Assessing Impact

Reed Piernock
Dr. Leticia Bode
CCTP-631
11 March 2021

Justification

In order to show the impact of myths, misperceptions, and misinformation about "the obesity epidemic", I used the techniques in The Debunking Handbook to first discuss the issue, then explain the effects on individuals and society:

  1. FACT: State the truth first
  2. MYTH: Point to misinformation
  3. FALLACY: Explain why misinformation is wrong
  4. FACT: State the truth again
(Lewandowsky 12-13)

Where appropriate, I avoid words or phrases that seems "too medical" in order to keep the language from becoming overly complicated. I also purposefully use fat instead of obese when describing people in order to destigmatize and demedicalize the word, or as Bacon and Severson write, to have it "stripped of pejorative connotations".

While this project does not make extensive use of photos or videos, the presentation format breaks up the information into manageable information chunks, and slideshow mode creates interation, keeping the user engaged with the content.