The project investigates questions of public health, media and communication among residents of Edinburgh and the Lothians in relation to COVID-19. The project draws on individuals’ personal accounts of the pandemic, in the form of video/audio diary data recorded during the UK stay-at-home order.

The intimate, immediate, and spontaneous nature of video/audio diaries makes them a unique data resource for assessing drivers of individual experience, including:

1. acceptance and uptake of public health measures,
2. impacts on mental health, and
3. drivers of fears, anxieties, rumours and stigma.

We will create a large, online collection of personal video and audio diaries, which represent time-sensitive data of individuals’ raw experiences, and are context-sensitive to aspects of identity, demographics, and background.