Access to information is a manifestation of Freedom of Expression, protected under Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, fundamental for enabling human self-determination and the preservation of Democracy. The internet was once seen as a space of freedom, instantaneity, globalization, diversity and autonomy; however, over the past decade, the promise of that global network has been overshadowed by Infoxication and Cognitive Saturation, a digital ecosystem filled with mass notifications, messaging chains, artificial content produced by AI, hate speech, and growing consumption of short-form content. This fragmented phenomenon, amplified by the power of platforms and their personalization algorithms, produces information flows that perpetuate bias and promote agendas within systematic disinformation dynamics.<\/p>\n
Paradoxically, this global saturation coexists with local problems that make up what is known as the News Desert. While screens are flooded with ephemeral viral content creating new media narratives, in many regions there are no Local Media outlets or journalistic practices that help understand and interpret reality based on information and the public interest as an essential good of a democratic society. In this way, citizens are doubly vulnerable: unprotected against digital overstimulation without any verification or scrutiny, and isolated from the construction of fairer societies by understanding the events of their own environment. In this vacuum, platforms impose a control over narratives that not only fragments public debate but also intensifies political polarization (largely linked to disinformation) and legitimizes technocratic governance, in which algorithms replace democratic deliberation.<\/p>\n
Given this situation, it becomes a priority to study new practices in the creation of narratives and content that might act as possible counter-flows of information, debating digital control and power from the standpoint of resistance and appropriation; this reveals the need for researchers to engage in outreach across various disciplines of knowledge\u2014where Psychology studies the anxiety, depression and dependency problems generated by these processes of digital overstimulation; where Law and Political Science seek forms of regulation and self-regulation of platforms; and where Communication addresses the management of information and the effects of discursive manipulation on citizen public opinion.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, the symposium is open to papers from all fields of knowledge analyzing this phenomenon, which also gives rise to the Infodemic, a concept used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe situations in which massive amounts of information make it difficult for people to find reliable guidance, as happened during the Covid-19 Pandemic, when content lacking scientific or medical grounding circulated massively, showing that the interplay between Disinformation, News Deserts and Infoxication is one of the greatest structural problems of the century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","simposio_area":[50],"class_list":["post-10447","simposio","type-simposio","status-publish","hentry","simposio_area-comunicacion-tecnologias-e-inteligencia-artificial"],"yoast_head":"\n