This discussion of the "Bystander Effect" is fascinating. I see this as
an extremely pervasive problem in society (eg: people taking cell phone
video of accidents and tweeting instead of helping out, etc.).
I guess to say I have gotten 0 total responses in the past year would be
a little inaccurate. I've gotten a hand full, but similar to the
earlier discussion on the "bystander effect", they only point to others
and offer the advice basically of "ask someone else", then put on the
Hero hat and walk off. (sort of like the "Captain Hindsight" character
in South Park).
How large is ESA (Ecological Society) compared with other groups?
Another person today suggested I work with established scientific
"societies". I've tried N number of small, medium and large
institutions (museums, zoos, universities, etc.) but gotten absolutely
nowhere there (2-3 years of trying!). Maybe ESA has more ample
resources and organizing events is more in the "wheel house" of such a
group?
On 12/3/2017 1:07 PM, Brian Turner wrote:
Aaron,
I think Adam has a good point, in particular in regards to just
missing emails due to the daily deluge. I had instinctively deleted
your initial email asking for insight and just happened to take notice
of his response.
I do outreach related to invertebrates (mostly invasive species or
marine organisms) when I can. On my end it boils down to 1) do I have
the time to do outreach and meet my personal/work obligations and 2)
do I have money to cover any associated costs. With mass emails, much
of your audience may not be local. Unless you have funding to cover
travel (maybe you do, I haven't seen the original request) then a big
chunk of your audience will immediately reject the idea. And even if
you have the funding, potential volunteers would have to consider the
impact of time spent in transit as well as volunteering. I know these
are hardly new observations, but still worth keeping in mind.
Brian
On Sun, Dec 3, 2017 at 8:36 AM, Adam Eichenwald <sma...@mac.com
<mailto:sma...@mac.com>> wrote:
I would bet that the problem is an extension of the “bystander
effect” (When it comes to people in trouble, wikipedia states :
"onlookers see that others are not helping either, that onlookers
believe others will know better how to help, and that onlookers
feel uncertain about helping while others are watching").
I’d think that by asking for volunteers on large social media
platforms, you’re A) opening yourself up to an electronic version
of the bystander effect, where people think “I would, but I’m
super busy. I’m sure someone else will do this instead.” B)
Falling into a hole due to the hundreds of emails that we all get
every day from these listservs and potentially being ignored.
Generally to get around the bystander effect when someone is in
trouble, you’re supposed to point to someone in particular and
say “you call 911.” Maybe you’d get better responses if you send
these emails out to the listserv and have a few colleagues already
prepped to “reply all” and announce their intention of
volunteering? That way you’d also ensure people are getting
pinged repeatedly and would be more likely to volunteer as well.
I’m not a social psychologist so I’m kind of shooting in the dark
here.
On Dec 3, 2017, at 10:04 AM, Aaron T. Dossey <bugoc...@gmail.com
<mailto:bugoc...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Once again I have floated around invitations to help with the
invertebrate section of the USA science and engineering festival
to literally thousands of people on social media and 2 "major"
ento and ecolog email listservs , for months, and once again not
a single response. (Also to many private zoos and museums etc).
This is the largest science outreach event in North America.
In fact I've been trying this for 3 years if you count my efforts
trying to recruit volunteers for the 2016 one which also has as
of yet gotten no response.
Why is this so impossible? Do universities not do outreach in
these fields anymore or do faculty, students and staff no longer
volunteer for anything or respond to emails?
If these things are to continue to exist whatsoever yes people
will have to start communicating, volunteering and working with
others at other organizations beyond a 1 mile radius of their
employer. With last week's feudalist austerity bill establishing
a firm and steep caste system in this country, there isn't going
to be money for this stuff so people will have to volunteer for
stuff like this or it won't happen.
Thoughts?
* note that I did this event in 2012 and 2014 without funding and
it worked out great so it CAN be done.
Sent from my iPhone
--
Brian Turner, PhD
Department of Environmental Science & Management
Portland State University (ESM), PO BOX 751,
Portland, OR 97207
Email: bctur...@pdx.edu
<mailto:bctur...@pdx.edu>
ATD of ATB and ISI
--
Aaron T. Dossey, Ph.D.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
http://cricketpowder.com/curriculum-vitae/
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