Marianne Clark and Clare Southerton As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds in devastating and unpredictable ways, the use of face masks (mandated and suggested) as a means to reduce the spread of the virus has gained attention in popular, media and political discourse, evoking (often heated) debates around how effective and necessary they are, and whetherContinue reading “The Unfamiliar Intimacy of the Face Mask During COVID-19”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Friendship by Design: Kawaii Villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Megan Rose Why has Animal Crossing: New Horizons been so popular during COVID-19 lockdown, and are the cute characters featured in the game so popular? My research at the Vitalities Lab explores this question with an ethnographic study of online Animal Crossing fandom communities and interviews with players. As a specialist in kawaii (cuteness), I’mContinue reading “Friendship by Design: Kawaii Villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons”
New Vitalities Lab webinar series on innovative methods
The Vitalities Lab has launched a new webinar series involving short-form presentations (slides plus voice-over). These webinars are designed to be clear explanations about using innovative methods and analysing the materials generated. They can be used in undergraduate and postgraduate methods teaching or by any interested researcher. The ‘Breaking Methods’ series can be found onContinue reading “New Vitalities Lab webinar series on innovative methods”
What COVID-19 can remind us of (but that we know from other events)
Jens Lindberg I did not plan to write about COVID-19. There have been so many texts at this point on the different trails of destruction the pandemic will leave behind, and how it will change things forever. But then again, looking back in history, writers will probably be right. So, maybe I can at leastContinue reading “What COVID-19 can remind us of (but that we know from other events)”
Vitalities Lab Newsletter Number 8
Tuesday 19 May, 2020 Like many people around the world, all of us in the Vitalities Lab have been adjusting to the ever-changing ‘new normal’. We’re all currently working from home using a range of tools to keep in touch and connected during this time of isolation (you can read about our digital workspace.) SinceContinue reading “Vitalities Lab Newsletter Number 8”
Our Digital Workspace
Over the past few weeks, the Vitalities Lab has gone digital. Working from home due to the COVID-19 lockdown, we’ve slid (not without friction) into new workweek routines — progressing existing research projects, commencing new data collection, and collaborating in our analysis and writing. Like many are doing with family, friends, and colleagues, we video-callContinue reading “Our Digital Workspace”
Reflecting on Our Zeal for Fitness in Times of Covid-19
Marianne Clark While perhaps not as essential as pasta or toilet paper, fitness gear such as skipping ropes and yoga mats are flying off store shelves during the Covid-19 crisis. A recent personal search led to countless niche online-fitness stores before finally locating a moderately-priced skipping rope available for purchase. It had a few moreContinue reading “Reflecting on Our Zeal for Fitness in Times of Covid-19”
COVID-19 Visual Diary
Vitalities Lab team members have documented public spaces in their local areas (eastern suburbs of Sydney and inner south Canberra) to record their experiences of living in COVID worlds of physical isolation. These are the new ways of living and engaging with other humans, place, space and things in the highly restricted conditions of physicalContinue reading “COVID-19 Visual Diary”
COVID society – some resources I have put together for social researchers
Originally posted on This Sociological Life:
? ? Over the past fortnight, I’ve put together a few open-access resources concerning what an initial agenda for COVID-related social research could be and research methods for conducting fieldwork in the COVID world. Links are below: Conducting Fieldwork in a Pandemic (Google Doc crowd-sourced resource) Social Research for…
Can lip-syncing save lives?
Viral health information on TikTok Clare Southerton With the rapid rise of short-form video-sharing platform TikTok, health professionals have started mobilising the popularity of the site to provide users insight into their work conditions as well as offer health advice. In the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, social media has played a particularly centralContinue reading “Can lip-syncing save lives?”
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