Books & Audiobooks
In an increasingly complex digital world, we often find ourselves asking, “wait… what?” Tools like AI or social media and challenges such as misinformation or online hate can seem difficult to navigate. Media Literacy Week is here to answer Canadians’ questions about being online in changing times.
Hosted by MediaSmarts, Media Literacy Week is a national event to promote digital media literacy, with activities and events taking place in classrooms, libraries, museums and community groups across Canada.
As a trusted source of information and lifelong learning, Waterloo Public Library is committed to providing the tools, resources, and learning opportunities that help our community navigate online spaces with confidence and critical thinking.
Discover a reading list and some helpful resources below.
Image of connecting lines surrounding an outlined box with "AI" in the middle
Detecting AI in Media
Thursday, October 29
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Eastside Branch
Learn how to spot the signs of AI-generated content during this presentation in celebration of Media Literacy Week. Participants will explore tips and techniques for identifying AI-created images, videos, and written content, using both online and real-world examples. Discover the visual clues, inconsistencies, and other telltale signs that can help distinguish AI-generated media from authentic content. Leave with practical digital literacy skills to help you make more informed decisions about the media you encounter every day.
RegisterReading List
Media Literacy Tips
Illustrated Stop sign on blue background
Think Before You Share
Stop. Before you share the content to anyone else, double check whether what you're consuming is really what you think it is. If your gut is telling you it's fake, you might want to seek out the truth.
Illustration of a magnifying glass on a blue background
Figure Out the Source
Look at who posted it. Whether it's the author or an influencer, find out whether the contents were written by a real person or if it was AI-generated. Depending on the source, rethink whether what's there is true or false.
Illustration of a person thinking with question marks and the word "suspicious" on a blue background
Look Beyond the Headlines
Don't take things at face value. Check to see if the contents truly match the title before assuming this is what you're looking for. If it does match, find out the purpose behind the contents. Is it clickbait? Is it sponsored? Whatever the motive may be could impact whether you should believe it as just the plain truth.
More Resources
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Media Smarts
Media Smarts has provided Canadians with digital media literacy learning, awareness, and research for more than 30 years. Have you ever seen a house hippo commercial? That was a Media Smarts campaign. Resources are available for people of all ages to help support information literacy and digital media literacy learning.
Media Smarts has also developed their own fact checking website which checks popular fact checking websites, including the following:
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Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The Office of the Privacy Comissioner of Canada has information on how to protect your personal information, including sections for young people and older adults. Following the information on this website helps to protect Canadians from becoming victims of malinformation.
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Statistics Canada Fighting Misinformation
Statistics Canada combats misinformation that is commonly spread about the census, from false or fraudulent information to scamming attempts.