Fake News! Is this Real?
Meet the Professors!
photo credit: (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times)
Two University of Washington Professors are taking aim at Fake Data in a provocative new course. Read the Seattle Times Article describing their goals and rational. Then check out the course materials (as they stand now) on the website below!
- UW Class/Seattle TimesTwo University of Washington professors are taking aim at BS in a provocatively named new course they hope to teach this spring. The professors would like to push the course materials online — teaching it as a MOOC, for example, a freely available course taught over the web.
- Calling BullshitWhat do we mean, exactly, by bullshit and calling bullshit? As a first approximation:
Bullshit involves language, statistical figures, data graphics, and other forms of presentation intended to persuade by impressing and overwhelming a reader or listener, with a blatant disregard for truth and logical coherence.
Calling bullshit is a performative utterance, a speech act in which one publicly repudiates something objectionable. The scope of targets is broader than bullshit alone. You can call bullshit on bullshit, but you can also call bullshit on lies, treachery, trickery, or injustice.
In this course we will teach you how to spot the former and effectively perform the latter.