Working towards healthier information ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean

In healthy, robust information ecosystems, peoples’ most immediate information needs are effectively addressed (including the information needs of those who have been historically marginalized!). In these ecosystems, local, community-led information initiatives are thriving and people have access to reliable, quality information about what is going on in their cities and neighborhoods.

The funding to support local information ecosystems no longer feels scarce; instead, it flows abundantly to community-driven initiatives.

In balanced information ecosystems, the safety of popular communicators and journalists is prioritized. As these individuals investigate, report, and inform, their work is no longer compromised by threats and attacks to their integrity (both physical and digital), and they have plenty of support in staying safe as well as the tools, knowledge and resources they need to maintain their digital security.

Strong information ecosystems are those in which people can engage in meaningful conversations that allow for deliberation and civic debate. In this scenario, people also experience less isolation and alienation from each other, and the “us vs them” sentiment that has become prevalent in so much of LAC is no longer as strong.

In robust information ecosystems funding, support and resources are abundantly available to a broad, diverse set of civil society organizations, activists and journalists, who work to sustain healthy and democratic flows of information through diverse, complementary, and collaborative approaches.

The initiatives best equipped to understand communities’ information needs and improve their local information ecosystems are no longer struggling to access funding – they also aren’t worried about not getting as much funding as “harmful actors”, and they hold the power to decide their own priorities and manage the funds they receive. Just as importantly, healthy information ecosystems hold space for Indigenous people, Afrolatinos, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people; they hold space for communities in urban settings as well as in rural areas and forest territories. Language justice is a defining feature of information creation, exchange, flow and use.

Researchers and organizers we engaged with throughout this research have emphasized the importance of considering the ecological and political implications of infrastructure development – including tech and information infrastructure.

In a balanced information ecosystem:

• People have more access to digital technologies that exist in harmony with climate justice, land justice, racial justice, Indigenous justice,
• Digital technologies would be used in ways that favor the creation of just information flows, and
• Communities would have autonomy and decision-making power in terms of if and how they engage with digital technologies.

Keeping in mind the contextual differences, while still recognizing common denominators between our challenges can actually make our work stronger. It means acknowledging that there are many shared root causes for the disequilibrium we see in our information ecosystems and also recognizing that though they show up in very similar ways a lot of the time, their repercussions might look a little different in each context.

In Santiago, we’ve heard from these and other organizations who attended about how they’re working to craft reporting and build space for conversations in partnership with their audiences/their communities with the goal of amplifying the spaces we have for conversation. Considering the dynamics of attention economy and extreme polarization in the region, there was a general consensus that we need to create spaces that allow (and make it easy!) for people to engage in conversation with each other, that allow for “breaking the ideological bubbles”, that make room for diverse perspectives. And for that to happen – there needs to be robust funding flowing towards these organizations.