Virtue Signaling in a Difficult Time
April 21, 2020
I have noticed a number of stories about companies working to keep the current virus at bay. Some are interesting; for example, Johns Hopkins University rolled out its dashboard early in the game. Interesting, right? The approach illustrates how dashboards of data deliver a bird’s eye view of a data set. The Johns Hopkins’ approach omits some data; for example, the rate of doubling per sector, demographic data, and controls to present the data in different graphs. DarkCyber has some questions about the service, but let’s set those aside. The Johns Hopkins’ dashboard scores a 7 on the virtue signaling scale created by the DarkCyber team in a 10 minute Zoom call. DarkCyber is thorough.
How do other virtue signaling services stack up on our scale, with 1 being the most limited and 10 representing a home run data service.
- Elon Musk and his ventilators. According to the Sacramento Bee, the ventilators never arrived. The PR did, however. Mr. Musk asserts he has delivered. The score is 1.
- Google stepped forward and offered virus donations. Sounds good, and Vox reported the generous offer. But wait! Millions in cash? Nope, ad credits. Virtue signaling score: 2.
- IBM created a variation on the Johns Hopkins’ dashboard. The twist to the IBM service was that as one clicked down to a state and then a country, the Big Blue service does not make it easy to back out and look at other data. There’s a work around, of course, but the mainframe crowd seems to shine when it comes to usability and medical information. Virtue signaling score: 2.
What outfit gets a 10? None so far.
There are other examples of virtue signaling, but the message is clear: Seize an opportunity to promote one’s company.
Here’s a virus test quiz:
- What service provides demographic data about those diagnosed with the virus?
- What service breaks down the demographics of those who died from the subsequent downstream effects of the virus?
- Within clusters of deaths, what are the zip codes of the deceased?
Give up. The big dashboard producers are following Elon Musk’s approach: Don’t do the work.
Virtue signaling is a big PR and marketing trend. Good enough as some say.
Stephen E Arnold, April 21, 2020
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