Learning in a digital age/LiDA104/Fact checking/History

Digital history can be a valuable resource for fact checking, especially if the past has been recorded and is publicly accessible. In this section we explore the Internet Archive's Wayback machine.

Stimulus resources

• Compare the first edit of the Grape article on Wikipedia with the current version.
• Explore: How 20 popular websites looked when they launched. (2009, September 2). Telegraph.
• Watch the following recording of the 2017 lifetime achievement award presented to the Internet Archive at the 2017 Annual Webby Awards (be sure to watch the video insert around 1:45 mins into the recording).

Internet Archive lifetime achievement award

Activity - Wayback machine

• Read: Using the wayback machine to check for page changes in Caulfield, M. A. (2017). Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers.
• Choose a website, enter the url on the Wayback machine and explore the earliest archive captures of the site you selected.

Share any interesting findings by posting the site you visited, date of the snapshot and what you found on WENotes.

Note: Your comment will be displayed in the course feed.