Communication and pandemic: creative dialogues of vulnerable populations in the Federal District, Brazil

Abstract

The article aims to present results of a research that mapped communication technologies and arrangements designed and directed toward vulnerable populations in the territory of the Federal District (DF), Brazil, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research, which integrated a multicentric investigation, has a qualitative approach and was structured in five stages: virtual mapping of experiences; interviews with their leaders; individual and cross-sectional analysis of empirical material; collective validation of the results by virtual sessions and construction of a thematic map of the experiences. Fourteen initiatives on COVID-19 were mapped in the DF that had a communicational component and were aimed at the population of peripheral territories, with ten being selected for in-depth analysis. The respective leaders were interviewed, composing a thematic cartographic panorama of technologies and communication arrangements: life stories; “word of mouth”; network joints; in-person and organic communication; cards; advocacy; digital social networks; use of territorial equipment as communication tools; independent digital community newspaper; apps; solidarity network and community TV. The commitment of communication strategies and technologies regarding local realities, respecting the characteristics of communities, is highlighted, pointing to a crucial difference in relation to the predominant communication about the pandemic in public health institutions.