Exploring information flows in Kiribati
Associate Professor Pierre Mukheibir and Louise Boronyak have worked with the local NGO KiriCAN to improve Kiribati’s issue of high rates of childhood morbidity, caused by poor drinking water quality due to sea level rise and increased storm surges.
Dr. Rebecca Cunningham further explored the knowledge and information flows within and between Kiribati communities through implementing a technique called “social network analysis” or SNA. The findings of this project were presented in Utrecht, as part of the 38th International Network of Social Networks Analysis conference “Sunbelt” in June 2018.
As part of the process of developing this social network analysis, village water committees, NGOs, community based organisations and government officials came together in a workshop process to understand their sources of information and track the formal and informal information flows. This was done through the framing of three scenarios – Low Rainfall (a slow onset impact that is difficult for people to detect with keeping and consulting records), Storm Surge (a rapid onset impact that affects water sources and likelihoods), and Poor Water Quality (an impact that is best observed at a central location, as opposed to at the individual location, where contamination may be an isolated event.)
The information flow networks were mapped using directed symmetric matrices to identify the uses of formal or informal knowledge channels – formal meaning a channel that connects through a formal office such as in community, government or an NGO, whereas informal networks are defined as family, friends and local civil society. Six matrices were developed – one for receiving knowledge and one for sharing knowledge, for each of the three scenarios.
The method involves mapping every nominated information source as an individual node within the network, creating a large number of data points within these matrices. When overlaid onto each other, the story of these information networks emerges – the sharing and sourcing of information in Kiribati is highly fragmented, partially due to the geographical impact of Kiribati’s grouping of islands, and partially due to a lack of infrastructure which allows for greater discussion and interaction.
As a result, when it came to information about poor water quality, people were finding this out through when family members suffered from illness. Such situations can be prevented through implementing effective information sharing strategies between communities, industry and government agencies.
