{"id":75,"date":"2026-07-18T14:11:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T21:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/?p=75"},"modified":"2026-07-23T23:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:41:41","slug":"on-trust-information-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/2026\/07\/18\/on-trust-information-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"New Models & Horizons Reflection: On Trust & Information Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed reading the comparison of ChatGPT and Wikipedia in Fister & Head\u2019s article \u201cGetting a Grip on ChatGPT,\u201d and I agree that Wikipedia was comparatively over-vilified as an information source, considering the processes that go into maintaining it\u2014sources are required for each statement, and citations are checked and flagged. An xkcd comic popularized the editing tag \u201c[citation needed],\u201d and I recently happened upon the tag \u201c[failed verification],\u201d which I\u2019d never seen before but was pleased to learn existed. LLMs, on the other hand, are black boxes unable to show their work, famously making up sources and even providing sources that don\u2019t always back up their answers (Mickle et al., 2026<\/a>). Though Wikipedia has been a top domain cited worldwide by LLMs (at 9.53% of citations according to Semrush data<\/a>), it\u2019s surpassed by Reddit (11.29%) and LinkedIn (11.03%) and is immediately followed by YouTube (8.77%) and Medium (5.83%). Most of these are questionable as cited sources and should always warrant further research.<\/p>\n

\"xkcd
The xkcd<\/em> comic “Wikipedian Protestor,” posted July 4, 2007.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This topic is especially interesting when, according to the IFLA Trend Report 2024, trust in authority is declining. On one hand, questioning authority is part of thinking critically\u2014\u201cauthority is constructed and contextual,\u201d after all (ACRL, 2015<\/a>). This could explain why marginalized groups are more likely to be distrusting of mainstream media, as cited in the trend report. On the other hand, the distrust should not be reactionary\u2014we should not reject information simply because we disagree with it. Trump\u2019s cries of \u201cfake news\u201d reflect such a sentiment, appealing to those who seek a truth different from what they see, closer to what they personally believe or hope to be true. It\u2019s therefore unsurprising to me that podcasts, video essays on YouTube and TikTok, and articles on Medium and Substack have become popular sources of information in recent years.<\/p>\n

But even though there\u2019s value in hearing stories from underrepresented voices and\/or alternative sources, we must continue to think critically. In other words, the declining trust in authority isn\u2019t inherently bad, but that doesn\u2019t mean we should simply place our trust in other entities instead, even if they seem to project confidence and claim to have supporting data. This includes but is not limited to LLMs that provide sources that don\u2019t always corroborate their answers, governmental documents that use imaginary sources and mischaracterize real ones (Jacobs, 2025<\/a>), and social media creators who might misrepresent cited research to better sell their services (I was just sent one such video by a well-intentioned friend).<\/p>\n

Being vigilant about information in casual contexts can be difficult, especially when you\u2019re passively scrolling through social media, as opposed to actively research a topic you\u2019re interested in. Even I get exhausted trying to navigate the vast, rich information landscape that we have at our fingertips these days. But this is precisely why it\u2019s more important than ever that we are checking for sources and verifying them as we encounter information in our day-to-day lives, and that we as LIS professionals effectively promote literacy skills to the public.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Association of College and Research Libraries. (2015, February 9). Framework for information literacy for higher education<\/em>. American Library Association. Retrieved July 18, 2026 from https:\/\/www.ala.org\/acrl\/standards\/ilframework<\/a><\/p>\n

Fister, B., & Head, A. J. (2023, May 04). Getting a grip on ChatGPT.\u00a0Inside Higher Ed<\/em>. https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/opinion\/views\/2023\/05\/04\/chatgpt-reshaping-information-infrastructures-opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

International Federation of Library Associations. (2024, September 30). IFLA Trend Report 2024: Facing the future of information with confidence [Report]. https:\/\/repository.ifla.org\/handle\/20.500.14598\/3496<\/a><\/p>\n

Jacobs, P. (2025, May 30). Trump officials downplay fake citations in high-profile report on children\u2019s health.\u00a0Science<\/em>. https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/trump-officials-downplay-fake-citations-high-profile-report-children-s-health<\/a><\/p>\n

Mickle, T., Metz, C., Freedman, D., Terol, T. M., & Collins, K. (2026, April 7). How accurate are Google\u2019s A.I. Overviews? New York Times<\/i>. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/07\/technology\/google-ai-overviews-accuracy.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Munroe, R. (2007, July 4). Wikipedian protestor [comic]. xkcd<\/em>. https:\/\/xkcd.com\/285<\/a><\/p>\n

Semrush. (March 9, 2026). Leading domains cited by large language models (LLM) worldwide as of January 2026 [Graph]. In Statista<\/span><\/em>. https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/1660293\/most-cited-domains-by-llms-worldwide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed reading the comparison of ChatGPT and Wikipedia in Fister & Head\u2019s article \u201cGetting a Grip on ChatGPT,\u201d and I agree that Wikipedia was comparatively over-vilified as an information source, considering the processes that go into maintaining it\u2014sources are required for each statement, and citations are checked and flagged. An xkcd comic popularized the … Continue reading New Models & Horizons Reflection: On Trust & Information Sources<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":822,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflection-blogging"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/822"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/anitayjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}