Wk. 4 - This is not an interview with Banksy & The Tricky Terrain of VR

This is Not an Interview With Banksy

This article was fascinating. On multiple occasions I have seen friends on Facebook share wild stories that seem fabricated and I’ve even seen some friends share articles from obviously fake site. What is interesting is how easily fake news can be disguised and presented to seem real. I think that Horner’s work shows how easily people can be fooled and how fast news can spread on the Internet these days with the explosion of social media sites. Before social media, people got their news from newspapers, magazines, neighbors, TV broadcasts, etc. but now people can check Facebook or Twitter and get all kinds of news updates and stories from not only their city but all over the world.

Horner’s fake news brings to light how easily people will believe things they read or see on the Internet. We tend to just look at one source and take it as is rather than checking other sites or finding other sources to confirm or deny the news story. His fake news also brought out prejudices and showed how they can spread fast depending on the reader’s views of certain people groups or political standing. Dr. Guadagno did a study on why videos go viral. Her research showed that videos that bring out anger are more likely to be shared. Horner definitely plays on people’s emotional responses to his articles, which results in sharing the article on Facebook or other social media sites.

The Tricky Terrain of Virtual Reality

Just like with writing, videos and photographs are never void of the perspective and bias of the photographer or cameraman. Getting true to reality imagery or videos is a challenge that journalism will always face. The issue of honest imagery has become even more concerning with the invention of photo editing software. It is quite easy to adjust an image in Photoshop so that the image omits a few details that then make the image not so honest. This is what I love most about photography- a photo’s ability to show the reality we choose.

It is good to see that the New York Times is taking these issues seriously and that they are working through the ethical questions. As VR and AR technology continue to grow and expand into our lives, it will be detrimental to ensure that the imagery being shown is as unbiased as possible.