Product MacGyvering in Latin America / The real product MacGyvers (en español)

charla por Feli Carrique Director of Innovation at SembraMedia, Argentina
artículo por Teresa Mondría Terol, Madrid

La sesión de Feli Carrique sobre los MacGyvers de producto inauguró el News Product Summit, sentando las bases de la inclusividad en las redacciones, e inició un proceso de concienciación sobre las diferencias en los equipos periodísticos a través de distintas culturas, los retos y éxitos del producto periodístico en Latinoamérica.

Feli Carrique es directora de innovación en Sembramedia, una organización sin ánimo de lucro que apoya a emprendedores de medios digitales para que desarrollen modelos de negocio sostenibles.

Para quien no lo conozca, MacGyver era un personaje de ficción de los 80 que se caracterizaba por solucionar todo tipo de problemas con cualquier herramienta, desde un clip a una goma. Feli Carrique hace una analogía entre el personaje y los equipos de producto en medios en América Latina, que, como dice, “tienen que superar desafíos para lograr productos periodísticos sostenibles que atiendan a las necesidades de sus comunidades de forma innovadora”.

Saber inglés se convierte en una necesidad, y cierra la puerta a personas con talento

La resolución de estos retos difiere entre culturas y uno de los principales en Latinoamérica es que la mayoría de herramientas tecnológicas y sus materiales de aprendizaje están desarrolladas para la sociedad angloparlante. Feli apunta que “el problema del idioma reduce las oportunidades y opciones para desarrollar productos de calidad para los usuarios”. Aunque el español es el segundo idioma más hablado del mundo, el 70% de las páginas de internet construidas en Wordpress son en inglés y solo el 4% se ofrecen en español, por ejemplo.

Feli Carrique y Maximiliano de Rito, gracias al apoyo de ICFJ, han querido contribuir a la solución con propulsorio.com, una guía sobre producto en español para América Latina que están desarrollando.

Si los presupuestos son bajos, las redacciones no pueden tener la oportunidad de experimentar e innovar

El segundo reto al que se enfrentan en América Latina es el nivel de precios para acceder a la tecnología, que están pensados para mercados con una capacidad adquisitiva superior, como EEUU. En Argentina, el salario mínimo para periodistas es de $450 al mes. Herramientas como Airtable o Figma cuestan entre $10 y $20 mensuales cada una. “Si los presupuestos son bajos, es difícil experimentar, y la presión sobre los PM es de nunca poder errar, y esto no está en el rol en el cual tenemos que seguir probando para seguir mejorando lo que vamos haciendo” comenta Carrique.

Estos retos estructurales se plantean incluso antes de pensar en el desarrollo del producto

Las diferencias estructurales que existen han de tenerse en cuenta antes de pensar en el desarrollo de producto y las propias experiencias de los usuarios. Estas se encuentran en aspectos tan básicos como la conectividad. En Cuba, la velocidad de Internet era tan lenta que compartir archivos era más fácil enviando una unidad USB de mano en mano a través de la isla. Los productos mediáticos deben adaptarse a las situaciones específicas del lugar donde se desarrollan.

Aquí es donde toman más valor los MacGyver de América Latina, que frente a estas adversidades innovan, obtienen soluciones alternativas con mentalidad colaborativa y utilizando la tecnología con el propósito de atender a las comunidades, tomando la innovación como algo contextual, como dice Feli Carrique.

La innovación sirve para acercar mejor la información a la persona que la necesita, y no ocurre igual en Nueva York que en Lyon o en La Habana. Feli indica que estas soluciones se dan cuando hay cercanía entre los periodistas y las audiencias a las que sirven.

Links útiles compartidos durante la sesión:

• DeepL: una herramienta de traducción con buen nivel de fiabilidad
• Radar de AosFatos: un análisis temático exclusivo sobre el panorama de la desinformación
• Chequeado: medio de América Latina que lucha contra la desinformación con la verificación de datos
• Internacionalización de contenidos i18, de NextJs
• Internacionalización de contenidos i18, de Wordpress

Product MacGyvering in Latin America / The real product MacGyvers (in English)

talk by Feli Carrique Director of Innovation at SembraMedia, Argentina
article by Teresa Mondría Terol, Madrid

Feli Carrique’s session on product MacGyvers kicked off the News Product Summit, laying the groundwork for inclusivity in newsrooms, and initiated a process of raising awareness about the differences in news teams across cultures, challenges and successes of the news product in Latin America.

Carrique is director of innovation at Sembramedia, a non-profit organization that supports digital media entrepreneurs to develop sustainable business models.

For those who don’t know him, MacGyver was a fictional character from the 80’s who was known for solving all kinds of problems with any tool, from a paper clip to a rubber band. Carrique draws an analogy between the character and media product teams in Latin America, which, as she says, “have to overcome challenges to achieve sustainable journalistic products that meet the needs of their communities in an innovative way”.

