COVID-19 and Facebook in Papua New Guinea: Fly River Forum

IF 1.4 3区社会学 Q1 AREA STUDIES

Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies Pub Date : 2020-10-20 DOI:10.1002/app5.312

Peter D. Dwyer, Monica Minnegal

引用次数: 9

Abstract

This article examines use of a Papua New Guinea (PNG) Facebook group, Fly River Forum, with reference to the COVID-19 global pandemic. From about mid-March 2020, when the PNG Government declared a State of Emergency, to early May, members of that forum shared an intense interest in the pandemic and were deeply concerned with its possible implications for the country. The great majority of COVID-related posts, and associated comments, combined delivery of relevant information with scepticism about some of that information. Most participants did not take either religious tropes or conspiracy theories as primary sources of comfort or explanation. We argue that Fly River Forum played a positive role in the ways that people engaged with what could have emerged as a health disaster. More generally, geographically focused sites such as this provide a valuable barometer of local opinion and deserve close attention by politicians and policymakers in PNG.

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巴布亚新几内亚的COVID-19和Facebook: Fly River论坛

本文考察了巴布亚新几内亚(PNG) Facebook群组Fly River Forum在COVID-19全球大流行中的使用情况。从大约2020年3月中旬巴布亚新几内亚政府宣布进入紧急状态到5月初，该论坛成员对这一流行病有着浓厚的兴趣，并对其可能对该国产生的影响深表关切。绝大多数与covid相关的帖子和相关评论都将相关信息的传递与对其中一些信息的怀疑结合起来。大多数参与者都不把宗教比喻或阴谋论作为安慰或解释的主要来源。我们认为，蝇河论坛在人们应对可能出现的健康灾难方面发挥了积极作用。更普遍的是，像这样以地理位置为重点的网站提供了一个有价值的当地民意晴雨表，值得巴布亚新几内亚的政治家和决策者密切关注。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies AREA STUDIES-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

5.30%

发文量

审稿时长

6 weeks

期刊介绍： Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies is the flagship journal of the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. It is a peer-reviewed journal that targets research in policy studies in Australia, Asia and the Pacific, across a discipline focus that includes economics, political science, governance, development and the environment. Specific themes of recent interest include health and education, aid, migration, inequality, poverty reduction, energy, climate and the environment, food policy, public administration, the role of the private sector in public policy, trade, foreign policy, natural resource management and development policy. Papers on a range of topics that speak to various disciplines, the region and policy makers are encouraged. The goal of the journal is to break down barriers across disciplines, and generate policy impact. Submissions will be reviewed on the basis of content, policy relevance and readability.