Projects - Technology and International Affairs
Information Environment Project
About the Project

The information environment is integral to democracy. This is the space where people process information to make sense of the world using tools from alphabets to artificial intelligence to produce outputs from the spoken word to virtual reality and whatever comes along in the future. Manipulation of the information environment threatens the legitimacy of democracy if citizens are increasingly unable to make free and informed decisions. Our understanding of this complex system is still emerging at the same time as conflicts within the information environment erode its integrity. In response, democracies around the world are increasing control over their national information ecosystems. But with little evidence to inform policymaking, they risk backsliding into authoritarianism or having their interventions backfire as trust in public institutions is degraded by information pollution. Carnegie’s Information Environment Project is a multistakeholder effort to help policymakers understand the information environment, think through the impact of efforts to govern it, and identify promising interventions to foster democracy.

Programs

Technology and International Affairs

The Technology and International Affairs Program develops insights to address the governance challenges and large-scale risks of new technologies. Our experts identify actionable best practices and incentives for industry and government leaders on artificial intelligence, cyber threats, cloud security, countering influence operations, reducing the risk of biotechnologies, and ensuring global digital inclusion.

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Our Team

Our Team

Alicia Wanless

Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs, Director, Information Environment Project

Alicia Wanless is the director of the Information Environment Project.

Samantha Lai

Senior Research Analyst, Technology and International Affairs

Samantha Lai is a senior research analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Technology and International Affairs Program.

Yoel Roth

Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs Program

Yoel Roth is a nonresident scholar in the Technology and International Affairs Program.

Christine Balagué

Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs

Christine Balagué was a nonresident scholar in the Carnegie Technology and International Affairs Program.

Gavin Wilde

Nonresident Fellow, Technology and International Affairs

Gavin Wilde is a nonresident fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he applies his expertise on Russia and information warfare to examine the strategic challenges posed by cyber and influence operations, propaganda, and emerging technologies.

Jon Bateman

Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Technology and International Affairs Program

Jon Bateman is a senior fellow and co-director of the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Arthur Nelson

Acting Co-Director, Technology and International Affairs Program

Arthur Nelson is acting co-director of Carnegie’s Technology and International Affairs Program.

Alicia Wanless

Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs, Director, Information Environment Project

Alicia Wanless is the director of the Information Environment Project.

Samantha Lai

Senior Research Analyst, Technology and International Affairs

Samantha Lai is a senior research analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Technology and International Affairs Program.

Yoel Roth

Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs Program

Yoel Roth is a nonresident scholar in the Technology and International Affairs Program.

Christine Balagué

Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs

Christine Balagué was a nonresident scholar in the Carnegie Technology and International Affairs Program.

Gavin Wilde

Nonresident Fellow, Technology and International Affairs

Gavin Wilde is a nonresident fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he applies his expertise on Russia and information warfare to examine the strategic challenges posed by cyber and influence operations, propaganda, and emerging technologies.

Jon Bateman

Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Technology and International Affairs Program

Jon Bateman is a senior fellow and co-director of the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Arthur Nelson

Acting Co-Director, Technology and International Affairs Program

Arthur Nelson is acting co-director of Carnegie’s Technology and International Affairs Program.

What We Do

What We Do

Assessing National Information Ecosystems

The Information Environment Project is developing a framework for analyzing national information ecosystems over time.

Assessing National Information Ecosystems

The Information Environment Project is developing a framework for analyzing national information ecosystems over time.

Fostering Information Integrity

The Information Environment Project works to articulate a definition of information integrity that can be adopted by policymakers.

Fostering Information Integrity

The Information Environment Project works to articulate a definition of information integrity that can be adopted by policymakers.

Assessing the State of Knowledge

The Information Environment Project builds on the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations, which worked to foster evidence-informed policymaking for the information environment.

Assessing the State of Knowledge

The Information Environment Project builds on the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations, which worked to foster evidence-informed policymaking for the information environment.

Studying Conflict in the Information Environment

The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationship between information competition, conflict and governance.

Studying Conflict in the Information Environment

The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationship between information competition, conflict and governance.

