Fact-Checking with SIFT: Information Lifecycle

First, what is the information lifecycle and why does it matter?

The information lifecycle refers to how information is produced and how it changes over time.

Why should you care about the information cycle?

• It can affect whether or not you'll be able to find any information about a topic.
• It helps you to evaluate the reliability of the information.

If your topic is a current event, you might only be able to find first-person accounts (interviews or tweets), newspaper articles, or videos on news sites. If you need more in-depth expert analysis, it might be too soon for anything to be published. It takes time for the cycle to evolve and knowledge to develop!