As well as SARSwatch, the blog devoted to tracking news about the virus, blogs offer an insight into the spread of the world's latest scare, and life in some of the "danger regions".
New Zealand's National Business Review magazine has just published the first of a three-part series of articles discussing the blogs of individuals in China who are posting about SARS. Despite its alluring (to me, anyway) title, the article only mentioned one blog -- that of Joycelen, an American living in China, who complains about the atmosphere of panic:
| SARS has been a part of my life for weeks...and, frankly, I've had it with SARS.
I no longer fear the virus itself. Instead, I abhor the exaggerated panic that, honestly, is way more infectious than SARS. It started out innocent enough. Just wash your hands often, we were told. And be sure to protect your immunity. Eat well, get enough sleep, exercise regularly. Wear masks on public transport...well, we all knew masks weren't 100% effective, but we could wear them for a short period of time at least. But now it's just out of control! After the big announcement from the China communist party, our company asked everyone to wear masks IN THE OFFICE. Ridiculous. They've recommended we avoid going out for lunch...and now I'm one of the few who "dares" to risk her life to eat. Most disconcerting is that HR now demands that we have our temperature taken when we return from the break. Personally, it feels like an invasion of my privacy. |
One of the better Chinese blogs that I've found myself is Wangjianshuo's -- which has a nice, neat layout and one section devoted specifically to SARS, who notes today, for example, that:
| The building I was working in has lined up a 10 meters long table at the lobby. Three ladies were sitting at the table. Anyone entering the building will be required to wear their employee card with pictures. Others will have their temperature taken at the tables. |
The first blogs ever to come to prominence were those of New Yorkers who documented the 9/11 strikes. More recent fascination with Salam Pax's diary suggest a pattern that may continue with blogs from SARS-infected areas: the weblogs that most capture the public's imagination are those with first-hand -- "authentic" -- accounts of what are otherwise heavily mediated events.
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