Digital Refuge: Developing Information Infrastructure in Crisis

Our project seeks to help explain why many displaced persons from Syria, Afghanistan and other war-torn regions fail to access critical protections and benefits in host states. We are currently building an online platform to fill information gaps and correct the types of miscommunication that prompt refugees to distrust host governments and their services. The website will feature intuitive, interactive data visualization tools to help local stakeholders visualize important trends thematically, spatially, and temporally. Synthesizing information in this way provides a critical resource to asylum seekers, governments and aid organizations, as communication barriers have impeded effective refugee policy. The results of this work could serve as an exemplar for efforts to improve the large communication gap separating asylum seekers and host communities and combat the influence of web-based misinformation campaigns.

- For an article providing background research, please click here.

- Visit our website at digitalrefuge.berkeley.edu

Affiliates: Boalt Law School; BIMI
People: Katerina Linos, Law School (PI); Laura Jakli: Patty Frontiera, D-Lab; Melissa Carlson; Jasmijn Slotjes, D-Lab/BIMI