中国科学院机构知识库网格
Chinese Academy of Sciences Institutional Repositories Grid
The COVID-19 Infodemic: Infodemiology Study Analyzing Stigmatizing Search Terms

文献类型:期刊论文

作者Hu, Zhiwen3; Yang, Zhongliang2; Li, Qi2; Zhang, An1
刊名JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
出版日期2020-11-16
卷号22期号:11页码:16
关键词infodemiology COVID-19 infodemic social contagion collective perceptual biases collective behavioral propensities social mobilization
ISSN号1438-8871
DOI10.2196/22639
通讯作者Hu, Zhiwen(huzhiwen@zjgsu.edu.cn)
英文摘要Background: In the context of the COVID-19 infodemic, the global profusion of monikers and hashtags for COVID-19 have found their way into daily communication and contributed to a backlash against China and the Chinese people. Objective: This study examines public engagement in crisis communication about COVID-19 during the early epidemic stage and the practical strategy of social mobilization to mitigate the infodemic. Methods: We retrieved the unbiased values of the top-ranked search phrases between December 30, 2019, and July 15, 2020, which normalized the anonymized, categorized, and aggregated samples from Google Search data. This study illustrates the most-searched terms, including the official COVID-19 terms, the stigmatized terms, and other controls, to measure the collective behavioral propensities to stigmatized terms and to explore the global reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic in the real world. We calculated the ratio of the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases to the regional population as the cumulative rate (R) of a specific country or territory and calculated the Gini coefficient (G) to measure the collective heterogeneity of crowd behavior. Results: People around the world are using stigmatizing terms on Google Search, and these terms were used earlier than the official names. Many stigmatized monikers against China (eg, "Wuhan pneumonia," G=0.73; "Wuhan coronavirus," G=0.60; "China pneumonia," G=0.59; "China coronavirus," G=0.52; "Chinese coronavirus," G=0.50) had high collective heterogeneity of crowd behavior between December 30, 2019, and July 15, 2020, while the official terms "COVID-19" (G=0.44) and "SARS-CoV-2" (G=0.42) have not become de facto standard usages. Moreover, the pattern of high consistent usage was observed in 13 territories with low cumulative rates (R) between January 16 and July 15, 2020, out of 58 countries and territories that have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19. In the scientific literature, multifarious naming practices may have provoked unintended negative impacts by stigmatizing Chinese people. The World Health Organization; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and the media initiated campaigns for fighting back against the COVID-19 infodemic with the same mission but in diverse voices. Conclusions: Infodemiological analysis can articulate the collective propensities to stigmatized monikers across search behaviors, which may reflect the collective sentiment of backlash against China and Chinese people in the real world. The full-fledged official terms are expected to fight back against the resilience of negative perceptual bias amid the COVID-19 epidemic. Such official naming efforts against the infodemic should be met with a fair share of identification in scientific conventions and sociocultural paradigms. As an integral component of preparedness, appropriate nomenclatures should be duly assigned to the newly identified coronavirus, and social mobilization in a uniform voice is a priority for combating the next infodemic.
WOS关键词CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK ; 2019-NCOV ; WUHAN ; TRANSMISSION ; HEALTH ; CLASSIFICATION ; NOMENCLATURE ; PREJUDICE ; VIRUSES ; SCIENCE
资助项目National Natural Science Foundation of China[U1936208] ; Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China[LZ21F020004]
WOS研究方向Health Care Sciences & Services ; Medical Informatics
语种英语
WOS记录号WOS:000602359300001
出版者JMIR PUBLICATIONS, INC
资助机构National Natural Science Foundation of China ; Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China
源URL[http://ir.igsnrr.ac.cn/handle/311030/137693]  
专题中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所
通讯作者Hu, Zhiwen
作者单位1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Geog Sci & Nat Resources Res, State Key Lab Resources & Environm Informat Syst, Beijing, Peoples R China
2.Tsinghua Univ, Beijing Natl Res Ctr Informat Sci & Technol BNRis, Beijing, Peoples R China
3.Zhejiang Gongshang Univ, Sch Comp & Informat Engn, 18 Xuezheng St, Hangzhou 310018, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式
GB/T 7714
Hu, Zhiwen,Yang, Zhongliang,Li, Qi,et al. The COVID-19 Infodemic: Infodemiology Study Analyzing Stigmatizing Search Terms[J]. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH,2020,22(11):16.
APA Hu, Zhiwen,Yang, Zhongliang,Li, Qi,&Zhang, An.(2020).The COVID-19 Infodemic: Infodemiology Study Analyzing Stigmatizing Search Terms.JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH,22(11),16.
MLA Hu, Zhiwen,et al."The COVID-19 Infodemic: Infodemiology Study Analyzing Stigmatizing Search Terms".JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH 22.11(2020):16.

入库方式: OAI收割

来源:地理科学与资源研究所

浏览0
下载0
收藏0
其他版本

除非特别说明,本系统中所有内容都受版权保护,并保留所有权利。