Comics in the time of COVID-19: Tracking data on web-based comics and evaluating their potential for communicating public health messages

我们的流行病生活与视觉的、基于网络的公共卫生信息深深地交织在一起，从指导性的洗手象形图到封锁期间身体活动的信息图表。除了这些官方的公共卫生信息，人们还在创作数以千计的网络漫画，传达公共卫生信息。我们现在收集和编码这些漫画是至关重要的。作为短暂的、基于网络的艺术品，我们面临着失去数千件这样的作品及其特定的流通环境的风险。现在捕获并编码这些数据将使我们能够快速跟踪他们的消息、覆盖范围和参与度。特别是，关注疫情前6个月的网络漫画，我们将能够评估通过漫画媒介在社交媒体平台上制作和传播时间敏感型公共卫生信息的影响和潜力。捕捉这些网络漫画在数字平台上的影响和参与也将使我们深入了解公共卫生信息是如何在社交媒体上分享和解释的，以及如何倡导和抵制行为变化。编码将通过对漫画叙事和视觉的定性内容分析以及对社交媒体评论的分析来完成，使我们能够评估行为变化的证据和与公共卫生指南相关的实时复原力建设。为了最大限度地提高这一资源对受益者的影响，来自图形医学集体、信息素养小组和公共卫生多塞特的关键利益相关者将帮助形成数据收集和分析。研究数据将存储在BU的安全云服务和外部硬盘上。最后交付的数据集将采用Excel和CSV格式，与网络界面、数据库和数字编目兼容，便于适应今后的活动。

Our pandemic lives are deeply entwined with visual, web-based public health messages, from instructional hand-washing pictograms to infographics about physical activity during lockdowns. Alongside these official public health communications, people are creating thousands of web-based comics conveying public health messages.It is critical that we collect and code these comics now. As ephemeral, web-based artefacts we risk losing access to thousands of these creations and their specific circulation contexts. Capturing and coding this data now will allow us to rapidly track their messages, reach and engagement. In particular, focusing on web-comics from the first 6 months of the pandemic, we will be able to evaluate the impacts and potentials of producing and circualting time-sensitive public health messages via the comics medium across social media platforms.Capturing these web-comics' reach and engagement on digital platforms will also yield insight into how public health messages are shared and interpretted on social media, as well as into how behavioral change is championed and resisted. Coding will be done through a qualitative content analysis of comics' narratives and visuals, as well as an analysis of social media comments, allowing us to evaluate for evidence of behavioural change and real-time resilience-building in relation to public health guidelines.To maximise the impact of this resource on beneficiaries, key stakeholders from the Graphic Medicine Collective, Information Literacy Group, and Public Health Dorset will help shape data collection and analysis.Research data will be stored on BU's secure cloud service and on external hard drives. The final, deliverable dataset will be in Excel and CSV formats, compatible with web interface, database and digital cataloguing for ease of adaptation for future activities.