Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
They Don’t Want You to Know That Not All Conspiracy Theories Should Be Treated the Same
Ever since the coronavirus spread across the world, suspicions have proliferated about what is really going on. Questions arose about the origins […]
How Can Wise Graphics Use Cut Through the Complexity of COVID-19?
Editor’s Note: If you’re curious about the ways in which data visualization and graph use can generate impact with regard to the […]
In Search of Today’s Fannie Lou Hamers and Martin Luther Kings
Vincent Adejumo says that his scholarship in the discipline of black politics can explain why there aren’t any national African American leaders at this moment, filling roles like Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer and others once did.
The Virtue of Checking Documentation: You Never Know What You Will Find
New revelations about the influential ‘Being Sane in Insane Places’ experiment by David Rosenhan provide a valuable lesson for other social scientists. You never know what you will find once you begin fact-checking sources against available documentation.
We Know Little About How Data Viz Affects Our COVID Perceptions
The language of data visualisation has become commonplace, and data visualisations are widely used to communicate about the pandemic to the public. However, as Helen Kennedy observes, their power to influence the public is still little understood.
Ken Prewitt Wants to Retrofit The Social Sciences
“In a world facing many complex, formidable problems,” Kenneth Prewitt asks, “how can the social sciences become a decisive force for human […]
Learn From COVID-19 Myths – Don’t Just Debunk Them
Instead of viewing rumors and myths as misperceptions that can be suppressed with accurate information, we should treat them as opportunities to understand — and respond to — the legitimate anxieties of the people who adopt and share them. In other words, we should look at them as valuable feedback that can help improve our own reporting and messaging.
Breaking Bad News: How to Talk With the Misinformed
It’s also common to encounter people who are misinformed but don’t know it yet. It’s one thing to double-check your own information, but what’s the best way to talk to someone else about what they think is true – but which is not true?
