LOCKDOWN2020 PROJECT REPORT
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
APRIL-JULY 2020
About the Project
Lockdown2020 is a community collection
seeking to capture the everyday life and experience of staff and students
during the unprecedented events of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is funded
by the Higher Education Innovation Fund and ESRC Impact Acceleration Account
through the University of Oxford’s COVID-19: Economic, Social, Cultural, &
Environmental Impacts - Urgent Response Fund, and run by the University’s
Faculty of English and IT Services.[1]
Crowd-sourcing calls for text, photo, and video contributions were
advertised through social media, colleges, and faculties. Contributors were
prompted to share any of the following: ‘a description of your typical day/or
plan for your day’, ‘pictures from your 'new normal' life (anything that
represents your daily life in lockdown, or what is happening in your
neighbourhood)’ and ‘a message to the future - a short time capsule message for
future staff, students, and historians of the University describing the current
times.’ Although these were the titles of the submission sections, contributors
had the freedom to submit any content related to their experience of lockdown.
This was reflected in the genre of entries, ranging between ‘day in the
life’/diary styles, reflective prose, articles, and photo captions, with
individual cases of a journal extract and a poem. Once reviewed, submissions
were then made public on the project website, lwf.it.ox.ac.uk/s/lockdown/.
The submissions to the project, collected from April to July
2020, form a corpus of personal experiences during lockdown in the UK and
internationally (with submissions sent from Jersey, France, USA, Tokyo, and
Australia). The University of Oxford had advised, where possible, for
students to return home (13th March) and for staff to work from home
(24th March). On the 23rd March, Prime Minister
Boris Johnson instructed the British public to ‘stay at home’, except for
‘shopping for basic necessities’; ‘one form of exercise a day’; ‘any medical
need’; and when travelling to and from work is ‘absolutely necessary’.[2] Our
project was collecting submissions during this first stage of lockdown, through
and beyond the lockdown easing announcement 3 months later on the 23rd
June. Johnson announced to the House that on the 4th July,
hairdressers, pubs, restaurants, and other leisure facilities, could reopen
adhering to a social distancing rule of ‘1 meter plus’ where possible.[3] Hence,
the corpus offers an opportunity to analyse the frequent themes and feelings of
the University community throughout the changing lockdown period of the
pandemic, and grants an insight into the ‘new normal’ daily lives of staff and
students from their perspective.
Corpus
The corpus contains 157 entries from 128
contributors. 105 entries included visual media (photo and video). The total
wordcount of the corpus is 37,085 (572 of the total wordcount is made up by
submission titles).
Table 1:
Distribution of entries from students and staff.
|
|
Entries |
Contributors |
|
Student |
71 |
69 |
|
Staff |
86 |
59 |
|
Total |
157 |
128 |
Conclusions
Lockdown2020, while a small-sized and
opportunistic corpus, provides a valuable insight into the day-to-day lives of
the University community during lockdown in the coronavirus pandemic. The
impacts prove to be an increased engagement in walking in nature following
outdoor exercise limitations; a greater appreciation of spending time with
family and friends; engaging with community via public art or community support
schemes; and the changes to a remote and online workspace speculated to result
in long-term changes. While these experiences have been isolating and
anxiety-inducing in many cases, leading to economic and political concern,
lockdown has also commonly encouraged appreciation for the ‘small things’ of
normal life. While it is challenging to draw large conclusions from the small
dataset, this corpus ensures material is available that addresses the real-time
experience of a global pandemic, the first of the digital age.
Student Submissions
A common concern in the collection was of
students ‘missing out’ on the Oxford experience. This affirms the importance of
Trinity term for student experience at Oxford, especially for Finalists for
whom this marks the end of their entire degree. This emphasises how academics
are only one part of life as an Oxford students, with students missing
societies, college staff, friends, punting, trashing, and the libraries when
the University goes remote. In terms of studying, many students also
acknowledge the difficulties studying in the family home due to distractions, poor
wifi, workspace, and parents not understanding the nature of Oxford academic
work. The variety of experiences, from having to move out of your family home
during lockdown as in one submission, to having to unexpectedly stay in a
foreign country during term time, show the differing impacts on students given
their situations outside of Oxford. Going forward the University should be
aware of the feelings of isolation and missing out that many students
experienced during this time.
Going forward
This project, as well as preserving these
experiences for future generations, can be used by the University to gain an
insight into the diversity of experiences during lockdown otherwise unreported
or unknown to the wider community. The project has also contributed to the
writing of Oxford’s history, and some submissions will be being included in
Pembroke College’s official History which is currently being written. We hope
that similar historical projects in Oxford and the University use the archive
in the future, as we work with the Museum of Oxford to organise an exhibition,
and with the Museum of History of Science to feature in their COVID-19 project
portal. As lockdown measures change what the University looks like to returning
students and staff in the academic year 2020/2021, we will keep the project
open to submissions for reflections and experiences in the continued endeavours
to educate students safely. Social distancing and support ‘bubbles’ will still
be in place, and Lockdown2020 will create further opportunity to capture and
explore University life in different forms of lockdown.
APPENDIX
1. Twitter analysis reach
During the project we encouraged staff and
students to submit via our Twitter page, @OxLockdown2020, where we also share
featured submissions. In June and July, we reached a total of 52.3k
impressions, 253 followers, and 1,282 profile visits.
2. Thematic Analysis: Themes and Feelings (Table)
The most frequent themes discussed in the
corpus are: the different leisure activities people spent their time doing;
COVID-19, in terms of discussing the impact of the lockdown measures and
increased hygiene; the increased use of online communication; the local
community, whether time with the family, or wider community events and support;
and spending time in nature. The most frequent feelings and emotions discussed
are: worrying and the impact on mental health; appreciation and gratitude;
missing people and things from pre-lockdown; and the perception of time in
lockdown and of the crisis.
Corpus analysis was completed manually and
with the assistance of linguistic software Voyant Tools and AntConc.
Table 2:
Frequent themes discussed in the corpus.
|
Leisure |
75/157 entries mention leisure time
activities, with a total of 120 references to individual activities. Within
these, the most common activity with 45 individual references was exercise. ·
27 of these exercise references were to
walking specifically. ·
Positive statements about exercise
included: ‘feeling of freedom is just
joyous’; ‘luxury’; ‘keeps me positive through the bad news’;
‘tranquillity’; ‘welcome distraction’; ‘assumed a great significance’.
However 5 entries discuss missing their normal forms of exercise: ‘biggest loss’; ‘missed the most’. The second most frequent activity was
baking/cooking, with 21 references. Other activities included games (9), art
(8), TV (6), reading (5), cleaning (4), and gardening (2). The majority of
leisure activities were discussed as increased or new activities (69), using
markers such as ‘more’ (23) ‘new’ (17), ‘start*’ (4), and ‘*discover*’ (3). The most common
increased activity was walking: 20/27 references to walking expressed that
this was increased or new. |
|
COVID-19 |
52/157 entries mention COVID-19, either in
terms of the disease itself or the related lockdown measures. ·
28 of these mention the lockdown measures,
17 of which concern changes to shopping (delivery, queuing, stockpiling,
one-way systems, community alternatives to the supermarket). There are 5
references to and 2 photos of ‘toilet
roll’/‘toilet paper’, reflecting the immediate consumer stockpiling of
toilet roll at the beginning of the lockdown measures, termed ‘the Great Toilet Paper Shortage’ by
one contributor. ·
16 mention the economic impact of COVID-19.
The references to economic impact feature 5 uses of the verb ‘furloughed’ in reference to many
individuals facing temporary absence of work. Submissions mention family
members’ experience (and one case of personal experience) of furlough, given
the sample of submissions being within the higher education sector. The other
primary economic impact observed is the closure of pubs, restaurants, and
other services, with 17 uses of ‘close*’/
‘closure’ in this context. 3 entries also reflect future job uncertainty.
1 staff member reflects on ‘the
unfortunate things this confinement is bringing upon our career development’,
and 2 students reflect on being ‘anxious’
about entering a graduate job market during a recession caused by the
pandemic. ·
23 photos show public signage or markings
that demonstrate the lockdown restrictions: commercial signs for new systems
or updates (8), 2m floor markings (6), NHS materials (4), closed business
signs (3), wash your hands sign (1), and a park bench covered in tape (1), ·
17 mention the hygiene risk of COVID-19.
These tend to focus on personal responsibility, such as wearing a ‘mask*’ (12). The semantic field of
infection and hygiene is comparatively limited across the corpus: ‘spread*’ (5), ‘infect* (5), ‘risk’ of
coronavirus (3), ‘disease’ (2); ‘clean*’ in context of coronavirus (5, all from one entry on
supermarket cleaning methods), and ‘sanitis*’
(2). There are no references to personally
having the disease or knowing someone who does, and no references to symptoms
except via the text in photos of NHS literature. There are no references to
coronavirus as a respiratory disease. However the corpus does contain 6
references to breathing in relation to calmness: ‘stop for breath’ (2), ‘don’t
forget to breathe’ (2), ‘breathe
in the air’ (1), and ‘catch your
breath’ (1). Death is less frequently discussed, only
once as ‘may die’ (1) and most ‘deaths in Europe’ (1) or
in observations of ‘death
rate*’/’death roll’ (4). This absence is most likely to the localised
nature of the archive, and the prompt to record ‘normal’ experience when
submitting. |
|
Online |
47/157 entries mention online communication
for work, study, or leisure: 14 explicitly mention studying at home; 22
explicitly mention working from home. Online terminology is frequent: ‘online’ (55), ‘virtual’ (15), ‘digital’ (3);
‘Teams’ (34), ‘Zoom’ (23), ‘Facetime’
(2), ‘WebEx’ (1), and ‘Google Meets’ (1). The frequency of
Microsoft Teams is expected given that it is the University’s standard
communication software. The use of ‘Zoom’
was hence more common for leisure activities, explicitly used as a modifier
such as ‘Zoom running’ (1) for end
of exams celebrations (2), ‘Zoom yoga’
(1), ‘Zoom poker’ (1), and ‘Zoom quiz’ (1). Zoom was also used
for staging a ‘play’ (1), and
other online activities shared without specifying the channel were church
services (1) and orchestra rehearsals (1). |
|
Community |
43/157
entries mention the family or the local community, of which 22 concern the
family. The word ‘family’ occurs
54 times within these, with 11 entries expressing their appreciation for
their family. 14 entries feature public art or signs, 4 of these being thank
you rainbows, a symbol used to show support for the NHS. |
|
Nature |
30/157 entries mention the natural world,
with ‘natur*’ occuring 36 times in
the corpus. 13 of these entries explicitly mention the benefits of nature
during this time. |
Table 3:
Frequent feelings discussed in the corpus.
|
Mental Health Impact |
Given the nature of an international
pandemic, many entries mention the negative impact on their mental health.
51/157 entries mention negative feelings associated with lockdown. ·
Expressions feature: ‘worry*’/’worried’ (25); ‘anxiety’/’anxious’
(14); ‘difficult’ (12); ‘stress*’ (6); ‘confusion’/’confusing’ (5); ‘sadness’
(4); ‘challenge’ (4); ‘loneliness’/’lonely’ (3); loss of motivation (3); ‘monotonous’ (3); ‘tough’ (2); ‘depressing’ (2); ‘suffocating’
(1); ‘trapped’(1); ‘unfocussed’ (1); ‘restlessness’ (1); ‘disappointment’ (1); ‘rough for mental health’ (1) ·
When reasons are given for these feelings,
they range: worried about friends and family (6); exams (5); changing rules
when in public, such as in supermarkets (3); the ‘future’ (2). Some of the submissions closer to the end
of the collection period tend to be more reflective in style, and mention
mental health impacts of isolation, whereas the beginning of the collecting
period log the immediate changes life in lockdown. This is unsurprising given
the development of the corpus as the lockdown restrictions changed and as
people adapted to the situation to be in the position to reflect. |
|
Appreciation |
44/147 entries feature explicit positive
statements of feeling gratitude or appreciation. ·
Expressions of this feature: ‘luck*’ (17), all in ‘I’ or ‘we’ statements; ‘appreciat*’
(15); ‘thank*’ (8); ‘grateful’ (6); and appreciating ‘more’ (7), in regard to nature,
Oxford, and family. A common theme was a shift to appreciating microlevel
occurrences: ‘small things’/‘little
things’/‘smaller events’ (7). ·
The things appreciated were: nature (14; ‘more’ 4); family/friends (11, ‘more’ 1); work/workspace (9); small
things (7); Oxford (6, ‘more’ 2); solitude (5); online communication
(3); exercise (3), general safety (2); NHS (2). |
|
Missing |
27/157 entries discuss the feeling of
missing something. ·
‘miss*’
occurs 29 times, 15 times as part of the construction ‘I miss’, 3 times as ‘miss*
out’. ·
‘miss*’
is used to express feelings about summer term at Oxford (9), missing exercise
(5), socialising in the office (3), family/friends (3), wandering around town
(1), hugging (1). ·
Some entries mention what they might/do
miss about lockdown: increased wildlife sighting (1), the view outside their
window they’d grown accustomed to (1). Missing these items is also expressed
differently. Oxford: ‘I would love to’,
t Family: ‘homesickness’ (2). |
|
Of Time |
18/157 entries comment on the perception of
time. ·
13 references mention time slowing down or
stopping, or time passing slowly/differently. Most times this is negative
(8): ‘aimless daydream, where days
just pass you by and you get nothing done’; ‘felt like it has been a long time since my life was somewhat normal’;
‘progress is slower’; ‘time has become a near meaningless
concept for me’; ‘overly long days
that never seem to end’; ‘disconcerting’
how ‘sense of time seemed to warp’;
‘a robot that doesn’t notice time
passing’; ‘the end of March seems
like a lifetime ago’. Sometimes this is positive and linked to
appreciation (5): ‘our walks allow us
to stop for breath’; ‘slow down’;
‘take time to stop’; ‘how important it is to slow down’; ‘something freeing about the world
grinding to a halt’. ·
5 references mention things happening or
changing quickly: ‘everything was
happening very fast’; ‘In a world
where time keeps accelerating’; ‘things
change and can do so faster’; ‘how
fast things were changing’; ‘speed
we had to adapt’. In the corpus, ‘suddenly’
is used 10 times to express sudden changes in routine, closures, and
realisation; ‘quick*’ is used 15
times, typically to express the response to these sudden changes. ·
5 references mention ‘using’ time in the following constructions, typically through
hobbies or by being productive: ‘make
the most of this time’; ‘use my
time’; ‘used wisely’; ‘using this time’; ‘used the time’. There are 7 uses of ‘more time’, reflecting the
opportunities to spend time with family and recreational projects during
lockdown. This is part of the wider trend in the corpus of attributing
purpose to one’s time, in similar examples of ‘dedicating some of it’ or ‘time
to reflect’. While these statements of ‘using’ time are positive and show the potential lockdown has
offered, it also demonstrates the cultural expectation to ‘use’ this free time productively. |
3. Additional Thematic Analysis
10 entries feature criticism of the
government, in both text and media. There is criticism for long-term
underfunding:
·
‘anger
at the cutbacks [the NHS] have had to suffer over the past 10 years due to ‘austerity’’;
handmade sign in someone’s window (photo) saying ‘The NHS is underfunded by £30
billion!! / Tory cuts kill / Never again…’; ‘School funding has been slashed over the past ten years, there is no
money to repair the buildings, have enough teachers, buy books, etc.’
There is also criticism of the current
Johnson Conservative government’s communication, hypocrisy, and slow pace to
enforce restrictions in the short-term response to the pandemic:
·
‘Johnson
then complained that people had not behaved but many people feel he lost the
moral high-ground some time ago by not sacking Dominic Cummings’, in
reference to a scandal in late May when political advisor Dominic Cummings
broke lockdown rules by travelling from London to Durham with his family; ‘There has been an element of easing in the
last week but it was surrounded by confusion sparked by a communications muddle
from Government.’; ‘If only we had a
government we could trust to deliver us from the perils of Covid-19. I fear for
our future if Johnson and his cohorts remain at the helm.’; ‘I hope that if you are reading this in the
future, that it is known just how badly the UK government let down its people
and that they failed to keep them as safe as they could have.’ [Message to
the Future]; ‘There is a growing feeling
that the way the UK handled this was very poor and that we are being controlled
and manipulated by a Government communication team that, since Brexit, is out
of control. Targets are getting declared, missed (but then lied about). Care
homes and care workers have been neglected. This unknown publication seemed to
capture this discontent [photo in submission], but this is Oxford - I have no
idea what people are thinking in the new Tory-supporting areas in the North.’;
‘mixed messages from the Government,
Johnson’s announcement on live TV’; public
graffiti messages (photos): ‘They are lying to us’, ‘No Police State’.
Messages to the Future (48 entries; 2,414 words.)
Most frequent words in the messages to the
future were ‘time’ (20), ‘world’ (15), and ‘hope’ (14). The style of the messages are written as imperative
calls to action (22), personal reflections (17), and universal observations
such as ‘It’s going to be okay’, ‘Nothing is impossible’, and ‘things change’ (9). The content of
the messages encourage appreciation (14) (of friends and family (5), for the
natural world (5)); kindness (6); to seize opportunities (5); to spend time
doing what you love (5); to learn from (4) and to remember this time (3). Other
notable topics are reassurance that things will be okay (3), criticism of
governmental action and the push for economic growth (3), and for an awareness
of climate change (2). Encouraging positive action and future recovery is the
general consensus, with the construction ‘I
hope’ occurring 28 times, and 43 uses of imperative verbs in the messages.
The imperative verbs used are most commonly used for appreciation (8)— ‘cherish’ (2)/ ‘be more appreciative’/’practice gratitude daily’/ ‘appreciate’ /
‘don’t take’ ‘stop taking’ for granted’ / ‘notice’; remembrance (6) — ‘don’t
forget’ (4), ‘remember’, ‘learn’ ; compassion (6) — ‘be’ kind/generous (2), ‘keep in touch’ (2) ‘share’ / ‘take care’; and
opportunities (6) — ‘take’/ ‘grab’ /
‘make the most of’/ ‘give it a go’ / ‘dive in’ / ‘join in’.
