You Think You’re Credible?

As I sat in my geography class this morning, I witnessed my professor attempt to be bigger than a geography teacher. We were discussing climate changes and the evidence of such happenings. She began to question us asking, “But, how do you know?” This was a tactic used to get us to attempt to pay attention to our surroundings and data we researched, but really it was about not taking information spoon fed.

When I got home I read chapter 4 of Made to Stick and was ironically struck with the same questions regarding credibility. My professor discussed how scientists, newspapers and other sources of authority are taken as credible because they are seemingly established. However, with issues regarding climate change and global warming, not all the information offered may be as credible as the sources of which it comes.

Chapter 4 discussed Pam Laffin’s battle with the affects of a lifetime of smoking cigarettes. She developed emphysema at age 24 and became a public figure leading the battle against smoking. The chapter suggested that she was a more credible source of information for the affect of smoking than a scientist at a tobacco research institute because she is a first hand user and victim. I made the correlation with the ideas of my geography class in that someone who can see the affects of climate change or global warming may be more credible than Al Gore, regardless of a movie.

Additionally, she offered that the blogging world (woop woop) is playing a major role in disproving information that would be otherwise taken as credible. I can see examples of this in mainly politics and issues of global warming.

After my professors lecture, chapter 4 and various other learning’s I’ve picked up, it is becoming clear to me that the criteria for credibility is shifting. I credit the change mainly to the emergence internet as one of the strongest powers in regards to influence and access of information. With the cyber revolution comes a power to the people, down with authority aspect of individual information gathering. Now that people are coming up with their own ideas based off of information and research they gather, credibility is in the eye of the beholder.

~ by patrickfoulon on May 22, 2008.