The Bullshit Series

On February 7, 2006, the Mount Allison University Libraries presented the first night of "The Bullshit Series." The series was to feature three speakers talking about the prevalence of misinformation, disinformation, lies and just plain BS in the world around us, and providing some strategies for coping. The last speaker in the series, Laura Penny, had to cancel her talk and was not able to reschedule. If you're interested in Laura's thoughts on the topic, have a look at her book, Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit, available in the library at BJ 1421 .P465 2005.

Audio of the two speakers, each with the question and answer period that followed, is available below with brief synopses of the sessions.

Erin Steuter kicked off the series with a talk entitled "Truth, Lies, and Videotape: Media Literacy for Uncertain Times." She focused on the media filters described by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomkey in their book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media and gave examples of how those filters lead to BS in the media.
Listen to Erin Steuter's talk [includes the introduction to the series and to both talks] (MP3 file, 29.9 MB)
Listen to the Q&A (MP3 file, 5.49 MB)

Craig Brett followed with his presentation "Knee Deep in Numbers." He talked about the prevalence of numbers and how and why people use numbers to mislead us. One of his strategies for coping is to try to determine whether a number really is as big (or small) as it appears.
Listen to Craig Brett's talk (MP3 file, 27.1 MB)
Listen to the Q&A (MP3 file, 9.6 MB)

Information Literacy at Mount Allison:

• Home Page
• Statement of Purpose
• Guidelines, Standards & Objectives
• Teaching Information Literacy Skills
• Services for Faculty
  • IL Instruction
  • Workshop Presentations and Handouts
• Services for Students
  • Useful Guides
• Special Activities of the IL Program
  • Information Literacy Super Genius Contest
  • "The Bullshit Series"