I can honestly say that I could not recall what, who, or how World War I (WWI) actually started. That is until last night as I was browsing my Facebook news feed and happened across the post with all the details of how and why WWI began! (I am a closet history junkie, BTW)
It didn't matter to me that it was midnight and I really needed to get to bed. The post, The man who started WWI: 7 things you didn't know written by Tim Butcher for CNN.com, took me on a journey through various other blogs and articles by historians in regards to WWI. What I learned through social media today was that a 19 year old boy, Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife from a Balkan street corner in Sarajevo. His actions set off a chain of events that Princip could not have imagined. He was only acting as a supporter of a group of activists wanting unification of all local Slav people in Bosnia. Butcher wrote: "Their dream was to drive out the Habsburg occupier, so shooting the Archduke was seen as a "grand gesture" to inspire others to rise up against the foreign power.
Aha…So that was what happened. The article goes on to list more detailed information about alliances, country borders, battles, leaders, and more. It really was a great article on CNN. Oh, and his nephew, Nikola Princip, 81, lives in Sarajevo is still alive! (The Huffington Post)
When I first saw the post I didn't immediately start fact checking, I took it as fact. After reading that entire article, multiple clicks and articles later, I took the time to do a bit google research. Only to find that every major network from BBC to NBC to The Huffington Post was running pieces about the 100th anniversary to the start of WWI.
Social media site can be credible sources for obtaining information but every reader should take the extra steps to verify what form of content they are reading to understand the purpose behind the article, info graphic, or video before sharing it. (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2010) Readers can do this by paying attention to the source they received the information from; the person, company, or interest group that originally posted the information and use some common sense. Unless it is someone posting yet another funny info graphic about cleaning your house while children are still living in it; take the news and information on ones news feed with a grain of salt.
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References
Butcher, T. (June 28, 2014). The man who started WWI: 7 things you didn't know. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/27/opinion/7-things-gavrilo-princip-man-who-started-wwi/index.html?sr=fb062814WWI2pVODtopLinkhttp://cnn.it/1iPlmNc
Robins-Early, N. and Maisel, M. (June 27, 2014). The Man Who Ignited WWI has a Nephew Who's Still Alive (And Other Crazy Great War Facts). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/world-war-one-crazy-facts_n_5534822.html
Kovach, B. and Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How To Know What's True In The Age Of Information Overload. New York, Bloomsbury USA.
Thank you for this post. I had no idea what started WWI or WWII. We can get all kinds of news from social media and you are right, we should still always fact check. Usually the links lead to articles from credible sources, instead of having to search for it, most of the time is just pops up on our feeds.
ReplyDeleteI have been enjoying seeing the historic posts on social media, particularly during major anniversaries or events. Social media has sort of popularized learning history by making it easy to digest and share. I really like how the New York Times will post images of the print papers at the time. For instance, for the WW1 anniversary, the NYT's posted the front page of the New York Herald, which published in Europe throughout WW1. I love sharing these posts.
ReplyDeleteI'm really in to history as well. I actually first found out about the start of WW1 after reading "Ragtime." The book ends with the archduke being assassinated, but it doesn't go into any detail about the war, he was just really good friends with Houdini, also a character in the book — it's pretty funny and interesting how E.L. Doctorow uses historic events to tell interesting stories. A more detailed one on WW1 is Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants," — it is a historical fiction but you cab learn a lot about the major historical events and some very compelling narrative with realistic characters.
It's interesting because while it is a fictional story, I know Follett does major research for his books, meticulously coming as close to the real thing as possible. So even though I'm reading fiction, I feel I trust the accuracy of the source more so than some text books on history.
Ragtime, too, but to a lesser extent.
My point is, to cut back on having to research every fact you read, I find it helpful to find trusted sources. Publications, writers, that you can come back to time and again for accurate information — while still always being on the look out for red flags that could spot a mistake or misleading detail that you can research further.
I find it so easy to come across a random article posted on Facebook and then spend a lot of time reading a story I never would have come across if it weren't for social media. I'm glad to hear we have some history buffs in the class.
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