Field Notes: Information as a basic utility
The question.
When a society is in an acute crisis, how do we identify and provide some useful information?
Why this matters.
Our survey findings after the internet shutdown in Iran this month show that the overwhelming concern for people emerging from a blackout was economic survival: money, jobs, and livelihood.
There has been a clear disconnect between what many exile activists claim (e.g., ideological dissent) and what people in Iran are seeking (e.g., information to ensure economic survival on a personal and family level).
Treating news as a luxury of political discourse ignores its role as a utility for daily survival.
What we're exploring.
Exile and independent newsrooms can pivot away from supporting the high-level political coverage designed for international donors and toward service journalism that helps people navigate hyper-inflation, find work, or access essential services during a total information blackout or other disruptive crises.
To do this, infrastructure must be in place in advance for greater likelihood of connectivity (VPNs, Tor, roaming SIM cards), secure communications (Signal, secure check-in channels), offline (Bluetooth mesh, radio transmission), and even physical channels (paper distribution).
Further, a civic scraping project could be in place to monitor real-time prices and availability of goods, open transit corridors, or specific types of information that state media is known to suppress.
More questions for you.
- If the people you are trying to reach were down to their last $10, how would that change your information priorities?
- How can we define the role of exile and independent media vis a vis international media during a crisis; what is something only you can discover and provide?
- During a crisis, how can you measure your success in enabling better decisions, rather than in metrics like reach and views?
- What “blackout protocol” do you have for reaching people during a crisis?
We’d love to hear from you, especially if you have answers or ideas. Don’t hesitate to get in touch at hello@gazzetta.xyz.