Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Dec 29, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Dec 29, 2021 - Feb 23, 2022
Date Accepted: Mar 6, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Digital visual communication for public health: a design proposal for a vaccinated emoji
ABSTRACT
In the 21st century, the internet and particularly social media have become essential platforms for the spread of health information (and disinformation). One of the distinguishing features of communication on these platforms is the widespread use of emojis. Though seemingly trivial, emojis are now used by many if not most public health figures and organizations alongside important health updates. Much of that information has had to do with vaccination. Vaccines are a critical public health tool but one surrounded by falsehoods and phobias, especially in the time of COVID-19. Part of that has to do with their lack of positive representation on social media: the syringe emoji is a plain needle which for many people is an uncomfortable image. We thus argue that vaccination deserves an entirely new emoji, and discuss a design proposal for a vaccinated emoji that has gained traction in the global public health community.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.