The Polyvocality of Online COVID-19 Vaccine Narratives that Invoke Medical Racism
Vaccine hesitancy has always been a public health concern, and anti-vaccine campaigns that proliferate disinformation have gained traction across the US in the last 25 years. The demographics of resistance are varied, with health, religious, and, increasingly, political concerns cited as reasons. With the COVID-19 pandemic igniting the fastest development of vaccines to date, mis- and disinformation about them have become inflammatory, with campaigning allegedly including racial targeting. Through a primarily qualitative investigation, this study inductively examines a large online vaccine discussion space that invokes references to the unethical Tuskegee Syphilis Study to understand how tactics of racial targeting of Black Americans might appear publicly. We find that such targeting is entangled with a genuine discussion about medical racism and vaccine hesitancy. Across 12 distinct voices that address race, medical racism, and vaccines, we discuss how mis- and disinformation sit alongside accurate information in a “polyvocal” space.
Image credit: Jason Armond | Los Angeles Times
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorado did not have a data dashboard available. Every afternoon at 4:00pm, I created a series of charts to help visualize changes in confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
“In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”
Herbert Simon (1971)
In the context of social media, Herbert Simon's "wealth of information" is the quantity and pace of information shared on social media, and the “poverty of attention” is represented by the tasks that should be in the foreground for a user. How can a user more strategically interact with social media while maintaining focus on a primary task? Can computation be used to solve a problem without introducing yet another screen?
Twila (twitter lamp) represents a calm technology artifact that empowers the user to strategically engage with social media thereby reducing overall screen time and minimizing the risk of social media addictive behaviors. Twila is programmed to alert the user of Twitter chatter using a preset hashtag search term. The Twila prototype is designed around hardware (Raspberry Pi Zero) that prioritizes affordability and size to allow for end-user customization (aesthetic preferences) as well as K-12 and higher education interdisciplinary educational opportunities that can seamlessly track between topics including computer programming, design thinking, biology, psychology, technology, ethics, and art.
Twila solves the challenge of notifying a user about a social media event without introducing another screen or inadvertently causing the user to needlessly check their phone for notifications. Twila listens to Twitter and blinks LEDs in response to a preset hashtag of the user’s choosing thereby accomplishing the overarching goal of peripherally signaling the user with a more strategic notification. The user can set Twila’s code to listen for any topic or community that has an affiliated hashtag.
Twila was designed around the idea of rallying people in support of or in opposition to specific local legislation. A common use of Twitter hashtags in the legislative realm is the binary YES or NO to a specific bill (e.g., the most recent immunization-related bill in Colorado was addressed with #YESonSB163 or #NOonSB163). If a user were interested in being alerted when activists opposed to the legislation were actively discussing the bill on Twitter and/or communicating with legislators, Twila could be set to that hashtag. In this form, Twila acts as a “bat signal” of sorts to rally legislative supporters to engage around the bill on social media.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Colorado General Assembly was placed on hold. As such, Twila was unable to be user-tested with its original intent. However, the pandemic introduced a variety of timely hashtags that could be used to test Twila’s functionality and efficacy. The #COVID19 hashtag was a perfect test case for functionality as it ensured a constant state of notifications. Once Twila was operating as intended, it could be used to visually represent the popularity of more nuanced sociopolitical hashtags such as #FakeNews, #FireFauci, #FilmYourHospital, and #CoronaHoax. As scientific misinformation is its own form of a pandemic (i.e., infodemic), using Twila to alert a user about misinformation campaigns would be a potential application. If the code were set up to capture the tweets for further analysis, researchers could explore geographic clustering as well as overall sentiment analysis.
While the Twila prototype utilized light as a notification, the Raspberry pi hardware ecosystem creates the potential to solve a variety of accessibility issues. Twila could be designed to use sound or vibration as an alert mechanism.
There are few things I love more than combining analog and digital. The new AxiDraw pen plotter is going to be a fun way to think about information visualization and data art.
A brief interview with Harvard University SARS-CoV-2 modelers about acknowledging the resurgence and what the future may hold.
Doing stand-up comedy has been on my bucket list since I was a child. Mission accomplished!
The Sounds of Science is an interactive data sonification project using conductive paint, electronics, and music composed from research data.
Playing with paper
Doodles, Papercutting, Paper Circuits, Data Illustrations
Boulder County immunization rates are alarmingly low. So, I bought a billboard to remind local folks about the importance of public health.
Ignite Boulder 39
“WTF is Scientific Consensus?”
Lindsay Diamond, PhD
Parent Advocate
Boulder County
Niwot, CO
Lindsay Diamond has always been a scientist. When she became a mother, she wanted to make immunization decisions based on the best available science. For Ms. Diamond, the decision was clear, but she saw many parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. She set out to help them make this decision based on the facts, see how their decision affects other children, and encourage them to take a risk-based approach to understanding vaccination.
