Oral Presentations Abstracts: PUBLICO – A DIGITAL TOOL FOR PANDEMIC CRISIS COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT

Nikola BILLER-ANDORNO; Giovanni SPITALE; Bettina SCHWIND; Kristen JAFFLIN; Andrea KAISER-GROLIMUND; Sonja MERTEN

doi:10.24193/subbbioethica.2021.spiss.13

Authors

Nikola BILLER-ANDORNO Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil., Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. E-mail: biller-andorno@ibme.uzh.ch
Giovanni SPITALE Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Bettina SCHWIND Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Kristen JAFFLIN SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland
Andrea KAISER-GROLIMUND University of Basel, Switzerland
Sonja MERTEN SwissTPH, Basel, Switzerland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbbioethica.2021.spiss.13

Abstract

View of Volume 66, Special Issue, September 2021

COVID-19 vividly demonstrates the global challenges of crisis communication. A flood of pandemic-related information from various sources and highly variable quality is inundating media platforms. To counter this “infodemic”, providing high-quality information is not sufficient. Real-time feedback loops from the public to policy-makers are urgently needed to better align communication strategies, actions taken, and public perception. To achieve this, the PubliCo online platform was launched in November 2020 in Switzerland. It follows a transdisciplinary multi-stakeholder approach rooted in participatory citizen science.

PubliCo (https://publico.community/en/) includes three parts: 1. PubliCo Survey, collecting quantitative data, e.g. on moral preferences, while feeding back contextualized, tailored information to users; 2. PubliCo Diaries, collecting in-depth qualitative data, which also informs efforts to adapt PubliCo Survey to the evolving situation; and 3. PubliCo Analytics, which allows policymakers and other platform users to continuously analyse the collected data. We will present the PubliCo concept, considering the following key points:

Ethical considerations in the development of PubliCo concerning citizen science and crisis management.
PubliCo as a practical tool to implement the procedural ethics concepts such as Accountability for Reasonableness.
Lessons learned challenges, and opportunities for the transferability of PubliCo to better manage future crises in different global contexts.

With our contribution, we aim to simulate a discussion on the ethical aspects of crisis communication and the strengths and limitations of citizen participation.