By reading the article, True or Not?, I will examine the text and answer the questions below based on what I learned.
1. Can we define what it means to be information literate?
To be information literate, a person must know how to sift through information and discover what can be considered true and what can be consider false. While the internet is a great tool, it can also become a weapon of destruction when a person reads something as true when in reality what they read was false. One of the things to think about when reading articles on the internet is that people do not need and editing to publish works on the web, like they would if they were publishing in a journal of a book. So many times articles on the internet may be written and edited by the same person who may write about something false. There are many steps a person can take to make sure that the information a person finds on the internet is true.
2. Can we teach our students to have the skills essential to information literacy?
I think that as teachers it is our job to teach students the skills essential to be information literate. Students are usually very excited about learning new things, especially when it comes to technology. Some of the most important skills that teachers can teach their students are:
- Who’s weighing in?
- Who’s setting the record straight?
- What do other sources say?
- Who’s behind the chart?
If students become proficient in learning these skills, they can be considered information literate.
3. Can we truly prepare students to be effective users of the most powerful medium?
I definitely believe that we as teachers can teach our student to use the most powerful medium, the internet, we just have to take steps in making sure that all the students understand what exactly happens on the internet with information and all the precautions necessary to be safe on the internet.
What else to look at?
- This blog gives a nice summary of students and teaching them to be information literate on the internet.
http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.asp
- Snopes is a great website designed to give the truth about new information found on the web.
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency
- There is a little article in here about information literacy.
teacheroliviadejanvier 
Snopes website rocks. I always hope that what I am reading is accurate. thank you for reminding me about this website, I need to check it more often for inaccuracies!
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I like your posting. It shows you spent some time defining these important terms for yourself, as well as providing some relevant hyperlinks to support your argument. One might almost argue that your metaphor as a weapon of destruction could also mean a, “weapon of distraction,” particularly when the individual isn’t information literate. Again, nice posting.
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