Knowing English becomes a necessity, and closes the door to talented people

Problem solving differs among cultures, and one of the main challenges in media in LatAm is that most of the technological tools and learning materials are developed for English speakers. Carrique points out that “the language problem reduces the opportunities and options for developing quality products for users”. Although Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, 70% of the websites built in Wordpress are in English and only 4% are offered in Spanish, for example.

Carrique and Maximiliano de Rito, wanted to contribute to the solution and they are now developing propulsorio.com, a product guide in Spanish for Latin America with the support of the International Center for Journalists.

If budgets are low, newsrooms cannot have the opportunity to experiment and innovate

The second challenge they face in Latin America is the cost of accessing technology, which is established for markets with a higher purchasing power, such as the United States. In Argentina, the minimum salary for journalists is $450 per month. Tools such as Airtable or Figma cost between $10 and $20 per user month each. “If budgets are low, it is difficult to experiment, and the pressure on PMs is to never make mistakes, and this is not in the role in which we have to keep testing to keep improving what we are doing,” Carrique said.

These structural challenges come before even thinking about developing the product

The structural differences that exist have to be taken into account before thinking about product development and the users’ own experiences. These are found in aspects as basic as connectivity. In Cuba, the internet speed was so slow that sharing files was easier sending a USB drive across the island from hand to hand. The media products must adapt to the specific situations of the place where they are developed.

This is where the MacGyvers of Latin America prove their value, as in the face of these adversities they find ways to innovate by using technology with the clear purpose of serving communities. They approach innovation as something contextual, as Carrique says. Innovation serves to bring information closer to the person who needs it, and it does not happen the same in New York as it does in Lyon or Havana. “These solutions happen when there is closeness between journalists and the audiences they serve”, she points out.

Useful links shared during the session

• DeepL: a translation tool with a good level of reliability
• Radar de AosFatos: a unique thematic analysis of the disinformation landscape disinformation
• Chequeado: Latin American media fighting disinformation with fact checking
• i18 Content Internationalization by NextJs
• i18 Content Internationalization by Wordpress

Technology + Innovation to Fight Disinformation

session led by Carol Cavaleiro, Aos Fatos and Pablo Fernandez, Chequeado
article by Rjaa Ahmed, Temple University

Two Latin American fact-checkers, Carol Cavaleiro and Pablo Fernandez led a session on how news product thinkers can help fact checking work become easier, faster and better. Cavaleiro, the head of innovation at Aos Fatos, broke down the importance of fighting disinformation through technology by starting off with a personal anecdote about her work with Aos Fatos in Brazil. What was specifically note-worthy about the session was Cavaleiro’s use of current affairs to reel the audience in. How many of us have parents and grandparents who fell into the trap of hydroxychloroquine being an effective cure for COVID-19? Cavaleiro’s use of a fresh example of disinformation allowed me to immediately connect with her larger point about how ill-informed statements made by politicians gain credence due to their widespread visibility on social media. Another sound point she made was about how some of us don’t immediately realize how these rumors on social media are propagated by governments, not just anonymous trolls. When those entrusted with the welfare of the public are the ones running propaganda machines, it can be difficult for unsuspecting news consumers to critically analyze their credibility.

Using algorithms and automation to track the spread of disinformation

One intriguing thing for me was Aos Fatos’s incorporation of linguistic pattern analysis to track misinformation related to COVID-19 on social media. This involves individually analyzing the language used on each social media platform to understand their individual target audiences. Since the speech and audience type change so drastically from platform to platform, it is key to consider how they impact the spread of fake news, Cavaleiro said. Pablo Fernandez, director of editorial Innovation at Chequeado in Argentina, stressed the usefulness of automation web-scraping tools in locating false claims in the media. Chequeado also uses these tools to find the original source for the purpose of fact-checking. Another tool for fact-checking original source material that Fernandex uses is Google’s Speech-to-Text function, which uses an API powered by Google’s Artificial Intelligence technologies to his newsroom to transcribe audio in real time. They also create live transcriptions of statements released by public officials and politicians to make them more accessible and quick for fact-checking purposes.

Distinguishing partial truths from outright lies

Cavaleiro described Aos Fatos’ process of dismantling these statements, which utilizes the methodology prescribed by the International Fact-Checking Network to divide them into two groups: true or false. They also have more granular ways of classifying information into sub-categories such as partially correct or partially incorrect, because sometimes, statements by public officials don’t squarely fit into just two categories. Fernandez added that at Chequeado, one of their focuses is empowering newsrooms by providing them with the AI and data journalism tools needed to discern between true and false statements so rumors and propaganda can be squashed even before they reach the public sphere.

Fact-checkers face many challenges

Fernandez also touched on the challenges of using technology and artificial intelligence to dismantle disinformation. One challenge is sourcing skilled individuals to do this sort of non-profit work, especially when heading to Silicon Valley or technology companies that can offer much more lucrative career prospects. Another challenge is the lack of availability of public data in countries like Brazil and Argentina in a form that is easy to analyze.