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The Role of Deliberate and Unintentional Misinformation in Science and Communication: What Does it Look Like and How to Guard Against It.
Citation:
Goodfellow, W., P. Guiney, AND T. Canfield. The Role of Deliberate and Unintentional Misinformation in Science and Communication: What Does it Look Like and How to Guard Against It. Presented at SETAC, Louisville, KY, November 12 - 16, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
Misinformation, in the form of online posts, sound-bite statements and agenda driven pundits has become an influential and growing problem within society. Misinformation can be both deliberate and purposefully misleading and perhaps even more commonly unintentional or taken out of context and repeated for public consumption. SETAC continues to look for ways to address misinformation of facts in science. For example, several years ago SETAC North America began distributing SETAC Multi-briefs to inform members of instances where information that was regularly cycling through various online outlets regarding how scientific findings were being communicated. It has been our contention that an informed member is better equipped to continually address situations when science misinformation is encountered. As scientists, we also encounter more entrenched misinformation through the recent wide-spread outbreak of predator journals, that appear to have editorial boards or a peer-review processes, but in actuality none exist. SETAC continually looks for ways to support our membership by providing forums and publishing opportunities that appreciate, cite, share, and build on relevant and accurate science information that has been tested and continues to be cross-checked through the exchange and assessment of our scientific peers. However, the best way for us to address misinformation in science and its communication to decision makers is to identify examples that we encounter and provide opportunities for discussion as to how to guard against the use of misinformation when it is identified. There are two categories of actions that we might take, one being preemptive pre-bunking of scientific misinformation and the other de-bunking of scientific misinformation when it is encountered. This session’s goal is to foster an open discussion about the role that we as a scientific community have in the identification and resolution of misinformation when it is encountered. The expected impact of this session is to raise awareness of the effects of misinformation in science and provide ways to identify, combat and eliminate it as much as possible in the presentation of science at professional meetings and to the public.
Description:
Misinformation, in the form of online posts, sound-bite statements and agenda driven pundits has become an influential and growing problem within society. Misinformation can be both deliberate and purposefully misleading and perhaps even more commonly unintentional or taken out of context and repeated for public consumption. SETAC continues to look for ways to address misinformation of facts in science. For example, several years ago SETAC North America began distributing SETAC Multi-briefs to inform members of instances where information that was regularly cycling through various online outlets regarding how scientific findings were being communicated. It has been our contention that an informed member is better equipped to continually address situations when science misinformation is encountered. As scientists, we also encounter more entrenched misinformation through the recent wide-spread outbreak of predator journals, that appear to have editorial boards or a peer-review processes, but in actuality none exist. SETAC continually looks for ways to support our membership by providing forums and publishing opportunities that appreciate, cite, share, and build on relevant and accurate science information that has been tested and continues to be cross-checked through the exchange and assessment of our scientific peers. However, the best way for us to address misinformation in science and its communication to decision makers is to identify examples that we encounter and provide opportunities for discussion as to how to guard against the use of misinformation when it is identified. There are two categories of actions that we might take, one being preemptive pre-bunking of scientific misinformation and the other de-bunking of scientific misinformation when it is encountered. This session’s goal is to foster an open discussion about the role that we as a scientific community have in the identification and resolution of misinformation when it is encountered. We seek examples from individuals that have had to address misinformation and how it was handled with the goal of outlining and developing “best practices” that can be effectively implemented to address misinformation in science communication. This session will include a panel discussion of the presenters to further explore situations when deliberate or unintentional misinformation in science communication occurs and how we as individuals and SETAC should react when it is encountered.