Humanity in the Time of Coronavirus

For this final DIY assignment, I chose the topic of community and participatory culture proffered by algorithms and platforms. With this topic in mind, I wanted to create a short video which focused on the coronavirus pandemic. More specifically, I wanted to reflect on how our increased use of social media during this period of quarantine and home isolation is creating a stronger sense and appreciation of global community.

In light of physical distancing, it seems that many people have turned to video sharing platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. to seek out human connection. Since coming home from college back in early March to quarantine with my family, I’ve seen an increasing number of these types of videos come across my social media timelines. Day after day, I watched these videos and kept coming back to the same question: How is it that physical distancing has brought people closer together? What do these videos have in common?

After conducting research for this project, I eventually found that this growing sense of global community could be boiled down to an appreciation of these shared values: music, comedy, self-sacrifice and relationships; and that is how I approached this project.

With this in mind, I wanted my video to start off with clips from news coverage about the terror of the coronavirus. I then intentionally had the video transition into clips from various social media sites grouped into roughly the aforementioned categories. I essentially wanted the narrative arc of my video to follow this statement:

The world is experiencing a great deal of death and uncertainty with the spread of the coronavirus. And yet, from sharing music, reminding ourselves to laugh, celebrating frontline workers, and getting closer with family, friends, neighbors and loved ones, we’ve never been closer together.

Source links

Quarantined residents in Spain take to their balconies for group exercise

Beautiful Moment Italian Couple Dance to Fred Astaire’s Cheek to Cheek

Ciara : Doctors and Nurses of Tjuh_pool do the LevelUp Dance

Firefighters and first responders line up to thank hospital staff

Coronavirus: Germans sing Bella Ciao from rooftops in solidarity with Italy

Lizzo performs “A Change Is Gonna Come” | One World: Together At Home

The Rolling Stones perform “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” | | One World: Together At Home

Tom Hanks At-Home Monologue – SNL

The Mcfarlands Blinding Light – The Weeknd

Guy Uses Drone To Date During Quarantine

Some Good News with John Krasinski Ep. 1