Design, Manufacture and Save. Coronavirus Makers During the COVID-19 Crisis in Spain

Abstract

This research analyses the Coronavirus Makers in Spain, focusing on three characteristics: the hybrid organisation, the use of technologies, and the cultural impact. To do so, we carried out a multimodal ethnography (Dicks, Bella, Bambo Soyinka, and Amanda Coffey. 2006. “Multimodal Ethnography.” Qualitative Research 6 (1): 77–96) from March to June 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19. Coronavirus Makers’ activity can be framed as a pandemic movement, enhancing expressions of solidarity, social mobilisation, and resilience. The decentralised collective work and the anti-commercial logic (i.e. promoting open designs and protocols) tackled the immediate shortage of medical materials and structural deficits in health services. This network embraced the Spanish legacy of social mobilisation, as during the 15M, yet it presents actions that are circumscribed to the pandemic context and deserve further attention.

KEYWORDS:

• movements in the pandemic
• maker movement
• hybrid organisation
• technological appropriation
• cultural impact

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Exhibition centre in Madrid, which served as a field hospital during the first months of the pandemic. It was also set up as a logistics centre for donations to the Community of Madrid.

2 The participant organisations were ONCE Foundation, Colaterales de Taxi Association, Élite Taxi Social Association and Radio Taxi Association, Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies of the City Councils of the whole Community of Madrid (Firefighters, SAMUR, and Municipal Police), Network of bicycle messengers volunteers, DHL, and National Police.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dafne Calvo

Dafne Calvo (corresponding author) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Language Theory and Communication Sciences Department, University of Valencia. Email: [email protected]

Jaseff Raziel Yauri-Miranda

Jaseff Raziel Yauri-Miranda is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Department of Political Science and Administration. Email: [email protected]

Carmen Haro-Barba

Carmen Haro-Barba is an Associate Professor in the Communication Sciences and Sociology Department at the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid. Email: [email protected]