Community Educommunication in Puerto Rico

Building from the community constitutes one of the most democratic and revitalizing processes to cultivate positive social changes. In order to do so, it is of the outmost importance to educommunicate our populations. Conversation, dialogue, and the exchange of wide and varied ideas become key actions to achieve communication.

Communication is culture, manifesting in different forms, such as in the way that individuals interact with each other to agree or disagree on certain topics. Several examples of community initiatives can be found in Milan, São Paulo, and Montreal, proving that educommunication—that is, the empowering of leaders in organizations and communities through the collaboration and interdisciplinary meeting of education with communication and multimedia—is effective. Another example illustrating the practice of educommunication is the platform TED Talks, an NGO that promotes significant ideas through short videos ranging from five to twenty minutes.

Through educommunication, we can teach anyone how to use digital and communication media to share stories, present arguments, communicate messages, or defend social causes. Our interest in developing better educommunicative skills in Puerto Rico has lead us to believe that these practices can be adapted and adopted in cultural centers where the citizenry congregates to attend events, spend time together, solve issues—for example, by making improvements to the environment or by establishing community budgets—and develop cultural initiatives revolving around art, craftwork, gastronomy, music, dance, responsible tourism, the protection of public and semipublic spaces, security, collective mobility, maintenance, the improvement of infrastructure, among others. Rivero et al. (2024) assert that society’s hyperconnectivity in the twentieth century has enabled us to understand how people intercommunicate, having learned how to create extensions in the public sphere with respect to cultural approaches that are of extreme value to communities.

We believe that it is possible to teach basic skills that aid when writing documents or scripts, developing micro videos, designing posters, and producing digital content through virtual platforms in audio or video format, such as podcasts or radio, or through social media and digital platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, among others. It is also possible to learn how to take photographs or film videos that contribute to social well-being, foster appreciation, and showcase a cultural identity. This educational offering is fundamental to help people acquire the necessary skills to use social media consciously and responsibly. It implies knowing the impact of the ways in which we communicate, the positive responses we can illicit, and the negative consequences we might face when our communication is violent, irresponsible, or contains false information. Research in Brazil has confirmed that educommunication has the potential to drive social change, particularly among young people (Fernández de Souza, 2013).  

Technology and mobile devices, such as cellphones, are used daily by people of all ages. As such, they have become an extension of who we are and possess an intergenerational quality. These devices allow people to learn and become amateurs when creating content, gathering evidence, preserving memories, or sharing images. This knowledge is what kept us in contact with our friends, family members, colleagues, and neighbors during the pandemic, having brought us closer to virtuality and dependent on technologies. Similarly, it has forged communication bridges with the diaspora.

Here, at ChangeMaker Foundation, we are leaders in the practice of educommunication. We firmly believe that it is for everyone and are committed to educating communities. We invite you to join Comuniteca, a new podcast in which communities will reaffirm that communication is culture.

Fernández de Souza, C. (2013). The combination of educommunication and community media as a development communication strategy: A case study of the Centre of Community Media São Miguel on air in São Paulo city, Brazil. [Master’s Thesis, Malmö University].

Rivero, P., Aso, B., García-Ceballos, S., & Navarro-Neri, I. (2024). Towards a paradigm for online heritage: cyber communities and digital educommunication. Cultural Trends, 34(2), 214-229. https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2024.2345835.

The author has a published book and various reviewed scientific articles. She is currently finishing her doctoral thesis in communications, virtual communities, the political economy of communications, cultural consumption, and the socio-semiotics of mediatization.

Translated by Valeria González-Calero (calerotranslations@gmail.com)