Abstract

From February 2020, media coverage surrounding the spread of Covid-19 (acronym for the coronavirus disease of 2019) accelerated to the point where it has become the most exhaustively covered pandemic in recent times. In particular, numerous information visualisations surrounding the extent of the disease were released. One reason for such acceleration may be that, in an increasingly digital world, growth in media coverage is inevitable. However, when compared to the concurrent Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) pandemic, which has a significantly higher fatality rate, coverage surrounding Covid-19 has been inordinately more expansive. One key difference between the two pandemics is that Covid-19 spreads more rapidly. In this article, the author examines the rhetorical potency of information visualisation as a means of visually expressing the spread of Covid-19. He comments on the efficiency and clarity with which information visualisation distils content surrounding the pandemic. Further, the author delineates rhetorical agents that arouse fear and urgency in depicting the concept of the “spread” of Covdid-19 in a palpable way.

摘要

从 2020 年 2 月起，围绕 Covid-19（2019 年冠状病毒病的首字母缩写）传播的媒体报道加速到它已成为近期报道最详尽的流行病的程度。特别是，发布了许多围绕疾病程度的信息可视化。这种加速的一个原因可能是，在一个日益数字化的世界中，媒体报道的增长是不可避免的。然而，与同时发生的中东呼吸综合征 (MERS) 大流行（死亡率显着提高）相比，围绕 Covid-19 的覆盖范围更加广泛。这两种流行病之间的一个关键区别是 Covid-19 的传播速度更快。在本文中，作者检验了信息可视化的修辞效力，作为视觉表达 Covid-19 传播的一种手段。他评论了信息可视化提炼围绕大流行的内容的效率和清晰度。此外，作者描述了在以明显的方式描述 Covdid-19 “传播”概念时引起恐惧和紧迫感的修辞手段。