Well, we got plenty of answers; unfortunately, we didn't always get the right answers.
Earlier this week, Carr (2013) pointed out some of the major falsehoods that were spread across the Internet – and, in some cases, on major news networks – immediately following the tragedy:
- Early in the investigation, CNN incorrectly reported that police had arrested a bombing suspect. Several other news organizations followed, then backtracked after investigators denied the claims.
- The New York Post published a photo of two innocent young men on their now-infamous "Bag Men" cover.
- Users of Internet forum Reddit launched their own amateur investigation and identified innocent bystanders as suspects.
According to Montgomery, Horwitz, and Fisher (2013), officials released store surveillance video and photos of the real suspects last Thursday largely because of all the misinformation surrounding the incident. Law-enforcement sources told the Washington Post that they wanted "in part to limit the damage being done to people who were wrongly being targeted as suspects in the news media and on the Internet" (Montgomery, Horwitz, & Fisher, 2013, para. 17).
Figure 1. The FBI posted this surveillance video, retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80DXI932OE, of the bombing suspects, later identified as brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (FBI, 2013).
That's not to say, however, that the group effort to crack the case – also known as "crowdsourcing" – didn't have its strong points. Many runners and spectators at the Boston Marathon sent photos and videos from the scene to investigators, and, as Wadha (2013) argued, "there is no police snooping network that could rival the surveillance regime of our smartphone lifestyles" (para. 5). Furthermore, after the FBI posted photos of two suspects online, "the FBI tip line filled with calls, including one from the brothers' aunt, who provided her nephews’ identity" (Montgomery, Horwitz, & Fisher, 2013, para. 30). Would investigators have been able to track down the suspects that quickly if they hadn't used new technology to their advantage?
At any rate, whether you love or hate these new channels for disseminating and receiving information, they appear to be here to stay. According to a new Pew Research Center for the People & the Press report (2013), 63% of Americans were strongly interested in this story. Although most Americans (80%) used television to keep up with the latest developments, 49% said they turned to the Web or mobile technology for updates, and 26% used social media (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2013).
That's where we come in as information professionals. It's obvious that the public and even reporters need a guide in this new digital age. When people ask you why librarians and libraries are still relevant today, that can be your answer.
References
Carr, D. (2013, April 22). The pressure to Be the TV news leader tarnishes a big brand. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/business/media/in-boston-cnn-stumbles-in-rush-to-break-news.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2013, April 18). Surveillance video related to Boston bombings [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80DXI932OE
Montgomery, D., Horwitz, S., & Fisher, M. (2013, April 20). Police, citizens and technology factor into Boston bombing probe. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/inside-the-investigation-of-the-boston-marathon-bombing/2013/04/20/19d8c322-a8ff-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_print.html
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. (2013, April 23). Most expect 'occasional acts of terrorism' in the future. Retrieved from http://www.people-press.org/2013/04/23/most-expect-occasional-acts-of-terrorism-in-the-future/
Wadhwa, T. (2013, April 22). Lessons from crowdsourcing the Boston bombing investigation. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarunwadhwa/2013/04/22/lessons-from-crowdsourcing-the-boston-marathon-bombings-investigation/
When something tragic like this happens, people go on high alert and suspect everyone around them. With social media and the constant flow of information, true or otherwise, you will have to search for the truth. This is where people have to be careful not to give into the "mob mentality" and decide for themselves what is good information.
ReplyDeleteLike you said this is where we as information professionals come in, to help guide people towards accurate information.
I agree that there was a lot to learn from the Boston bombing investigation from a media literacy standpoint. Many commentators have noted that this was probably the first high-profile "crowdsourced" man-hunt in history, with millions of average Joes playing detective via the internet. The affects of crowdsourcing, as you said your post, were both positive and negative; people were able to share pictures of the suspects and information with authorities and among themselves, but these amateur detectives also erroneously led a witch hunt for a missing student from Brown University that caused much grief for Sunil Tripathi's family and friends. I'm unsure what the role of libraries is in such a situation, but I hope that librarians and information professionals would urge caution, when there is a breaking news event like the Boston bombing, and help information seekers identify trustworthy sources of information. If users are able to take in breaking news with a grain of salt and not jump to conclusions when information is limited and difficult to source, then I hope we would avoid similar witch hunts from occurring in the future.
ReplyDelete