Volume 3, Resources 8: Vetting News Sources & 20 Trans POC-Led Orgs
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Hi friends! I’m happy to report that it seems like I’m now fully migrated to Buttondown and you can access this newsletter online as usual at theinfophile.com. That being said, don’t forget to check your spam for this newsletter and mark it as NOT spam!
Snail mail form is now at the end of this newsletter. Also, one of the things I’ve done with my new time is started @OaklandDonutLover on Instagram wherein Nicole and I go around the Bay Area and try different bakeries (not limited to donuts). It’s something we do anyway, but now I’m actually posting them on their own account:
It’s a resource week, so let’s get to it!
Resource #1: Is It Legit? Five Steps for Vetting a News Source via the News Literacy Project
From their site:
“The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy.”
When I was in the library and information science graduate program, one of the things I focused on was information literacy. Information literacy and access is the hill on which I will die. One of the things we’ve learned the past two decades, and especially the past 6 years, is that most people are wildly unprepared to process and navigate the onslaught of misinformation and disinformation. This is what sets my hair on fire when some people say, “Why do we even need librarians?” but I digress.
The News Literacy Project has created an infographic that has, as titled, five steps for vetting a news source. I do not know if the pdf is accessible and readable via screen reader so I will also link to their text-only blog post on the subject.
Is It Legit? Five Steps for Vetting a News Source Infographic (pdf)
Accompanying and hopefully accessible blog post (website)
Resource #2: “Black Women Best” Framework and 20 Trans POC-Led, Grassroots Organizations To Support via Forbes
Yes, I am a punk-ass book jockey and writer but my day job is in fundraising. I think a lot about how people decide where to direct their philanthropy. I am not wealthy but I do try to give what I can to a couple different orgs each year (on top of the tips and donations I give when I share resources created by others). The world is a trash fire and it can be so hard to determine where to focus your funds and energies.
Personally, I start within a “Black Women Best” framework explained here, which explains how, when you give support and resources to the most marginalized populations (in this framework, it is Black women), you help everyone else.
I like to dig deeper and get more specific with sharing my resources and try to support organizations that help Black trans folks, Black women experiencing incarceration, and Black disabled women. Of course, all of these things can and do intersect as well. It is also very important to me to support people doing the work who are also part of those communities so I want to share this list of 20 Trans POC-Led, Grassroots Organizations To Support. I’ve found it helpful and I figure at least some of my readers may find it helpful as well.
That’s it for this week! I’m going to leave you with this:
https://twitter.com/sarahcandersen/status/1468603876563636230?s=21
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That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
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