NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: food security, social media, community-based research

Objective(s): The findings of this work may be used to inform the development of the regional food security strategy through a connection with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). Interviews will be coded in collaboration with local/regional Inuit organizations, and results will be compiled into a research manuscript and a plain language report to be shared back with community members.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 6004. The findings of this work may be used to inform the development of the regional food security strategy through a connection with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). Interviews will be coded in collaboration with local/regional Inuit organizations, and results will be compiled into a research manuscript and a plain language report to be shared back with community members. We propose to conduct semi-structured interviews in September of 2024 with 25 community and regional food and health champions of all ages in Inuvik. Participants will be recruited through advertisements on local social media pages and/or local radio stations. Respondents will be compensated for their time with gift cards. Community members will be asked guiding questions focusing on the role of social media within local food systems and covering topics of why people use it, how it is useful and/or not useful, and how the introduction of social media has changed the food system. Please find examples of questions below: This project will use qualitative data collection and analysis. To understand community perspectives, qualitative data will be collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 community members from Inuvik of all ages and genders in September 2024, For a full list of questions, please see the Appendix at the end of this document. Social media and food: ? Do you use social media to communicate with others about food? If so, how do you use it? ? Is social media useful and/or not useful for supporting food security in communities? ? What are the shortcomings of using social media to support food security? Country food trading/sharing/selling: ? Can you tell me about food sharing within this community / across communities using social media? ? What foods are shared? ? Why are foods shared? ? Between whom are foods typically shared? ? Why? ? Does country food trading support food security? ? Has social media changed the way country food is shared/traded? If so, how? ? How much country food sharing/trading/selling occurs online vs offline? ? What do offline country food sharing systems look like? Who organizes them? ? Are there any downsides to using social media for food sharing / selling / trading? Retail food: ? Is communicating about retail food prices on social media useful for monitoring and supporting food security in communities? If so, how? ? Is communicating about retail food quality on social media useful for monitoring and supporting food security in communities? If so, how? Community food events and harvests: ? Is communicating about community food events and harvests on social media useful for supporting food security in communities? If so, how? Equity-based considerations: ? Are there age barriers to using social media? How does this relate to food security? ? Are there gender differences in the way people use social media to communicate about food? If so, how/why? Changes in the use of social media: • Has the introduction of Starlink changed how frequently people use social media to discuss food-related topics? If so, how? This research project will be undertaken under the explicit informed and enthusiastic consent of local community members, and will seek a letter of support from the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) to ensure there is explicit community desire for this work (to be added to this NWT research license application when obtained). Building on an existing long-term partnership with the IRC through this project’s association with a larger initiative and New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) grant labelled “Innovative methods for participatory food environment research”, relationships with local community members working on food security in the region have already been built and will continue to be built during and after the research project. Connections started to be made with local community members through a workshop in Inuvik in February 2024, whereby I had the chance to meet and speak with local community members working in different capacities on food security in their communities. Relationships will continue to be fostered by trust-building through reliable, respectful, and consistent e-mail and phone contact throughout this stage and the entirety of the research project. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: September 16 - October 31, 2024