we can use in our FYS101 Final Team Project website?

Copyright, Creative Commons, and Images

• Intellectual Property: Remember, images are like any other work (intellectual property) created by an author/photographer/videographer/musician/artist. If you use someone else's work, you need to cite it. With photos, images, and also videos, it is often best to locate those created by people who have chosen to allow them to be freely shared (with some stipulations in some cases). This is called Open Access.
• Copyright: Most intellectual property is copyrighted giving ownership to the creator, and anyone wanting to use that work needs permission from the creator or publisher (whoever holds the copyright). "Fair Use" is a doctrine that allows some uses of copyrighted content, if cited appropriately. Most non-commercial, educational purposes would fall under "fair use." 
• Creative Commons Licenses: Increasingly today, creators are putting their work under one of several Creative Commons Licenses This link opens in a new window which allow the public to freely use, distribute, remix, adapt, build upon their content to varying degrees particularly in regards to commercial uses. You might select a Creative Commons License for the website you create for your FYS101 Final Team Project to allow others to use the information you curate.
• Searching for Open Access images/videos: When searching for images, you will want to be aware of finding and using them appropriately, especially if you find images/videos on the web. The process to do this with Google Images is explained below. The library has databases that specifically allow students/users to utilize their images for educational purposes without having to get permission from the owners.

Finding Images on the Web

• Google Images This link opens in a new window

  • Probably the most popular source of images for student researchers, Google Images is easy to use, and most images from Google Images may be used for educational purposes under "Fair Use" as long as they are clearly cited and the product created doesn't charge any fee. However, Google Images also allows the user to limit their image results to those under Creative Commons Licenses to minimize copyright conflicts. Here's how:
  • Conduct a search in Google Images
  • When the results come up, click on "Tools" just beneath the right side of the search box
  • Five limiters/filters will appear along the top of the results: Size, Color, Type, Time, Usage Rights
  • Click on "Usage Rights" and a drop-down appears where you may select "Creative Commons licenses" which will narrow the results to those under CC licenses allowing you to use them without writing for permission, but you still need to cite them!

• The Commons This link opens in a new window - Flickr

  • The Commons was launched on January 16 2008, when Flickr released their pilot project This link opens in a new window in partnership with The Library of Congress This link opens in a new window to share hidden treasures from the world's public photography archives. 
  • The program has two main objectives:
    • To increase access to publicly-held photography collections
    • To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge. (Then watch what happens when they do!)

• DEI-Focused Image Collections

  • This page includes a list of open access photo sites focusing on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion where you may find photos to freely use in your FYS Final Team Project Website. This page also lists links to search for images in Museum, Library and News Collections, as well as Government Collections.

Finding Images in Library Databases

• Find Videos and Images

This page has a Multi-Search box for finding videos and images. when you type in a search term, for example Berdache This link opens in a new window (from FYS101 Collection #14 "Transgressions"), it will automatically add to your search term the necessary search phrase to bring up images and videos.

Additionally, it has a drop-down list of library databases that contain videos or images from which you may select and be taken directly to that database's search interface.

• Library Databases containing Images

Below is a list of library databases containing images & videos that might yield the best results for FYS101 Projects.

Searching for Videos

Videos are ubiquitous online today. They are embedded in news sources, and saturate social media, and are the primary content type on sites like YouTube and TikTok. Because most people have a cellphone and therefore the technology to both create and edit videos, they are subject to the same threat of spreading misinformation, disinformation and malinformation as images are, which means users must use the same strategies to SIFT and evaluate video content, creation and purpose.

Finding Videos on the Web

• Google Videos Search This link opens in a new window

After you conduct a search in Google Videos Search, click on Tools and five options will appear in a horizontal line at the top of the results:

• Any duration: Short (0-4 mins); Medium (4-20 mins); Long (20+ mins)
• Any time: Past hour; Past 24 hours; Past week; Past month; Past year; Custom range - You select the date range
• Any quality: Choose any quality or high quality
• All videos: Choose all videos or only those that have closed captioning
• Any source: Select from any of the websites from which videos in your results list come from

• YouTube This link opens in a new window

Most people have searched for videos in YouTube, however, not all have noticed that YouTube provides filters to narrow your results after you have conducted a search in the upper left corner of your screen.

Click on filters and you will be given the following choices:

• Upload Date: Last hour; Today; This week; This month; This year
• Type: Video; Channel; Playlist; Movie
• Duration: Under 4 minutes; 4-20 minutes; Over 20 minutes
• Features: Live; 4K; HD Subtitles/CC; Creative Commons; 360°; VR180; 3D; HDR; Location; Purchases
• Sort By: Relevance; Upload Date; View count; Rating

These filters allow you to choose particular elements that may be important for your FYS101 Final Project website such as length (short preferred); closed-captioned (for accessibility); and perhaps Creative Commons (meaning open access so you can use them on your website without permission).

Most videos on YouTube have transcripts available by clicking on the ellipsis (...) next to SAVE beneath the title. Transcripts allow you to copy and paste if you intend to quote something said in the video. But they also make the video more accessible to those with hearing difficulties.

Click on SHARE and a box of options appear center screen. There will be a link to the video in a box with a COPY option. The first circle under Share says "Embed" which you may click on to obtain the embed code to insert a video into a PowerPoint or into a website. Directions for doing this are available at the link above titled Finding & Using Videos in the Shapiro Library. There is a box to check that says "Start at" next to it where you may enter a timestamp from where you want to start the video in your embedded clip or your linked video.

