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Dr. Moe Folk & Dr. Shawn Apostel speak on digital credibility in the cyber age in IGI Global's Emerging Research Trends Program

To Believe or Not to Believe? Digital Ethos on the Internet

By IGI Global on Nov 23, 2016

IGI Global's Emerging Research Trends Program introduces exciting new developments in information science and technology research. Providing direct feedback from the scholars behind the work, this program exposes advanced studies that will determine the future of IS&T investigation and inquiry.

Our first edition of this program features the insight of US scholars Dr. Moe Folk of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Shawn Apostel of Bellarmine University, Kentucky. Editors of the titles Establishing and Evaluating Digital Ethos and Online Credibility and Online Credibility and Digital Ethos: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication, these professors are experts in the investigation of digital ethics and online trust. Dr. Folk and Dr. Apostel recently took some time out of their busy schedules to discuss the key concepts of digital ethos, as well as what the future holds in this concerning area.

IGI Global: What is a good rule of thumb for determining whether a website is a reliable source of information?

Dr. Folk & Dr. Apostel: The classic, book-based criteria of audience, publisher, objectivity, and publication date was the rule-of-thumb when websites first began to propagate, but those standards fall woefully short in today’s social media-based news and information cycles. Back in 2005, we argued in our first article on the topic, “First Phase Information Literacy on a Fourth Generation Website: An Argument for a New Approach to Website Evaluation Criteria” (Computers and Composition Online) that book-based criteria were too restrictive. We also warned readers to beware of single source news stories, to use a triangulation of sources, and to see who is linking to that site. Many of these tools are still helpful today. While most of the information we gather using websites are low-risk (e.g., what actor played the ex-surfer in “The Big Lebowski”), when we are making important decisions, it’s helpful to look at sites that are more neutral, official, and data driven in tone and design, but it’s important not to neglect more idiosyncratic sites and naysayers because their input can be helpful as well. In other words, get comfortable with disagreement.

Please explain the term “Digital Ethos.”

This problem of trusting information is not simply an element of ubiquitous technology so much as it is an ongoing aspect of human nature, one that has been evident since the origins of debate and open societies. For that reason, we find ourselves returning to the ancient concept of ethos because of its flexibility and connection to persuasion in diverse contexts, even digital ones. Given the long tradition of rhetoric as a useful academic discipline, as well as the powerful concepts of ethos related to oratory that were developed by ancient scholars such as Aristotle and Isocrates and further developed over the centuries, ethos has grown to include many different conceptions relating to ethical communication and trust. On the whole, though, many people tend to associate ethos with credibility based on establishing a trustworthy personal character, often using ethos as shorthand for credibility. Though current views of ethos might deviate from classical notions, both classical and emergent notions of ethos provide a powerful, flexible tool to consider nuances of credibility in digital contexts—digital ethos is the means of assessing how word, image, audio, video, and design combine to contribute to trustworthy personas as viewed on our multiple screens.

What are your thoughts on Internet privacy and government regulation? Are you an advocate for increased surveillance or privacy?

The proliferation of online trolling, fake news sources, and hacktivism has led many to call for government regulation of the Internet. While, in the short term, this action seems to be a clear way to stop this intrusion, we feel that government should not increase surveillance. As we’ve learned from the increase of Internet regulations in China and Russia, those who wish to use the Internet in ways unsanctioned by those in authority will find a way to “make do” as de Certeau says. Instead of government regulation, content providers should hold themselves accountable for the information being posted on their sites. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google take action when a large number of users complain or delete their accounts. It’s in their best interest to provide the service their users expect.

How has the issue of online ethos changed in recent years? What changes have you seen take place in the years between the publication of your IGI Global books?

Since the first book came out in 2013, social media plays an even larger role in all aspects of our lives and therefore shapes what people deem credible. Also, online credibility is increasingly affected by the decisions large companies make with regard to how information is shared or viewed. For example, the recent decision by Facebook to alter what shows up in someone’s news feed based on previous clicking behavior can end up shielding people from differing opinions while elevating a singular type of online ethos in terms of content, tone, style, and design. Likewise, the furor over fake news stories about both parties during the 2016 election resulted in Google altering its AdSense policies, meaning that, in effect, Google will be implementing its own set of digital ethos criteria that other people will need to learn and adopt. In short, online ethos is incredibly interesting because it’s always changing.

What do you see for the future of online credibility?

The tension between parameters for credibility that people feel comfortable with navigating inside hyper-specific contexts of their own choosing versus the credibility parameters of wider, more general contexts that people also continually navigate will continue to increase. There will never be a “magical” model of online credibility that works in all contexts; digital texts and the humans that produce and consume them are always adapting and evolving.

Dr. Moe Folk is an Associate Professor of Digital Rhetoric and Multimodal Composition at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He teaches digital rhetoric and writing, technical communication, social media analytics, and multimodal composition. His research interests include teaching writing with technology, multimodal style, digital ethos, technological professional development, and visual rhetoric. His most recent works have appeared in Mobile Technologies for the Writing Classroom (NCTE), Computers and Composition Online, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, and IGI Global.

To Believe or Not to Believe? Digital Ethos on the Internet

Dr. Shawn Apostel is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Instructional Technology Specialist at Bellarmine University where he provides support to faculty and IT to facilitate online and classroom instruction that incorporates technology and teaches multimedia communication, data visualization, and technical communication. His research interests include teaching with technology, digital ethos, e-waste reduction, learning space design, technical and visual communication. His work is published by IGI Global, CCDigital Press, Lexington Books, New Forums Press, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, and Computers and Composition Online.

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