How does a Canadian photographer and second-year university student become an expert on Uganda? A little bit of Googling and a tumblr post.

Yesterday, about as quickly as the #Kony2012 video was passed around, the tumblr http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/ was as well, used as a definitive source to ‘debunk’ the Invisible Children video, or otherwise prove that the organization is shady.  The issues behind the video are complex, and I do not support or condemn the organization.

Oyston’s tumblr post, full of inaccuracies such ‘IC funds the Ugandan government’ and supporting the idea that we should judge a charity by its administrative budget (when many charities need higher administrative costs for various reasons), was then used as a primary source by blogs, news orgs, internet celebrities, and pretty much anyone who felt there might be issues with the video as ‘proof’ that IC was not on the up and up.  Using a tumblr from a second-year university student who’s never been to Africa as a source.  Well done.

Well, perhaps it’s not their fault. According to http://roscone.tumblr.com/post/18911654919/grant-oyston, Oyston actually represented himself as a professor in his initial post, but has since changed it to more clearly and accurately represent his status at Acadia University.  The post referenced also noted that he’s listed as ‘VP Communications’ somewhere on the Acadia site, which might account for his media-savvy.

One would think if you’re not an expert in a subject, you would not accept interview requests as the time might be better spent with people who know more about the subject.  On Connect on CBC News Network, he claimed not to be an expert, but was quite pleased to have Mark Kelley ask about all the media attention he’s gotten and to rhyme off all the media outlets he’d been interviewed, how many hits his tumblr had.

His message on tumblr now:

Please do not email Grant except to provide alternative causes, or with media requests, as I am no longer able to read emails (which I’m receiving at a rate of over 1000 an hour).

Speaking in the third person and a humblebrag!

And now, after he’s posted his inaccuracies, after he raises hell, after he’s gotten tons of attention and the original post is still getting links (inaccuracies unedited), he’s ‘playing devil’s advocate’ and begins to soften his tone.  Afterward, he finds IC’s response to the controversy, and the financial information that was freely available before presented in a more palatable and understandable manner.

“This is precisely the sort of information I was hoping they would be more up-front with. Please read this – it’s great that IC is providing this resource.”  This post has 788 notes.

Original Post? 36,838 notes.

The point Oyston was trying to make is actually made by his own tumblr: Know who you’re getting into business with.  The amount of people — journalists! — who have privileged this guy’s voice over others is embarrassing.  Doing some more research would have shown that some of Oyston’s points were shaky, and other points were made better by people who have actual knowledge of the region.

It’s also another lesson in virality.  As much as the #Kony2012 video played on people’s emotions and fear of missing out in order to make it spread so quickly, the ‘Visible Children’ post pushed the buttons of cynicism and fear of looking stupid.  Tumblr’s sharability just makes it easy to spread.

Hey, this took some Googling and is on tumblr.  I guess I’m a Grant Oyston expert!

Here’s the best posts I’ve read on the subject, Ugandans first: