Sylvia Darling

I’m a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and PhD graduate of the University of Michigan School of Information. As an ethnographer, I build theories of social change based on the aspirations of people living in precarity, notably through transnational migration to the U.S.-Mexico border and vending in the informal economy in Honduras.

In my dissertation, I drew on two years of fieldwork among migrants in Honduras to examine how information brokers synthesize fragmented information into strategies for either leaving the country or “building,” as one broker put it, one “worth staying for.” I argue that when the pull of aspiration is exceptionally powerful, people develop sophisticated information practices to achieve their goals amid high stakes.

In 2026, I’m extending this work through postdoc projects studying the role of community tech consultants in bridging the digital divide in Detroit, and how Afghan refugees navigate scams in a tech-mediated American society. I have published in New Media & Society and ACM venues like CHI, CSCW, and ICTD, earning Best Paper Awards and recognition for contributions to diversity and inclusion.

Dissertation title

Spinning Gold from the Void: An Ethnography of Information Brokering and Aspiration in Honduras

Dissertation abstract

What drives people to pursue their aspirations when gainful jobs are scarce, institutions struggle to support their constituents, and migration presents both perils and possibilities? Through 21 months of ethnographic fieldwork spanning September 2021 to June 2023 in Honduras, I theorize information brokering, a process by which individuals stash, calculate, spin, and circulate information to advance their aspirations amid extreme precarity. I focus on how brokering is taken up by three Hondurans: a desperate migrant fleeing cartel violence, a politician torn between public duty and the desire to reunite with family who migrated to the United States, and the president of a street vendor union advocating for labor rights where they barely exist.

Though they come from different walks of life, the three “brokers” partake in information practices as a unique expression of agency that emerges in high-stakes situations. Through stashing, brokers strategically position themselves in the streets and municipal venues to stockpile information from all corners of their social worlds, such as grassroots intel about migratory dynamics unfolding in real-time and eavesdropping on conversations about exit strategies. They calculate risk-benefit ratios that test whether sources can be trusted, evaluating whether they can quickly adapt information to suit their evolving needs. Most strikingly, their spinning transforms what appears to be irrelevant fragments of information into knowledge that far exceeds the value of its original parts, which they then circulate to create conditions that expand what becomes possible in their aspirational pursuits.

In exploring the brokering narrative of these protagonists, this dissertation demonstrates how, although information brokering does not guarantee success, it improves their odds of advancing toward their goals in ways that would remain virtually impossible through other means. The brokering I witnessed defies conventional portrayals of marginalized people in information studies and migration contexts as reactionary actors—disgruntled, untrusting, yet still acquiescent to the "push" of unjust forces (Chatman, 1996; Massey et al., 1993). Instead, brokers are motivated by the pull of their aspirations: pursuing dignity and safety on their terms, reconciling family cohesion with public service, and creating visions of rootedness that foster economic stability for all.

Areas of interest

Information behaviors, community empowerment, theories of social change based on aspirations

Education

BA in Anthropology and Latin American Studies, University of Virginia, 2014
PhD in Information, University of Michigan, 2025