The illustration for this post is Infodemic: #Super Spreader, from Sean Caulfield, Timothy Caulfield and Susan Colberg’s artwork Infodemic (2020). You can see other artworks from this collection on the Dyscorpia 2.1 Online Exhibition.
The World Health Organisation’s definition of an ‘infodemic’ refers to the rapid spread of information with growing digitization.
“An infodemic is too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak. It causes confusion and risk-taking behaviours that can harm health. It also leads to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response. An infodemic can intensify or lengthen outbreaks when people are unsure about what they need to do to protect their health and the health of people around them. With growing digitization – an expansion of social media and internet use – information can spread more rapidly. This can help to more quickly fill information voids but can also amplify harmful messages.”
Who shared this example?
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Emily Vincent
Dr Emily Vincent is a Research Fellow on the Media Epidemics project. Her research focuses on disease and the Gothic in nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature. As a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, she surveys British detective fiction, Gothic fiction, and periodicals to investigate narrative representations of influenza. Previous work has focused on maternal…
