EDMONTON -- A pair of brothers – one an artist, the other a health expert – are combining their areas of expertise to highlight the spread of misinformation about the pandemic.
“It is an international crisis. This is a huge part of the pandemic. It’s been called the infodemic,” says Timothy Caulfield, University of Alberta professor and the Canada Research Chair in health law and policy.
“Misinformation has led to deaths, hospitalization, financial loss. It's had an impact on health and science policy and it's just added to our chaotic information environment.”
According to the professor, research shows people are less likely to spread misinformation – like the myth that drinking bleach will boost the immune system – if they slow down to think things through.
That’s what Sean Caulfield’s contribution to Dyscorpia 2.1 encourages.
“(Timothy) passes on things he's working on and I sort of responded with imagery. And one of the things that I was interested in doing is making images that cause people to pause and think,” he explained.
"It takes time to look at art, takes time to think about art and that's one of the biggest things we have to do as a society."
While there have been skeptics who say the pair are wasting their time, the brothers argue even that’s a success in that they earned a person’s attention even momentarily.
The rest of the reaction, they say, has been positive.
The hope is to have the series featured in New York in January.
More information about Dyscorpia 2.1 and the first series after which it is named is available online.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Darcy Seaton
