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[[File: | [[File:Leprosy victims taught by bishop.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Clerics with leprosy receiving instruction from a bishop. Royal 6 E. VI; Page Folio Number: f. 301rb.]] | ||
Mark Twain said “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” | |||
The same applies to honest mistakes. The ease with which information spreads across the Internet means the stakes are higher when it comes to getting things right. But with a bit of help, it’s possible to get the genie back in the bottle. Mostly at least. | |||
For several years, many sources – including a wide range of academic websites – described the image on the right as depicting people suffering from the Black Death, the pandemic of plague that swept through most of Eurasia in the mid-fourteenth century. The illustration itself dates from 1360-75 and is from an illuminated manuscript, Omne Bonum by James le Palmer.1 In fact, the image shows clerics with leprosy being instructed by a bishop. It’s easy to see how the mistake happened: the Black Death affected a huge number of people across Europe, caused visible physical symptoms, and coincided roughly with when the illustration was produced. But the text itself is about leprosy, and that disease was commonly depicted in the medieval period with red spots like those shown in the image. | |||
<span class="plainlinks">The misinterpretation had become so prevalent the issue became the topic of an article in a new academic journal: [http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=11&article=1000&context=medieval_globe&type=additional ‘Diagnosis of a “Plague” Image: A Digital Cautionary Tale’] in ''[http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/medieval_globe/1/ The Medieval Globe]''. Published just a couple of months ago, it didn’t take long before the paper started to have an effect. This is due in no small part to the fact that the article is freely available – in fact the entire volume of The Medieval Globe is [[:en:open access|open access]]. The authors approached the British Library to update its ''[http://imagesonline.bl.uk/en/asset/show_zoom_window_popup.html?asset=12942&location=grid&asset_list=5516,80721,12942,16974&basket_item_id=undefined Images Online]'' website and its [http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=32116 Illuminated MSS Online Catalogue].</span> | |||
<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2015/01/the-truth-gets-its-shoes-on-the-black-death-on-wikipedia/<nowiki>[</nowiki>Continues...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span> | |||
<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2015/01/ | |||
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Revision as of 13:51, 16 January 2015
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