The COVID-19 outbreak is certain to appear in historical records, and scholars in years to come will analyze what transpired across the globe during 2020. You have the opportunity to aid scientific research by submitting your own account to the digital repository named 'Diary of the Plague Year'.
Historians at the University of Arizona built this platform. Project founder Katherine O'Donnell remarks that everyone alive today holds insights that future generations will undoubtedly seek. She has often regretted that no archives exist from earlier pandemics capturing the perspectives of everyday individuals.
Researchers primarily rely on artworks and scarce personal journals to understand how people endured historical pandemics. One notable source is Samuel Peeps's records detailing the bubonic plague outbreak in London in 1665. Another is Daniel Defoe's novel 'The Diary of a Plague Year' focusing on that same epidemic. This digital archive borrows its title from Defoe's book.
Anyone living anywhere in the world can add to this online collection. Contributions may include a photograph, an audio or video recording accompanied by a narrative, a link to your personal blog, or simply a written account.
Describe how quarantine influences your emotions, your strategies for handling remote work or unemployment, and your feelings about the shutdown of beloved travel spots.
Your narrative need not focus solely on yourself. You can record accounts from elderly family members unable to access the website, or share stories about people you know who dismiss the risks of COVID-19 or subscribe to conspiracy theories.
Share your quarantine experience with scientists and the public. Image source: Unsplash
The project's organizers request that you avoid submitting memes or widely circulated internet images. The archive already contains plenty of photographs showing empty supermarket aisles and toilet paper shortages.
Featured photograph courtesy of Unsplash.
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