Unofficial science growing in grassroots

Anti-Maskers “Practice a Form of Data Literacy in Spades”, Says MIT Study | Lockdown Sceptics - Cephas Alain:

15 May 2021 - "An unexpected side effect of the [COVID19] pandemic was the rapid and sustained development of a new set of grassroots checks and balances counterbalancing official scientific health narratives.... This may prove be one of the enduring legacies of the pandemic as its potential is much wider than a single area of concern. Apart from anecdotal evidence of this development there is now some research evidence ... in a preprint paper by Lee, Yang et al. of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) entitled 'Viral Visualisations: How Coronavirus Skeptics Use Orthodox Data Practices to Promote Unorthodox Science Online'....

"The Lee, Yang et al. paper 'investigates how pandemic visualisations [of data] circulated on social media, and shows that people who mistrust the scientific establishment often deploy the same rhetorics of data-driven decision making used by experts, but to advocate for radical policy changes'. It refers to the opponents of lockdowns, social-distancing and face masks as 'anti-maskers', which is rather unflattering shorthand, but ... clearly shows that a mix of traditionally educated scientists and researchers, along with data specialists and interested members of the general public, have begun to work together systematically.... 

"The study provides good evidence to believe that, at least in some cases, a new collegiate form of narrative is emerging ... which is neither non-scientific nor pseudo-scientific but simply an alternative scientific narrative. Alternative, that is, to the one provided by official government-scientific and mainstream media sources.... There is room for alternative viewpoints because 

'data ... is not a neutral substrate.... Quantitative data is culturally and historically situated.... [T]here is no such thing as dispassionate or objective data analysis. Instead, there are stories: stories shaped by cultural logics, animated by personal experience, and entrenched by collective action.... 

"Furthermore, Lee, Yang et al. observe: 'Most fundamentally, the groups we studied believe that science is a process, and not an institution.' That is precisely the point and nature of the scientific method. They add:

'While academic science is traditionally a system for producing knowledge within a laboratory, validating it through peer review, and sharing results within subsidiary communities, anti-maskers reject this hierarchical social model. They espouse a vision of science that is radically egalitarian and individualist. This study forces us to see that coronavirus sceptics champion science as a personal practice that prizes rationality and autonomy; for them, it is not a body of knowledge certified by an institution of experts.

'Having said this, we might submit that the study has also discovered characteristics which suggest that, whilst the more developed groups are egalitarian, they also mimic "institutional type" checks and balances on their members’ output. One might go so far as to say that they actually are a new form of "collective peer review" ... so far as they are providing critiques which are supported by the data. That is both internally, within the way this type of group operates, and as an "external examiner" of the work of others outside the group. This should naturally be differentiated from less considered groups which pluck ideas out of nowhere and generate mere propaganda. Some trained scientists and traditional institutions are more open to debate and other engagement than others. It is plausible to suggest that those who choose to engage, in an informal or more structured way, with the more developed groups might find it a positive process rather than a distraction to be avoided.'

"In the most scientifically/data literate groups, the following characteristics were observed by Lee, Yang et al. which, while linked to visualisations, have much wider application:

• There is a commitment to quality: 'we find that anti-mask groups on Twitter often create polished counter-visualisations that would not be out of place in scientific papers, health department reports, and publications like the Financial Times'....
• There is a commitment to openness: 'Among other initiatives, these groups argue for open access to government data (claiming that CDC and local health departments are not releasing enough data for citizens to make informed decisions), and they use the language of data-driven decision-making to show that social distancing mandates are both ill-advised and unnecessary'....
• There is an emphasis on ‘Critically assessing data sources’. 'Even as these users learn from each other to collect more data, they remain critical about the circumstances under which the data are collected and distributed. Many of the users believe that the most important metrics are missing from government-released data'....
• There is a recognition of context: 'Even when local governments do provide data, however, these users also contend that the data requires context in order for any interpretation to be meaningful.... Ultimately, anti-mask users emphasise that they need to apply this data to real-world situations'....
• There is an attempt to identify bias and politics in data: '[Anti-maskers] are… mindful to note that these analyses only represent partial perspectives that are subject to individual context and interpretation.... One of the things which the pandemic has revived interest in is the broad subject area of research bias which includes issues around reporting (or not reporting) and the nexus with the media'....     [gd emphasis]

"Overall, while still at a relatively early stage of development, this points to a new shape for the mounting of ever more credible challenges to the ‘new orthodoxy’ of lockdowns, social distancing, mask mandates in schools, business closures, and so on. It is a form of inquiry that is not predisposed to cover-ups and will not be restricted by the terms of the promised official public inquiry, or the one after that. It is science as dissent."

Read more: https://lockdownsceptics.org/anti-maskers-practice-a-form-of-data-literacy-in-spades-says-mit-study/

Read study here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.07993