Informing Stakeholder Response

The role of the information environment in democracy necessitates that any response is inherently multistakeholder, involving government, industry, civil society and citizens. The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationships between stakeholder types as well as between research and policymaking to identify and address gaps.

Informing Stakeholder Response

The role of the information environment in democracy necessitates that any response is inherently multistakeholder, involving government, industry, civil society and citizens. The Information Environment Project works to understand the relationships between stakeholder types as well as between research and policymaking to identify and address gaps.

 

In the Media

In the Media

Institute for Research on the Information Environment

Given the scale required to speed up research to foster evidence-informed policymaking, nothing short of a multistakeholder equivalent of a European Center for Nuclear Research—or a CERN for the information environment—can address this challenge.

Thank you to our Supporters

Carnegie’s Information Environment Project (IEP) is made possible with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Google, and Meta. Carnegie is wholly and solely responsible for the contents of its products, written or otherwise. We welcome conversations with new donors. All donations are subject to Carnegie’s donor policy review. We do not allow donors prior approval of drafts, influence on selection of project participants, or any influence over the findings and recommendations of work they may support.

Thank you to our Supporters

Carnegie’s Information Environment Project (IEP) is made possible with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Google, and Meta. Carnegie is wholly and solely responsible for the contents of its products, written or otherwise. We welcome conversations with new donors. All donations are subject to Carnegie’s donor policy review. We do not allow donors prior approval of drafts, influence on selection of project participants, or any influence over the findings and recommendations of work they may support.

All work from Information Environment Project

22 Results
In The Media
in the media
“Disinformation Is One Problem Among Many in the Information Environment”

Disinformation is one problem among many in the information environment. It’s also one that is extremely challenging to do anything about.

· July 1, 2024
EUvsDisinfo
In The Media
in the media
Don’t Hype the Disinformation Threat

Downplaying the Risk Helps Foreign Propagandists—but So Does Exaggerating It

· May 3, 2024
Foreign Affairs
In The Media
in the media
Responding Effectively to Foreign Propaganda with Gavin Wilde

A discussion on the effectiveness to thwart Russia's foreign influence efforts in damaging our democracy.

· May 1, 2024
Cyber Focus Podcast (McCrary Institute)
In The Media
in the media
Information Ecology and 19th-Century Naturalism at Verify 2024

What does Prussian naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt have to do with cybersecurity?

· April 10, 2024
The Lawfare Podcast
In the Media
From Panic to Policy: The Limits of Foreign Propaganda and the Foundations of an Effective Response

American leaders and scholars have long feared the prospect that hostile foreign powers could subvert democracy by spreading false, misleading, and inflammatory information by using various media.

· March 26, 2024
Texas National Security Review
In The Media
in the media
What Does Information Integrity Mean for Democracies?

As information integrity is increasingly used in the context of the information environment, it needs a clear definition that provides guidance on how the concept can be translated into policy. 

· March 22, 2024
Lawfare
report
Countering Disinformation Effectively: An Evidence-Based Policy Guide

A high-level, evidence-informed guide to some of the major proposals for how democratic governments, platforms, and others can counter disinformation.

· January 31, 2024
In The Media
in the media
Seeing the Disinformation Forest Through the Trees: How to Begin Cleaning Up the Polluted Information Environment

Calls grow louder to regulate artificial intelligence, counter disinformation, and social media. But how can democracies govern the information environment if they don’t know how it affects people’s thinking and behaviour?

· November 13, 2023
The Forum Network
paper
Emergency Management and Information Integrity: A Framework for Crisis Response

From COVID-19 misinformation to authoritarian crackdowns on democratic protests or hybrid warfare involving information manipulation, the negative impacts that crises have on the information environment can be challenging to reverse, threatening the physical safety of civilians and the democratic stability of societies.

In The Media
in the media
Information Animals Fighting Information Wars

A discussion on the links between information and technology, information competition through history, the need for a better understanding of information ecosystems, whether we’re in an information “civil war,” and much else besides.

· November 1, 2023
TechFreedom