Improving Science Outreach Through Twitter: a case study
This is an example of how science outreach can be improved through positive interactions on Twitter. While it's certainly no fun to realize that you've made an error, this kind of informal peer review can prevent misinformation and improve the overall product.
- The original video, produced by the Field Museum of Chicago and featuring Josh Drew's (@labroides) fieldwork in Fiji
Wonderful video starring @labroides on the crown of thorns starfish & Fijian traditional ecological knowledge bit.ly/xcTYCO #DeepSN
Their name means 'living' or 'alive': Na Bula': Fiji's Crown of Thorns tinyurl.com/7dog33a @labroides via @seamonsterblog- Echinoderm expert Chris Mah of the Smithsonian responds to misinformation in the video
@MiriamGoldste @labroides wow. serious wrongness in that video. Cutting in half caused the outbreak?? seriously?
A Plague of Sea Stars | The Ocean Portal | Smithsonian InstitutionSea stars are important members of marine ecosystems, especially in the tropics. We may think of tropical coral reefs as being home mainl...
@echinoblog I hadn't seen that report before. So you're saying there's no validity to the cutting in half? I don't want to propagate misinfo- @labroides Been following the Crown of Thorns issue for a decade. I've NEVER heard regeneration offered as an explanation for outbreaks.
- Chris writes a blog post correcting the misinformation, and it spreads on Twitter
- RT @echinoblog: @MiriamGoldste @labroides Wrote you guys up a little something for this echinoblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/helpin…
The Echinoblog: Helping my friends at the Field Museum: Crown of Thorns Starfish Outbreaks-not so simple..So, I had recent cause to have seen this very nice video about the Crown-of-Thorns video ( Acanthaster planci ). Which touches on some ne...- Yeah, so this Crown of thorns ain't regenerating from this... youtu.be/M-ZYpTB8-7w via @youtube
Is regeneration key to crown-of-thorns seastar 'plague'? MT @echinoblog: @MiriamGoldste @labroides is.gd/UxB3EV #DeepSN- Josh takes steps to correct the misinformation
- @echinoblog @MiriamGoldste Thanks for the good info, we're working to correct the video so that people get the correct facts!
- Science is an iterative process and when new data come out, we need to jettison old hypotheses. #NoRoomForEgos
- @jdcalkins2001 I made a video about starfish that had some wrong info. An expert on the group pointed it out and now we're redubing the vid.
- @jdcalkins2001 but since the museum is a source of science information, it's REALLY important that we be factually correct!
- Positive response to Josh's steps to correct the video
- This is how it's DONE. Rock on. “@labroides: @echinoblog Thx 4 good info, we're working to correct the video so that ppl get correct facts!”
