From Scientific Symposium to Information Pollution: An Audit of the OSINT Evidence Chain Regarding Hawking's Visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands and the "Private Island Visit" Narrative (2005–2007)

This study employs open-source intelligence (OSINT) as its methodological framework to conduct a layered audit of two information chains within the 2005–2007 time window: “Hawking's participation in a scientific symposium in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI)” and “visits to private islands (including Little Saint James, LSJ).” The research centers on data assets D2–D8: D2 Evidence Ledger, D6 Claim Atoms, D7 Media Assets, and D8 Timeline Trunk. It replaces “subjective manual simulation coding” with deterministic algorithmic coding, quantifying reliability (consistency, Cohen’s κ; robustness, correlation coefficient; anchor fact set consistency rate. Results indicate: A robust verifiable chain of facts can be constructed regarding “seminar attendance/conference activities”; however, “private island visits” currently appear in public materials as a chain dominated by secondary media and narrative amplification, exhibiting asymmetric evidence strength. This chain requires strict isolation from the factual chain to prevent slippage from “name mentions/photo narratives” to “illegal allegations.” This report provides audit conclusions solely based on publicly verifiable materials and narrative contamination mechanisms. It makes no unproven inferences regarding motives nor unsubstantiated assertions about any criminal conduct.