 In this video, we'll use six common question words. Who, what, where, when, why, and how to discuss how we can consider artifacts. For our purposes, artifacts are things we can think critically about and analyze, such as news articles, speeches, social media posts, and even entertainment like TV shows, movies, and music. Everything we see is carefully curated by people, so it's important to ask who is involved in the making of an artifact, who the artifact was made for, and who is affected by an artifact. Nike's Colin Kaepernick commercial used a well-known controversial figure to attract attention, knowing that it wouldn't be all good attention, but Nike had a specific target audience in mind. Despite calls to boycott Nike following the ad, sales went up, showing that Nike's gamble paid off. Here are some who questions you might ask as you consider an artifact. Who is speaking? Who created the thing you're looking at? Who's at four? Who's left out of the artifact? What is important in understanding the artifact you're looking at and its basic point or argument? When you know what type of artifact something is, it's easier to know what it's trying to do. If you're reading a news report that's intended to inform, it's important to understand the basic facts presented. If you're looking at an advertisement created to sell something, it's important to recognize that intention affects how information is presented. Knowing the type of artifact will influence how you engage with and analyze that artifact. Here are some what questions you might ask as you consider an artifact. What kind of artifact are you looking at? What do you know about this type of artifact? What do you expect from the artifact? For an investigator, where is simply the location of events or of a crime. For our purposes, where can be a little different and will also depend on what type of artifact you're looking at. Where can also mean where you encountered an advertisement which can tell you what potential market the company is investing in. If you're analyzing the speech or public address, where would mean where the speech was given, both the physical location and at what event because some politicians will adjust content or their accent to appeal to different audiences. For instance, instead of first appearing as a TV commercial, Colin Kaepernick's Nike ad was first referenced on the player's Twitter instead of the company's Twitter, which shows that Kaepernick supporters were a key audience of the campaign. Here are some where questions you might ask as you consider an artifact. Where did you find it? How is a message tailored to that place? Where does it not appear? Where would you not expect to find it? Knowing when an artifact was created or when an artifact appeared makes it possible for you to understand the larger context of the artifact. Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad is a product of the larger context of the player's police brutality protests and a full analysis of the ad requires knowledge of that context. Two years after the ad was first released and four years after the first protest, the national conversation around this issue has shifted. Here are some when questions you might ask as you consider an artifact. When was this artifact created? What was happening around that time that might add helpful and important context? Every piece of media or text we come into contact with has been designed for a specific purpose. Even a friend's funny text is designed to make you laugh. Understanding what an artifact is trying to convince you to do or believe is essential. In other words, why was this artifact created? Is it trying to sell you something? Is it trying to entertain you? Convincing to vote for a certain candidate or support a specific issue? Is it a combination of these things? Here are some why questions you might ask as you consider an artifact. Why is it important? Why was it created? What is it trying to get you to do? Once you understand why an artifact exists, you can consider how it's accomplishing that goal and if it's effective. The creator of a given artifact could convey the same facts or details in a variety of ways, like using different images or music to accomplish different things. For example, the ASPCA commercial that shows injured animals with a sad ballad playing over it is designed to get you emotional about the situation and convince you to donate. Similarly, an article that provides a list of citations and charts or graphs of data is trying to inspire confidence in the truthfulness of the story, regardless of whether it's actually credible. Here are some how questions you might ask as you consider an artifact. How does it make you feel? How effective is the appeal to the audience? Which stylistic choices might have been made to influence the audience? Any time you encounter an artifact, you can use these strategies to determine its trustworthiness and consider how it was designed. If you're able to look at an artifact critically by asking who, what, where, when, why, and how, then you will better understand how effectively the artifact is making its point. With that knowledge, you'll be able to thoughtfully formulate your response. It may be tempting to limit these skills to academic context, but you can keep them in mind as you watch television and movies, listen to music, scroll through social media, read the news, or talk with people in your daily life. Bringing a critical eye to the information you encounter will give you a fuller picture and allow you to make decisions based on this deeper understanding. If you have additional questions about critically analyzing artifacts, you can contact your instructor or reach out to your librarian.