DEIJ Information Ecosystem Worksheet
This worksheet is designed to evaluate who’s eyes you are looking at the world through.
We begin by assuming that we understand the world through the information we consume. We consume information through our people networks, our virtual networks, sources of news, sources of specialized and non-specialized knowledge and entertainment. Collectively these create our Information Ecosystem.
The identities of the people who influence our information in-take is critical. By consuming information from people whose identities are different from our own and especially from those who hold non-dominant identities we open ourselves to different ideas, perspectives, and lived experiences. This worksheet is an opportunity to evaluate the diversity of your information ecosystem.
5 - There is a high degree of diversity, where all or majority of the media you interact with represents a different non-dominant identity (i.e: if race is the salient identity and your media consists of Black, Latina/e, Indigenous, Asian etc.).
4 - There is a significant degree of diversity, where all or majority of the media you interact with represents a single non-dominant identity (i.e: if gender is the salient identity and your media consists of only women but not trans women)
3 - There is a moderate degree of diversity where 50% of the media you interact with represents non-dominant identities
2 - There is minimal degree of diversity, where less than half of the media you interact with represents non-dominant identities
1 - There is little to no diversity, where other than for the occasional occurrence most of the media you interact with represents dominant identities.
Be brave and honest about your information ecosystem. The goal of this exercise is to evaluate your information ecosystems and come up with strategies to include diverse voices into the system in sustainable ways.