Open Access Video Sites

These sites may host content or link to content hosted elsewhere and may be supported by advertising or be the official sites for a producer or distributor, or a particular series of videos/TV shows, or a film festival. There will be a wide variety of levels of search filters and search capability, and content might change with films being removed or added at various times. Here are some sites that might be useful for FYS101 research and Final Team Project websites:

• American Indian Film Gallery This link opens in a new window:

  The AIFG presently contains over 450 non-fiction films that range from a 1922 silent newsreel to recent footage of pow-wows and political meetings in 2011, the majority of which date from after World War II up to the advent of portable video. The video age marks a shift from films about Native peoples to films by Native peoples. This allows for the study of Native representation from outside and inside indigenous communities over nearly a century examining historical attitudes, representations, and understandings of indigenous populations across the Americas.

• Civil Rights Digital Library This link opens in a new window:

  The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s is among the most far-reaching social movements in the nation's history, and it represents a crucial step in the evolution of American democracy. The Civil Rights Digital Library helps users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others about the struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s and includes unedited news film, TV archives, educator resources, online articles and multimedia.

• Documentary Heaven This link opens in a new window:

  This site offers documentaries on topics of all kinds. It has a search box for you to type in search terms (try racism, for example) or you may select a subject from their list of "categories" which include topics such as activist or human rights, or gangs.

• Frontline This link opens in a new window

  Frontline, produced by PBS (Public Broadcasting System), describes itself as "investigative journalism that questions, explains and changes our world." Their investigations into difficult stories have resulted in freeing innocent people from jail, reviving terrorism cold cases, and spurring policy and social change. The show has won numerous journalism and broadcasting awards and provides over 200 documentaries online for free as well as several podcasts.

• American Experience This link opens in a new window:

  American Experience, also produced by PBS, "brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today." It includes episodes on subjects such as Jesse Owens This link opens in a new window, The Eugenics Crusade This link opens in a new window, and Freedom Summer This link opens in a new window (10 memorable weeks in 1964 when over 700 student volunteers from across the US joined organizers and Black Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in Mississippi, then one of the nation's most viciously racist segregated states). It also includes digital, interactive, educational experiences like She Resisted: Strategies of Suffrage This link opens in a new window.

• POV (Point of View) This link opens in a new window:

  POV, yet another PBS production, includes both feature-length and short videos, searchable individually or in categories such as Class & Society This link opens in a new window, LGBTQ This link opens in a new window, Race & Ethnicity This link opens in a new window.

• Critical Commons: This link opens in a new window

  Critical Commons is a public media archive and fair use advocacy network that supports the transformative reuse of media in scholarly and creative contexts. Critical Commons is also part of the technical and conceptual architecture of the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture and the electronic authoring/publishing platform Scalar. Professors post media clips for analysis in educational contexts. Try searching for racism This link opens in a new window to get an idea of the ads, clips from TV shows and movies that are posted and are reconsidered by the creators/producers in current context.

• Library of Congress National Screening Room This link opens in a new window:

  The National Screening Room is a free collection of digitized historical films, commercials, newsreels and other clips covering the period from 1890 through 1999, capturing a broad range of American life. The library has the largest archive of moving images in the world. Featured Content on the home page lists videos such as these of particular interest to FYS101 Final Team Project topics:

  • The Second Largest Minority This link opens in a new window about one of the earliest Pride marches in 1968
  • A Time For Freedom This link opens in a new window about the 1957 march on Washington which includes speeches by key civil rights activists
  • The Ordeal of Thomas Moon This link opens in a new window about the struggles of an overweight man.
  • Curated collections called "Expert Resources" include Made to Persuade: Advertising and Promotional Films This link opens in a new window, and Mental Health Films This link opens in a new window, etc.

     

• Internet Archive - Moving Image Archive This link opens in a new window:

  The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, they provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. The Moving Image Archive offers users the ability to download or listen to free movies, films and videos.

Library Video Databases

This page explains about finding, using, clipping, and citing videos from library databases:

• Finding & Using Videos in the Shapiro Library

  • Links to the 4 most widely used video databases
  • Explains how to search for videos using the Multi-Search
  • Includes links showing how to embed or link to videos in a PowerPoint or in Brightspace
  • Links to explainers for creating clips from videos (***Good for your FYS101 Final Team Project websites!!!)
  • Explains how to find video transcripts so you can quote correctly from them
  • Has links explaining how to cite videos in MLA format (and other formats, but FYS101 will use MLA)

• Library Video Databases

FYS Research Exercise #5 Quiz

Please read these directions to access your quiz:

• Click on the link below to be taken to Brightspace in a new tab. This page will remain open.
• Select your FYS101 course
• Select COURSE MENU from the course navigation bar
• Select QUIZZES from the drop down menu that appears
• In the list of Quizzes, select LIBRARY RESEARCH EXERCISE QUIZ #5
• You may use this page to answer the quiz questions.
• You have 2 hours to complete the quiz which is designed to take 10-20 minutes

Want to Learn More?

(Optional)

Want to learn more about verifying the authenticity of images? Try some of these activities, games, and challenges.

Which Face is Real?

Developed by the creators of the Calling Bullshit Project This link opens in a new window, this activity aims to "make you aware of the ease with which digital identities can be faked, and to help you spot these fakes at a single glance." Click on the image below to read about the game, and then click "Play" in the upper right corner to begin.

Manipulated Media

This course by Reuters News Agency titled "Identifying and Tackling Manipulated Media" has three "chapters": Manipulated Media; Identifying Deepfakes; and Tackling Manipulated Media. Each "chapter" has a "Test Yourself" exercise. Click on the image below to get started.

First Draft: Observation Online Challenge

If you like geolocation of images, try this challenge by clicking on the image below.