Climate Feedback
Climate Feedback is a web-based content annotation tool that allows qualified scientists to comment on stories online, adding context and noting inaccuracies.[1] It is one of three websites under the Science Feedback umbrella that fact-checks media coverage of climate change.[2] Science Feedback is a non-profit organization registered in France.[3] The website asks climate scientists in relevant fields to assess the credibility and accuracy of media stories related to climate change.[2][4] The website published its first review in 2015.[4] The website was founded by Emmanuel Vincent, who has a PhD in Oceanography & Climate from Université Pierre et Marie Curie.[5]
Type of site | Fact-checking website |
---|---|
Owner | Science Feedback |
URL | climatefeedback |
Current status | Active |
Vincent partnered with the non-profit Hypothes.is, who created a free Internet browser plug-in that allows users to make sentence-level comments on web pages, to create an evaluation of content. Climate Feedback, an application of the Hypothes.is platform to climate science communication, allows active climate scientists to add comments.[6]
Process
Typically, a story will be reviewed by five or six scientists, but on one story, there were 17 reviewers.[2] According to Climate Feedback, each reviewer has to hold a PhD in a relevant discipline, and have at least one published article on climate science or climate change impacts in a top-tier peer-reviewed scientific journal within the last three years.[7][8] However, summaries are written by an editor rather than by a reviewer.[9]
The method was called "expert crowdsourcing" or a form of "elevated crowdsourcing" by Poynter's International Fact-Check Network.[10]
History
The website published its first review in March 2015.[4][11] In 2016, Climate Feedback raised about $30,000 with Indigogo crowdfunding, which bolstered one of the efforts to conduct fact-checking via web annotation. Others like PolitiFact have also been experimenting with annotation methods for politicians’ posts on the blogging platform Medium, using a $140,000 grant from the Knight Foundation.[12]
In 2017 Dana Nuccitelli, in a Guardian article on the role of denialist blogs in undermining public acceptance of anthropogenic global warming, described Climate Feedback as "a highly respected and influential resource."[13]
The website has identified errors in content published by outlets, such as Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The Mail on Sunday and New York magazine.[4][5] The website is included in the database of global fact-checking sites by the Reporters’ Lab at Duke University.[14]
As a project of the Science Feedback non-profit organization, Climate Feedback reviews are used in Facebook's fact-checking partnership to identify false news and show them lower in News Feed,[15][16] and is annually certified by the International Fact Checking Network at the Poynter Institute.[17] Currently, Emmanuel Vincent serves as director.[11]
See also
References
- "Tools That Fight Disinformation Online". www.rand.org. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
- "At Climate Feedback, scientists encourage better science reporting. But who is listening?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- Uzunoğlu, Sarphan (June 2019). "Science Feedback, IFCN Code of Principles". ifcncodeofprinciples.poynter.org. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- "Why climate change is the easiest news to fake". Axios. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- "This fact-checker got several news outlets to correct a false story about a mini-Ice Age". Poynter Institute. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- Wanucha, Genevieve (December 2, 2014). "Improving media coverage of climate science". MIT News, Oceans at MIT. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- "About us - Climate Feedback". Climate Feedback. 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- "Scientists, get onboard!". Climate Feedback. 2015-05-12. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
- "Process – How Climate Feedback works". Climate Feedback. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
- "Is expert crowdsourcing the solution to health misinformation?". Poynter. 2019-03-14. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- "At Climate Feedback, scientists encourage better science reporting. But who is listening?". Columbia Journalism Review. February 1, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- Wilner, Tamar (May 25, 2016). "Annotation might be the future of fact-checking". Poynter. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
- Nuccitelli, Dana (November 29, 2017). "New study uncovers the 'keystone domino' strategy of climate denial". theguardian.com. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
- "Fact-checking triples over four years - Duke Reporters' Lab". Duke Reporters' Lab. 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- Mahoney, Matt. "A reality check on Facebook's fact checks". Retrieved 2020-04-03.
- "Facebook adds 2 new fact-checking partners". Axios. 2019-04-17.
- "Science Feedback – scientists sorting fact from fiction". Open Science. May 15, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020.