Visual Representations of Science in a Pandemic: COVID-19 in Images

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the social dimensions of the 2020 pandemic, with a particular emphasis on the visual practices of science communication in times of health emergency, by analyzing how the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is being visually represented. It seeks to identify the format and content of images used to illustrate online information about the pandemic, in particular, from websites of policy institutions, research promoters, and media in Portugal and Spain. By examining a sample containing 600 images, it aims to identify the messages being conveyed and the effects these images intend to provoke and to illuminate the differences in representations among the three sources of communication. Differences and similarities with visual images of previous pandemics (influenza, AIDS) are examined. This article ascertains that policy websites aim to be mostly prescriptive, relying on infographics to convey prevention and care instructions to its audiences. On the other hand, science websites rely mostly on stock photos and images from scientific articles to illustrate current research, while newspaper websites are the most diversified in terms of the images they use and the topics they cover. This study concludes that representations of science are still very much based on stereotypical imagery of labs and white coats, that representations of the medical side of the pandemic are focused on images of intensive care that aim to generate fear and stimulate responsible behavior, and that the social aspects of the pandemic are illustrated by images that focus either on pandemic prevention (e.g., washing hands) or on the impacts of the pandemic itself (e.g., empty streets during lockdown).

Children’s Views of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Preventive Practices: Comparing Verbal and Visual Empirical Evidence

“…Fewer children seem to confuse SARS-CoV-2 with COVID-19 and other health issues or provide inappropriate answers. Similarly, their drawings mostly include either adequate or partially adequate representations, a finding which possibly reflects children's exposure to an abundance of publicly available images of SARS-CoV-2 which include its morphological characteristics, namely its circular shape and spikes (Delicado and Rowland, 2021;Martinerie et al, 2021), oftentimes with anthropomorphic elements (Martinerie et al, 2021;McGellin et al, 2021).…”

“…Therefore, in the context of COVID-19, visual images have become powerful communication means with the potential to convey meanings more effectively than verbal communication by rendering complex information accessible to non-experts (Joubert and Wasserman, 2020). Besides, images, as sociocultural mediating tools, apart from representing scientific information touch upon social, emotional, or cultural facets of the pandemic (Delicado and Rowland, 2021;Zou and Tang, 2021). Publicly available images of SARS-CoV-2 typically involve (a) the morphology of the virus, emphasizing its sphere-like shape and the spikes on its surface (Delicado and Rowland, 2021) and (b) anthropomorphic elements, echoing a tendency to assign human features, like eyes, mouth, facial expression, or human-like limbs to the virus (Joubert and Wasserman, 2020;McGellin et al, 2021).…”

“…Besides, images, as sociocultural mediating tools, apart from representing scientific information touch upon social, emotional, or cultural facets of the pandemic (Delicado and Rowland, 2021;Zou and Tang, 2021). Publicly available images of SARS-CoV-2 typically involve (a) the morphology of the virus, emphasizing its sphere-like shape and the spikes on its surface (Delicado and Rowland, 2021) and (b) anthropomorphic elements, echoing a tendency to assign human features, like eyes, mouth, facial expression, or human-like limbs to the virus (Joubert and Wasserman, 2020;McGellin et al, 2021). This is no surprise since anthropomorphic representations are commonly used when representing entities inducing uncertainty and fear, as in the case of SARS-CoV-2 (de Rosa and Mannarini, 2020).…”

“…On the other hand, visual representations of mitigation measures and illness have been more realistic and straightforward, since they typically depict real-life, observable situations. These mainly involve (a) visualized instructions on protective measures (e.g., mask-wearing, hand washing, covering the mouth, and nose when coughing), (b) COVID-19 symptoms; (c) iconic symbols of different levels of medical intervention, namely, testing, treatment (e.g., hospitals, medicines), or vaccination; and (d) depictions of the social aspects of the pandemic [e.g., lockdown, deserted streets, business, and school closures (Bray et al, 2021b;Delicado and Rowland, 2021)].…”

evolución de las imágenes del coronavirus en los informativos de las televisiones españolas y su relación con las imágenes científicas del virus

“…Entre las imágenes más frecuentes sobre la pandemia en los medios de comunicación están las representaciones del virión del SARS-CoV-2, que suelen ser recreaciones de imágenes científicas del mismo creadas por diseñadores gráficos a partir de ilustraciones médicas (Delicado y Rowland, 2021).…”