Information Sorting
The video begins with a wide shot showing a person relaxing on a couch, surrounded by various forms of media. The graphics show the person with headphones on, a buzzing phone beside them, a TV blaring in front, and a newspaper spread out on their lap. The narration states, “Sometimes it feels like there’s too much information coming at you”.
The scene changes to display “Breaking News” and “World News” as text on the screen. Visually, tiny newspapers are shown popping up all over the screen, illustrating the constant influx of news.
Next, the screen shows tiny videos popping up all over, representing the vast amount of video content available. The narration adds that “Your favourite video site posts thousands of new videos every minute”.
The visual continues with cartoon heads featuring exclamation mark word-balloons popping up everywhere, symbolizing the prevalence of opinions online. The narration then states, “And everyone has an opinion about everything”.
The video then presents a scenario with “Breaking News” displayed alongside the headline “Comet might strike earth!” on a news website. A person is shown looking at this headline, and a question mark appears over their head, indicating uncertainty. The narrator asks, “How do you know what’s real and what isn’t?”.
This is immediately followed by two screens shown side-by-side. One displays the “Comet might strike earth!” headline from the previous scene, while the other shows “Comet no danger”. This juxtaposition highlights conflicting information.
The narration then poses the questions: “Whose opinion can you trust?” and “And how can you be sure you’re getting the whole story?”.
The video shifts to illustrate the topic of a comet with the text “Learn about comets Langford 25’s flyby”. A diagram of a comet with an orbit intersecting the Earth is shown, which then zooms out to a diagram of the solar system. Visual labels appear indicating “Ion tail,” “Dust tail,” “Direction to sun,” and “Coma” on an illustration of a comet.
The scene changes again to show a person standing under an umbrella, while videos, newspapers, and other images representing different media are bouncing off the umbrella. The narration suggests two responses to this information overload: “You could shut it all out and hope the important stuff gets through -“.
The video then depicts three people each looking at a screen: one at a phone, one at a tablet, and one at a TV. The view shifts over their shoulders, revealing that the same smiling influencer is visible on all three screens. This illustrates the possibility of information sources being controlled or influenced. The narration continues, “- or let someone else make information choices for you”.
A new visual appears: a prospector panning for gold. This serves as a metaphor for finding valuable information. The narration offers a solution: “But with a few quick and easy tricks, you can get accurate news and find good information”.
The video introduces the concept of “Information Sorting” with the text “Information Sorting” on screen. It also presents “Companion Reading” and “Close Reading” as the two steps, accompanied by icons: a hand reaching down for companion reading and a magnifying glass for close reading, shown side-by-side. The narration explains, “Information sorting has two steps: companion reading and close reading. These two strategies can help you find reliable sources and then think critically about them”.
The video then zooms in on the companion reading icon. The narration elaborates on companion reading: “The first step, companion reading, is finding sources that are accurate, relevant and useful”. The graphics show mock search engine and encyclopedia icons or web pages. The narration clarifies, “It works by using companion texts – like search engines, encyclopedias, and sources you already know are reliable, relevant, and useful”. The video returns to the prospector, who is now shown taking a book with a green check mark from the sifting pan, while books with red Xes fall out the bottom, visually representing the filtering of reliable sources. The narration concludes the explanation of companion reading by stating that it helps “to sort ones that are reliable enough to be worth your attention from those that aren’t”.
Next, the video focuses on close reading with the close reading icon displayed. A scene shows a person on a couch relaxing with a book. The narration introduces close reading: “Now that you’ve sorted out just reliable sources, you have time to read them more critically”. An example of critical reading is shown with a close-up of someone dunking a basketball, which then pulls back to reveal they are standing on a ladder, suggesting missing context. The narration prompts viewers to consider, “For example, what is included and what is left out?”.
The video revisits the “Breaking News Comet might strike earth!” headline on a newspaper. The narration asks, “Are they trying to make you feel a certain way?”. The screen then zooms way down into the article, revealing tiny text that says: “But it probably won’t,” indicating the minimization of a key fact. The narration reinforces this by asking, “Which facts are emphasized? Which facts are minimized?”.
Finally, the icons for companion reading and close reading fade in one at a time, with the text “Companion Reading” appearing first, followed by “Close Reading”. The narration concludes by stating, “Companion reading then close reading are important steps in sorting online information”. The video returns to the person on the couch, who closes the book and smiles with satisfaction. The final narration summarizes the benefit of information sorting: “Get just the information you need – and have the time to think critically about it”.