Tackling Misinformation and Conspiracies: Information literacy

In November 2020 as part of Saolta with Development Perspectives and Aontas, I was lucky to be given the opportunity to facilitate a workshop Entitled: Development Education: tackling misinformation and conspiracies during a pandemic. The workshop addressed the current state of the seeming growth in misinformation and conspiracies currently facing many societies, how the issue has been exacerbated during Covid 19, the effects that the apparent growth in misinformation and conspiracies has had, and what role development education can play, in particular in the adult and community education space, in tackling the issue.

 

Social Power and Privilege in Society.

Development Perspectives Workshop: Hosted by Stephanie Kirwan and Bobby McCormack.

On Thursday October 26^th last, Stephanie Kirwan and Bobby McCormack, of Development Perspectives, hosted a fascinating workshop in the Carmelite Centre in Dublin City. The workshop focused on ‘power’ and ‘privilege’ in society, specifically the invisibility of power and privilege, and how it creates and maintains particular sets of norms and conventions which sustain unequal access to social capital, and resources.  Under guidance from Bobby and Stephanie, the conversation developed quite organically taking us down an enlightening rabbit hole of issues surrounding topics such as education, social status, language, discourse, rights, duties, obligations, privileges, and responsibilities etc.

There was a broad range of people from different backgrounds in attendance bringing multiple perspectives to the table.

The event inspired me to write about power and privilege in society. So here it is…

(As a quick disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Development Perspectives and the views in this article are entirely my own)

The Road to hell… and all that: how intentionality and social and discursive loci of the words you speak can act as a window onto your values.

Understandings of the concepts of "language" and "discourse" are slaves to what might be called “common sense” – the notion that through adherence to a logic of social norms we might better navigate surrounding social orders. 

“Words are just words”, “sticks and stones…”, “actions speak louder than words”, are generally considered strong guiding principles in relation to people's attitude towards, and understanding of the purpose of language.