Items

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  04/08/2020

  Australian 'Smart Traveller' World Travel Advisory Map

  SmartTraveller is the Australian Government's travel advisory website. This may be a historical first: every continent on the SmartTraveller map is red. The government's official advice is 'Do Not Travel' for everywhere in the world. It's a striking visual that sums up the universality of the pandemic experience.
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  04/22/2020

  Mr Darcy's COVID greetings

  This meme resonated with me because I'd noticed several other aspects of society that reverted to Austen-esque practices during COVID-19. Emails became more like letters; personal and sometimes lengthy. People really began to enjoy walks in pairs again. It forced us all to slow down and consider one another more. (For unit HUM404) Creator: Twitter user Hannah Long / @HannahGraceLong using a still from the BBC's 'Pride and Prejudice' miniseries.
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  2020-03-27

  Procreate Care Pack

  Procreate is the bestselling iPad app for artists. When lockdown began in Australia, they launched a month-long campaign to encourage people to draw every day, and share their artwork with the community. The idea behind the Procreate Care Pack was to respond to the situation in a positive way, and keep people connected with one another through an isolating time. It resonated strongly with Procreate artists all over the world.
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  04/10/2020

  Clear Skies

  These are two examples of a type of photograph that began appearing all over social media during April 2020. At that point, isolation and quarantine measures had been in place in many parts of the world for weeks or even months. The sudden reduction in traffic had a notable effect on the clarity of the atmosphere in these places. The Los Angeles photo is striking because LA is known for being under a yellow haze of smog to the point where a yellow tinge is associated with the city. The Himalayan Ranges image is striking because it reveals something that was previously invisible. There haven't been many upsides to COVID-19, but the demonstration of how it is within our power to drastically reduce air pollution is a powerful message. (Posted for class HUM 404) Creator: (Possibly) Bill Goss and Unknown
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  2020-03-25

  Australian Government formal COVID-19 mass text alert

  The Australian Government sent out a very curt mass text on the 25th of March to warn Australian citizens to follow COVID-19 guidelines. I chose this item because the timing and brevity was viewed by many as 'too little, too late'. It's a reflection of the fact that it took our government a week or two to absorb and act on the seriousness of the situation - not long before this message came out, the Prime Minister had still been encouraging people to attend football matches in high-capacity stadiums. Though the government eventually recognised the risk, and acted more decisively than some other countries, a large chunk of credit must go to Australians with the foresight to begin acting in advance of government instruction. By the time I received this message, my workplace had already been shut down to a work-from-home situation for a full two weeks, and the University of Tasmania's campuses had been shut down for five days. (HUM404)
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  03/12/2020

  Rudy Goberg tests positive for hubris

  In March, during the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak reaching Europe, Australia, and the USA, some people were still taking the risk less seriously than others. Twitter has a nose for irony, and a lot of people picked up on what happened to basketballer Rudy Gobert. In early March when the NBA was still denying the need to shut down the season, he touched every microphone and surface he could reach to mock the possibility of COVID-19. A week later, he was sick with it, and the NBA season was called off. Twitter user Jeffery Cook (@JefferyCook)