This session includes a hands-on, historically grounded approach to teaching with and about synthetic media, tracing the long history of image manipulation from spirit photography to deepfakes to build critical media literacy. Participants examine archival photographs, test their verification skills, and fabricate their own fake historical images using prompts and open-access collections. Along the way, we address the ethical stakes of misinformation, the limitations of conventional “spot the fake” strategies, and how well-meaning detection methods can sometimes reinforce ableist assumptions about the human body. This session shares both practical tools and approachable frameworks that librarians can use to engage others in meaningful analysis of AI-generated images.

See bit.ly/whatsreallyreal-aserl25 for slides and other materials used in this presentation.

NOTE:  Due to bandwidth issues, some slides did not advance in synch with the presenter’s spoken topics.  Apologies.