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Information and Media Literacy: How to Spot the Good, the Bad, and the Just Plain Ugly

Information and media are everywhere, and it can be hard to keep up with, let alone to ensure the news you are receiving is accurate. This guide is designed to encourage you to examine the information you receive and feel you can determine its quality.

Altered Images and Video

Images can evoke powerful emotions without any words. These days, computer users can create, alter, and share images and video fairly easily. Users can program artificial intelligence (AI) to create images based on certain parameters such as a style of art, film, or photography. As a savvy searcher, there are often ways you can tell whether an image or video you see online is an original photograph captured from real life or if it has been changed. The tutorials below may help you to determine the differences just by close observation and by using online tools to locate source material.

There are numerous apps and websites that search for images online (often referred to as a "reverse image search," since you are providing an image to a search engine and are looking for the original). Below is a brief list of some free possibilities.