Evaluation of Social Media Sources

To complete the triad of sources, this post will be used to analyze the controversy around the addiction model based on social media sources. The sources I will be using are found using the website Storify.

Donovan, Kathleen. "Social Media Heat Collage" 1/29/10 via flickr.
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My first source will be a tweet by Dean Dauphinais in a conversation about whether or not addiction is a disease or a choice.

Credibility: When I google his name, Dean Dauphinias comes up in many different articles concerning his work to break the stigmas around addiction and his stories about his son's addiction. He also contributes to The Huffington Post and has his own blog called "My Life as 3D".

Location: I feel that Dauphinais is directly involved in this controversy as he had to suffer through his son's addiction and can give firsthand experiences.

Network: He is following many news sources and other activists for various types of issues, such as drug awareness, canine adoption and even others discussing their stories about addiction. He has many followers, however, most of them are others that mainly discuss addiction or other health-related issues. He has credible sources following him such as pharmacies and other addiction-awareness organizations.

Content: Yes, his idea that addiction becomes a disease is an opinion shared by many other people, even other scholars.Within the same conversation, other people are agreeing with his statement.

Contextual updates:  He comments very often on the topics of addiction and drug-abuse. Most of the time, he will tweet out a link that directs readers to a new post on his blog (which is about his experience with his son's addiction). He also contributes to discussions on Twitter about addiction and it's controversies, along with tweeting links to articles about addiction.

Age: His account was made in September of 2008 and actively updates with multiple tweets a day.

Reliability: I believe that from all of this information that Dauphinais' opinion is reliable and can be used as a reference.


Next, I found a YouTube video from Harvard Extension School, which was an interview with Gene Heyman.

Credibility: Harvard Extenstion School is a well-known prestigious school, so, when I search them, I can find everything, including their website, address and anything else associated with them. Also, I can research Gene Heyman and I can find his website, including all of his publications, reviews and information, and I can find his page on Boston College.

Location: Dr. Heyman is very much involved within this controversy as he as published a book discussing his opinion on the matter, which in itself has caused conflict.

Network: Dr. Heyman does not have any other social media accounts other than his own website. So, his network must typically be other scholars and colleagues. Harvard Extension School, on their social media accounts, only follow those associated with either education or Harvard itself.

Content: Many other people and scientists, including Marc Lewis , agree with Dr. Heyman's statement that addiction is a choice.

Contextual update: Harvard Extension School posts on YouTube and Twitter quite often, all of their posts being about the school news and articles that may help or interest their students.. Dr. Heyman's last interview was very recent on August 21st of this year, and all of his interviews are about his theories on addiction.

Age: Harvard Extension School joined YouTube in August of 2008.

Reliability: Knowing that Harvard Extension School is a prestigious university and that Gene Heyman is a popular scientists with many publications and research studies, we can assume that these sources are reliable.