Rooted Realities: Exploring Community-Based Participatory Approaches to Addressing Misinformation with Rural and BIPOC Individuals

To date, efforts to address misinformation have focused on broadly scoped legal, technical, and educational interventions. However, recent studies in HCI have begun exploring new directions that focus instead on the individualized nature of the problem and its roots in identity and community. To understand the potential benefits and challenges of applying community-driven methods in this and similarly contentious spaces, we examined the work of a large-scale participatory research project working to address the impact of misinformation, predominantly on rural communities and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) individuals, through the development of locally-contextualized educational resources and platforms. Through interviews with 23 project stakeholders, including both community partners and researchers, we heard that participants saw community-based research and design methods as a highly beneficial tool for addressing this problem. They shared that such methods allow participants to build relationships through the sharing of complex emotions and to surface a range of expertise and lived experiences that contribute to a more holistic understanding of misinformation. At the same time, participatory, community-based methods raise difficult questions around integrating such diverse expertise and protecting participants from internal and external risk. We also discuss emergent strategies for navigating these tensions, with the aim of informing and preparing CSCW researchers looking to apply participatory methods towards addressing misinformation and other contentious research topics.