Gatherings of an Infovore: Coping With More Than the Pandemic

Abstract

Finding a new word in an article is a real treat for an infovore. So, when I came across “infodemic” in a recent Scientific American article, I immediately wanted to research where it came from. As is often said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” This was indeed true of this “new” word. The first several entries I found about this “neologism” attributed it to David Rothkopf writing in a May 2003 Washington Post article. Rothkopf argued that an infodemic was making the current outbreak of the SARS virus “harder to control and contain.” I thought that it was quite appropriate for the term to be resurrected and even more appropriately applied to the global dissemination of information concerning COVID-19. COVID has created a perfect storm for fringe science Grimes DR. Scientific American. April 26, 2021. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-has-created-a-perfect-storm-for-fringe-science/ Words we’re watching: ‘infodemic’ Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-were-watching-infodemic-meaning BUZZWORD infodemic Maxwell K. Macmillan Dictionary. June 3, 2020. https://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/infodemic.html Managing the COVID-19 infodemic: promoting healthy behaviours and mitigating the harm from misinformation and disinformation WHO, UN, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNAIDS, ITU, UN Global Pulse, and IFRC l 23. September 2020. https://www.who.int/news/item/23-09-2020-managing-the-covid-19-infodemic-promoting-healthy-behaviours-and-mitigating-the-harm-from-misinformation-and-disinformation Let’s flatten the infodemic curve World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/let-s-flatten-the-infodemic-curve The coronavirus is the first true social-media “infodemic” Hao K, Basu T. MIT Technology Review. February 12, 2020. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/12/844851/the-coronavirus-is-the-first-true-social-media-infodemic/ The coronavirus ‘infodemic’ is real. We rated the websites responsible for it. Gregory J. STAT News. February 28, 2020. https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/28/websites-spreading-coronavirus-misinformation-infodemic/ Scientists develop smart search app for COVID-19 literature University of Toronto. Medical Press. April 27, 2020. […]