Monday, August 15, 2011

Skeptic Awards

I've written here about the JREF Pigasus Awards, the name is really adorable and when it is left lying around on Wikipedia sites people can't help but click on the hyperlink to learn more about what a Pigasus Award might be. Its all about linking articles to each other and getting people to read articles isn't it?

As I stated in the Pigasus Award blog it is important to not only keep the award site current, but to make sure the "winners" pages are notified that they won the honor.  If relevant try to include the reason why they won the award, it gives a lot more attention to the blurb you are leaving and makes the article more relevant.

I just want to point out that there are other awards out there that have been presented over the years but we need to do a better job of making sure they are hyperlinked.

For example the Australian Skeptics give out a Bent Spoon Award each year.  On their page they have each "winner" listed (with the reason).  Yet not all of the winners pages have a hyperlink back to the award.  Dr. Kerryn Phelps has a mention...

In 2008 Phelps was awarded the "Bent Spoon" by the Australian Skeptics Association, an award "presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle"

And so do a few others, but not all.  On the Phelps page there is no hyperlink to the Bent Spoon Award, this needs to be done so that readers can quickly click on the cute name to be able to learn all about the award.  (click edit, put [[ and ]] around the words Bent Spoon Award, click preview to make sure you did it correctly, leave a reason in the citation like "added hyperlink to bent spoon award", add page to your watchlist and then click publish)

Other skeptic (and I suppose science groups) give out positive and negative awards.  The Independent Investigation Group (IIG) gives both each year.  The Truly Terrible Television (TTTV) Awards as well as normal awards giving to individuals for critical thinking and work in the field of skepticism.  All of these awards need to be linked to the winners, and a quick survey through them looks like it has been done. 

Here is one example for Psychic Detectives...

August 2007 Psychic Detectives was awarded The Truly Terrible Television (TTTV) Award for peddling pseudoscience and superstition to its audience by the Independent Investigative Group IIG. Other winners have been Montel Williams for every episode that has showcased Sylvia Browne, Paranormal State and SciFi's Ghost Hunters. [1]
 
Nice hyperlinking done here.  The reader will be exposed to a lot of further reading if they should choose to do so. 

These are all easy edits to do, and someone should be able to get them all current with just a couple hours work.   If anyone knows of other awards sites please list in the comment area. 




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