Ms. Diamond is a consistent leader and effective communicator. While earning her PhD in molecular biology, Diamond also studied science communication. Her ability to translate the science of immunization into plain language has helped her convey the importance of vaccination to a wide audience. As a leading voice in her community, Ms. Diamond has helped parents approach this issue with an open mind. For example, she was invited to give a TEDx Talk on how understanding risk can help parents make the decision to vaccinate their children.
Ms. Diamond has worked with Boulder County’s immunization program and local healthcare partners to address low vaccination rates. With Ms. Diamond as a role model, the Boulder County Public Health Department has started looking for more parents who are strong advocates of immunization. By giving parents like Ms. Diamond a voice, public health officials in Colorado hope to move the needle on vaccination rates.
For her efforts to educate her peers and influence social norms, Lindsay Diamond is Colorado’s 2018 CDC Childhood Immunization Champion.
Enamel pins: design, production & sales
500 pins sold!
Volvo pins: homage to one of the best vehicles ever created - the Volvo 240 wagon!
Low Volume pins: enamel pin designed for Vulfpeck
Appearances
2.11.17 - Doomed Valentine’s Show (Oriental Theater, Denver)
2.14.17 - Doomed Valentine’s Show (Boulder Theater)
12.9.17 - Best of 2017 (Oriental Theater, Denver)
3.15.18 - Mortified Benefit for Moms Demand Action (Oriental Theater, Denver)
Hailed a “cultural phenomenon” by Newsweek and celebrated by This American Life, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Wired, The AV Club, The Today Show (twice), and beyond, Mortified celebrates stories revealed through the strange and extraordinary things we created as kids.
Witness adults sharing their most embarrassing childhood artifacts (journals, letters, poems, lyrics, plays, home movies, art) with others, in order to reveal stories about their lives. Hear grown men and women confront their past with tales of their first kiss, first puff, worst prom, fights with mom, life at bible camp, worst hand job, best mall job, and reasons they deserved to marry Jon Bon Jovi.
Cutting stamps and fabric printing
Vaccination: A Story of Risk and Community
TEDxBoulder
2015
We ventured out for a lovely winter hike at Heil Valley Ranch with a pack of llamas from Nieman Farm. Upon unloading the llamas we brushed out their coats before placing the saddle. I approached a lovely llama, Cinnie, and felt a solid camelid connection. It took great restraint to refrain from smothering Cinnie with love as llamas greatly appreciate a fair amount of personal space. I knew Cinnie was my llama as he allowed me to pet his endearingly long neck. We enjoyed a lovely stroll through the snowy trail.
On the morning of October 25th (2014), I discovered a flyer for a local beard competition. The category for female artistic beard caught my eye. I spent at least an hour or so debating whether a same-day beard was possible. Around midday, I made my way to Michael’s for inspiration and materials. This is the end result of <4 hours to prepare for my entry into the “Whiskerina” category.
Dean and I eloped in Iceland during the 2012 Airwaves Festival. We were lucky enough to have our ‘reception’ at the Of Monsters and Men performance at Harpa. The drummer, Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, was kind enough to dedicate the last song to us.
Photo by Magnús Elvar Jónsson
Today, I would like to introduce you to my latest creation – the NeverNude prototype in honor of the new season of Arrested Development that will be released on Netflix on May 26th. If you’re not familiar with the show, I hope this ridiculous project piques your interest enough to watch this hilarious series.
There are so many amazingly ridiculous things that happen in this show that it’s difficult to select only one to celebrate. However, I have a particular affinity for Tobias Fünke’s “never-nude” condition. Prior to moving out west I was hiding from adulthood and working on my doctorate in Gainesville, Florida. It’s home to the University of Florida, the Gators. A part of my heart and soul remains in this town, but I will never understand the football fervor. People live and die by Gator football in this little town that magically juxtaposes a typical liberal university town with its redneck roots. If there’s a single unifying icon of this bizarre conflation, it’s jorts. Here’s a little backstory.
So, back to Arrested Development. I nearly lost it just past the eight minute mark in the episode In God We Trust when Tobias’s “never-nude” condition is revealed. This particular aspect of the show always stuck with me – must be nostalgia from my time in jorts-country or growing up with a father that donned ripped jean cut-offs like a uniform.
Just before end of day on Friday I decided that I wanted to spend the evening playing with some of our electroluminescent (EL) offerings. I didn’t have a particular project in mind so I reached out via social media for ideas. A conversation with a friend surrounding a project that would require a flesh-toned leotard eventually led to a “never-nude” reference. Moments later I found myself drawing up the NeverNude prototype.
