The 28th Block: Small-m misinformation
Just like there are small-d democrats and small-r republicans, viral 'Swan Lake' video is an example of small-m misinformation. Big-M misinformation is the problem, but it starts with the small-m.
This week’s newsletter is brought to you by the letters ‘M’ and ‘C’ and the number ‘3’
As the saying goes, bad things come in threes; and for English speakers in 2020, they also all start with the letter C: climate crisis, COVID-19, conspiracy theories.
Well, the climate crisis may be taking a backseat on everyone’s minds right now, but it’s not for me. I will be speaking at the ASEAN Emerging Researchers Conference, in collaboration with Wolfson College Sustainability & Conservation Interdisciplinary Research Hub on the challenges in global development on November 30th. Please join especially if you’re a researcher from ASEAN or with interest and expertise in ASEAN, an alumnus of Wolfson College/University of Cambridge or Sunway University.
Cyllage City COVID-19 outbreak linked to zubat consumption
No, you read that right. And if you’re a Pokémon fan, you’ll get the reference right away. That is a published paper in the predatory journal American Journal of Biomedical Science & Research.
Paper author Matan Shelomi shares on The Scientist:
This paper blames a fictional creature for an outbreak in a fictional city, cites fictional references (including one from author Bruce Wayne in Gotham Forensics Quarterly on using bats to fight crime), and is cowritten by fictional authors such as Pokémon’s Nurse Joy and House, MD. Nonetheless, four days after submission, editor Catherine Nichols was “cheerful to inform” me via email that it had “received positive review comments” and was accepted for publication.
The reference list at the end of the paper is a joy to read.
Meet Kathrin Jansen, the woman leading Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine effort
“Science by press release” aside, Kathrin Jansen, who leads Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, has a remarkable track record of working on other vaccines: the HPV and pneumococcal vaccines.
A biography of the woman of the week by Ruth Reader for Fast Company, taken in part:
When she joined Merck in 1992, she pushed the company to develop a vaccine for human papillomavirus or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer in women. It was an improbable project from the start.
Jansen reportedly had a difficult time getting her colleagues on board with an HPV vaccine even after convincing the head of Merck’s research labs. There was concern that it would be a money suck for the company, something that no one wanted to be associated with. But Jansen persevered and Gardasil was approved in 2006.
Since then, Jansen has been responsible for leading the development of a vaccine that guards against 13 different strains of pneumococcus, which causes meningitis in children and pneumonia in older patients. She has continued to work on vaccines for various strains of pneumococcus and sought out new challenging territory for vaccine development. Then COVID-19 struck.
Under Jansen’s leadership, Pfizer decided to collaborate with German biotech company BioNTech on a vaccine for COVID-19 using mRNA, an unproven technology that uses ribonucleic acid to program the body’s immune system. It has great potential, but no mRNA vaccine has ever been approved for use. It seems like just the kind of daring project Jansen likes to get behind.
Struck with memory loss, a dancer remembers Swan Lake. But who is she?
So we’ve probably all seen the video of Marta C. González, recently shared by the Asociación Música para Despertar, a Spanish organisation that promotes music therapy for those afflicted by memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. But the information, as heart-warming as it was, was at the very least, misleading.
NPR’s Anastasia Tsioulcas explains how a dance critic has been uncovering the woman’s story:
Alastair Macaulay, a prominent dance critic formerly with The New York Times, has been chasing González's history and posting his findings to Instagram. Macaulay posted that he has located a mysterious 1966 document, bearing what appears to be a Cuban governmental stamp, from a non-existent organization called “The Higher School for Professional Studies, Nueva York,” saying that “Marta C. González Saldaña” could be called a “prima ballerina” in the “Ballet de las Américas” — but there is no such company in New York or anywhere else in the U.S.
Furthermore, the 2019 video of González is interspersed with archival clips of someone dancing, which casual viewers have assumed to be González performing at the peak of her career.
But it is apparently not González dancing — and the archival performance is not of Swan Lake, either. Macaulay says the clips are of a former prima ballerina from Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet, Uliana Lopatkina — performing not Tchaikovsky’s ballet, but the solo piece The Dying Swan, a dance set to music by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns from his longer piece Carnival of the Animals.
There is no denying that music therapy is helpful for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This is not a criticism of that. As harmless as the misinformation surrounding the truth behind this video, it shows how easily swayed we are by emotional storytelling that we so easily forgive inaccuracies if something feels good. Now imagine if it’s something more insidious.
Just like there are small-d democrats and small-r republicans, I would like to propose that this video is an example of small-m misinformation. Big-M misinformation is The Problem, but it starts with making allowances for the small-m misinformation. But equally important, it highlights the role of specialised journalism, in this case, dance journalism, in fact-checking and verification processes.
Why did a Malaysian TV station call Kamala Harris’ mother an illegal immigrant?
Malek Ali on Linkedin:
Is this a simple mistake or does it betray something more insidious?
Well for one, there was no wire news or other news outlet that described Kamala Harris’ mother as an illegal immigrant. So this descriptor originated from TV3. Ouch.
Was it intentional? No, I don’t think so. It’s actually worse.
It’s reflex.
Malek also acknowledges in the comments that he believes “there’s no malice, but it is the conditioned response to anything immigrant” that worries him. An astute reflection as a media owner himself. (Full disclosure: He is my former boss.)
What I read, watch and listen to…
I’m reading why we’re no longer doomscrolling, we’re now gleefreshing ($) by Heather Schwedel on Slate.
I’m listening to “the eerie AI world of deepfake music.”
Chart of the week
From Our World in Data via Jordan Uhl: