Dr. Roy Spencer: Misleading Science

Global warming is a current issue that has sparked debates over the gravity of our ever-changing climate. Many theories exist, but perhaps none have been as challenged as those by Dr. Roy Spencer. One of his latest statements involves the idea of lower climate sensitivity. After sending his research and conclusion in the form of a paper to Remote Sensing journal, the outcry over his abuse of statistics forced the editor to resign.

            This paper was written to demonstrate that global warming is not occurring as rapidly as many suggest, if at all.  Dr. Spencer backed up his point of view with data that is questionable by most scientific standards. The paper was rejected by Science magazine, and thus Dr. Spencer began looking for an easier vehicle to display his theory. Remote Sensing was a newer journal, and accepted the paper for publication. 

            After some time, the science community began debating the quality of Spencer’s paper. He did not account for error bars, and most of his models were based off of unusual weather patterns such as El Nino. The editor of Remote Sensing then resigned, taking responsibility for publishing such a paper.

            With regard to fair use, it is possible that this paper could be used in an academic setting. It blurs the line between creative and factual depending on whether one thinks Dr. Spence honestly believes in his results, or if he is merely attempting to create a stir in the scientific community. This paper will likely not be permitted for fair use, as it is based on weak evidence. 

Genre in Blogs

            Since the first combined use of “web” and “logs” in 1997, blogs have evolved rapidly. It is easier than ever to create a user blog, and many websites have several templates to assist one in doing so.  Rettberg discusses three different types of blogs: personal, filter, and topic driven. Personal blogs have replaced the personal journal as a text to display the writer’s thoughts and emotions. These blogs describe the author’s lifestyle and experiences. One of the issues associated with personal blogs is the amount of privacy a blog has. Anyone with Internet access can see the words written on a public blog, even if the author did not intend for the text to reach a wide audience. A filter blog is a collection of articles and links that finds interesting. These archives can, but don’t have to be, related. They cover topics that interest the author, and thus filter blogs are convenient to be shared among those with similar opinions. The third type of blog is topic driven. The idea is self-explanatory, as these blogs are geared to include writings on the same topic. The voice of the author is not as relevant, as the content of the articles will drive the reader to access the blog.

            So, how do we go about analyzing blogs? This is not an easy task, as the concept of genre has been concrete for several years. In order to answer this question, we must look at the rhetorical situation of blogs.

            Miller and Shepherd argue that the rhetorical situation requires kairos. This concept alludes to the idea that a rhetor must know when to produce an argument, as a well-argued point will be worthless in the wrong situation. Blogs have reached the point at which they fulfill the kairos of the rhetorical situation.  Internet is accessible around the globe with the click of a button. As stated before, anyone can see what a blogger has written. The publishing process for books is moving into the digital realm. Log onto amazon.com, and you will likely see a link to the kindle store. In a few minutes, you can download a full book to your iPhone, kindle, or other digital reader, often for a reduced price. Print journalism is no longer sufficient to reach a wide audience, and eventually the market for print will become so small that it will near extinction.