Appendix B: The Future Shock

Technology Review commissioned a review of Michelle Delio's work. Appendix B is examines her work on "The Future Shock", a story with specific problems with sourcing.

At the request of Technology Review, Inc., Susan Rasky agreed to oversee the fact checking of 10 articles by Michelle Delio that TR published online between December 16, 2004, and March 7, 2005. After conducting their own review, the editors at Technology Review had concerns regarding some of the sources and quotations in these articles.

Click here to see the report findings. What follows below is a point-by-point analysis of what the investigation turned up in regards to "The Future Shock". Click here to read Appendix A: The Investigation Findings. Click here to read Appendix C: The Invisible Fighter. Click here to read Appendix D: Delio's response.

REPORT: The Future Shock
Researched by Kim Perry

I contacted Joe Korsmo on April 1. He's a University of Pennsylvania student studying marketing and business. Korsmo was quoted once in Michelle Delio's story "The Future Shock". Korsmo said he wasn't interviewed for the article (See page 2 for the email exchange, and Delio's response), but the facts of the article were accurate. Korsmo also said he first discovered the article when a friend e-mailed it to him.

Korsmo contacted Michelle Delio by e-mail to ask about it, and they then exchanged several friendly e-mails. Korsmo said he was delighted the article was written. When it was removed from Technology Review's Web site, Korsmo was disappointed and wanted the story returned.

I contacted Kolin Pope  on April 1. Pope was quoted three times in Delio's article. Pope said he was accurately quoted and that the  facts of the story were generally correct, except that a couple of events were omitted. 

Dylan Reiff is an actor and playwright who studies theater at Antioch College. Joe Korsmo studies business and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. Both are avid gamers and have been playing them together for 15 years. Their installation is titled after Kolin's mother's announcement: There's Someone at the Door, He Says He's From the Future

Joe Korsmo: (CONTACT INFORMATION REMOVED). Studying marketing and business at University of Pennsylvania -- Wharton undergraduate

• Contact: April 1, 2005
• 2:09 p.m. --  I e-mailed Korsmo
• 2:30 p.m. -- Korsmo called. Spoke briefly: I informed Korsmo of the project. He didn't want to speak with me until he contacted his business partner, Dylan Reiff.
• 2:45 p.m. -- Korsmo called. He wanted to talk about article.
• 4:40 p.m. --  I returned his call.
• 4:50 p.m. -- Korsmo called. Korsmo said he wasn't contact for the article. There is a possibility that he was questioned at the gallery opening. But he wasn't approached by anyone who identified themselves with Technology Review. Korsmo first heard about the article when a friend e-mailed it to him -- his friend found his name online. Korsmo said: "I didn't even know about it until I read it online."
          Korsmo said the article was accurate. But the story did make the project "seem more dangerous then it was."
• Korsmo never gave Michelle Delio information about his project. "I was quoted in it, but I wasn't interviewed."
• Korsmo contacted Michelle by e-mail. He asked Delio why she used his name without contacting him.
• Korsmo said Delio replied that she tried to contact him, but couldn't find him – she said she called the gallery. Korsmo asked her how to get the article back online. She said there was a problem with sources on a few other stories – but she would contact him with suggestions later.
• Korsmo said he was being evasive in the beginning because he was originally delighted there was an article and he wanted to keep the story up. Korsmo said the article's facts are completely true. But he had no idea about the article until it was there.

Dylan Reiff: (CONTACT INFORMATION REMOVED). Majoring in performance and tactical media

Contact: April 1, 2005

• 8:14 p.m. -- I e-mailed Reiff

April 3, 2005

• 2:21 p.m. – Reiff called. Reiff said he didn't talk with Delio.

"It (the story) was framed in this idea that we abandoned Kolin in the forest. We didn't. It would have been more accurate to learn more about the project."

"There was a car waiting for him. It wasn't as dangerous. He knew how to get out. (The article) It was very surface. If she had talked to either me or Joe it would have been very clear the intent of the project."
 
"We realize she hadn't talked to either of us and to our recognition she hadn't been at the opening."

Kolin Pope: CONTACT INFORMATION REMOVED). Personal website, details entire project

Contact: April 1, 2005

• 1:38 p.m. -- I e-mailed Pope
• 3:52 -- Pope called me. Spoke briefly: He said article was "inaccurate and hacked up."
• 3:53 -- Pope returned e-mail
• 7 p.m. -- I called Pope. Spoke briefly: Pope said Michelle Delio interviewed him by e-mail. But judging by the Technology Review article, he didn't think she looked at his Web site, because she got the time sequence mixed up. The beginning of the article was taken "verbatim." I asked for specifics. He didn't have the article. I scanned the article and e-mailed it to him.
• 7:56 p.m. -- I called Pope. He reread the article and went over it paragraph by paragraph. His main concern was the chronology: The time sequence between the first and second contact with Dylan Reiff and Joe Korsmo was unclear, specifically paragraph eight through 12. Also concerned with paragraph 15, Shags didn't disappear. Shags was undercover and double-crossed Pope – who describes the event as a "huge plot twist." Otherwise quotes sound accurate, and facts accurate.

The interview was by e-mail. Pope didn't speak with Delio. Kolin e-mailed Michelle to find out what happened to article when it was taken down. She didn't respond.