Microlevel insight into
daily life
As
the call to appreciate the ‘small things’ frequently occurs in the submissions
(7), this project gives insight into the subjective experiences during a
pandemic on a local level. Hence, as the personal changes were logged as the
lockdown intensified and eased, the collection presents the small moments
otherwise ignored in journalistic discourse concerning the pandemic.
·
Some
of these smaller features include the ways people are responsible for
implementing their own safety measures: ‘money
is exchanged in sanitised plastic bags’ in a community alternative to the
supermarket; the concern that ‘we didn’t
bleach everything when we arrived at the cottage, and ate the cake the owner
brought around to us’; one photo contribution shows photographs of friends
printed off and ‘“sat”’ in the
garden for a birthday. Community alternatives are also catalogued: a WhatsApp
group ‘where people sheepishly say that
Ovaltine is for their mum's night-time drink and marmite for their kid's
lunches “if that's ok?”’; and ‘buying
in bulk and dividing it up between friends’.
·
In
an attempt to feel closer to normality, 5 students shared photos of their home
recreations of the Oxford tradition of ‘trashing’
to celebrate the end of exams (being covered in a variety of messy items such
as foam, silly string, and alcohol). There were other make-shift measures
adopted by students when adapting to
studying while in a family home, for example, ‘I installed a ‘je suis studying’ sign on my door. A blu-tack dot on a
cue card informs the family of my current task’, and 1 photographic example
where a student had made a fake ‘Examinations School’ sign for the shed where
she was taking her exams.
·
Verbatim
anecdotes that show the honest and trivial aspects of the lockdown. One
contribution epitomises this by bringing together naïve hugging and dismissal
of the virus, and the singing while washing your hands encouraged by the media: ‘“do we still hug?” she asked, “of
course” I answered, as I couldn’t ever envisage a time when I couldn’t hug my
dearest friends when I saw them (and still can’t). We discussed the virus
and our concerns, but in a distant “it’s happening somewhere else or to other
people with underlying health conditions” kind of way. We discussed what song
we sang to ensure we were washing our hands for twenty seconds as instructed. I
had eschewed “Happy Birthday” for a verse of “My Sharona” by The Knack, which
suits my ageing rock-chick persona far more.’ While not necessarily part of
wider linguistic trends, they give insight to the specific minor impacts of the
pandemic. One contribution logs the small observation that they are buying ‘more milk than normal’ due to the
increase of drinking tea and coffee. Another explains that they have started to
do yoga while ‘listening to the
Government’s briefing’.
·
Many
contributors chose to share photos of public signage and literature associated
with the impact of COVID-19. These included closed business signs; wash your
hands notices; public homemade ‘thank you’ displays for NHS and keyworkers;
official ‘thank you’ signs from companies; a sign on the door of TSB bank
saying ‘Please stop and think. Do I really need to go inside?'; floor markings
to mark 2m (using tape and spray paint); tape over a park bench to prevent
contact; the post office commemorative marking ‘Stay Home. Protect the NHS.
Save Lives’, and ‘Happy 100th Birthday / Captain Thomas Moore / NHS
Fundraising Hero’; and governmental literature such as the letter from Boris
Johnson, NHS information leaflet, and testing kit. These photos give an insight
into the day-to-day visibility of coronavirus-related public messages. Another
frequent feature of the photographic submissions was empty cityscapes: Oxford
(7) and elsewhere (2), with ‘empt*’ occurring
18 times in the corpus.
·
Some
key callouts of events that occurred and discussed in the project are the Black
Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer
on 25th May and the resultant race discussions (6); VE Day, where
many communities organised street parties as to socialise in lockdown
restrictions (5); the weekly clapping for carers and keyworkers in the UK (1);
and discussions about climate change following the decreased pollution in
lockdown and increased engagement with nature (3). This demonstrates how the
pandemic is also associated with these events, particularly those of racial
injustice and climate preservation.
·
Some
submissions also feature hypothetical questions reflecting the uncertainty
about what the future looks like: ‘Will
theatres reopen across the city? Will we even have a panto this year?’; ‘Will we all still be in lockdown, will
there be a second spike, will there be a vaccine? Will students be allowed back
and if so how will they be taught (hybrid with online/face-to-face in small
groups)? Or will it all be sorted out by October we will be back to normal?’;
‘Will the world ever be the same again?’
Despite their future focus, these did not feature in the ‘Message to the
Future’ section, but rather were stimulated by their reflections on lockdown.