Disclaimer
IIDj , Institute for Information Design Japan

We have followed the developments surrounding the coronavirus since the very early beginnings in February 2020.

Our call for verifiable and usable data to be made available to the public and authorities at all levels in a format that allows risk assessment and appropriate decision-making went unheard.

These serious shortcomings were all the more unacceptable, given that the monopoly of apparent authority was only consolidated by the unprecedented synchronized referencing of global mainstream media, leading to significant misinterpretations and far-reaching measures that severely affected most of the people on Earth.

Although we strongly deplored these consistent inadequacy of data and the glaring lack of scientifically responsible communication by universities, government institutions, and the media - worldwide - we engaged in providing 2D and 3D visualizations that we attempted to contextualize as much as the available data allowed.

Late in 2020 we stopped publishing.

• We recognized the focus on numbers of any kind to be at the core of hysteria and hypnosis
• We understood, that the long scientific tradition of seeking evidence through quantifiable measurements and inspections has led to obfuscation and the inability to recognize more relevant structures and relationships in the material and temporal world on any scale.
• Our own attachment to always-available information that promises to make sense to non-experts has seduced us into an orientation of competence - we prioritize for our understanding and decision-making what we encounter in mediated/abstracted form over our acquired ability to recognize, learn, and conclude through experiences of practice
• As a result, trust is replaced by forced acceptance of certified facts provided by the various authorities
• We ourselves must apologize.
  Designers' drive to make information accessible and understandable has prepared the ground on which most of us, regardless of cultural and geographical context, wander around, device in hand; ever so concerned to receive latest updates –
  – comfortable in the induced sensation of being alert and alive

Necessary investigations must move beyond short-term concerns and anxieties, not being distracted by urgency or authority

Every suggestion is welcome!

IIDj , Institute for Information Design Japan, 2021
cv@iidj.net