In this article, we present the results of a strategy to disseminate best social work practices during periods of social lockdown in Spain, in a climate characterised by post-truth, misinformation and fake news. Social work is challenged with the task of delivering reliable and quality information aimed at building a better society. At the time of writing, Spain was one of the countries most affected by COVID-19, with one of the highest numbers of deaths per million inhabitants in the world. With the population in lockdown, our strategy was to design a series of innovative web seminars on both the subject and the procedures involved in social work, with the aim of sharing information and best practices to counter disinformation campaigns on social media. The results show the growing demand – both by citizens in general and students and professionals in particular – for reliable information in the field of professional practice. One of the priorities of digital social work must be to disseminate its results in the digital environment.

En este trabajo se analiza un proceso de integración regional que incluye a Belice,

Participatory action research (PAR) has been used as a methodology for social intervention that combines research enquiry and action in the analysis of and intervention in complex social problems. However, a better systematization of complex social research processes is required to enable reflexivity at a participatory level and second-order observation of the full research system constructed. This article proposes a PAR model using conceptual and methodological elements of sociocybernetics, which is the application of first- and second-order cybernetics and general systems theory to social sciences. The authors see this model as able to reinforce the systematization of PAR, enabling a second-order reflexivity and feedback process through information analysis and communication strategies. The first part of the article explains how sociocybernetics concepts can contribute to this sociological methodology and discusses points of similarity between the two approaches and the basis of the proposed model. The second part addresses an empirical case of PAR developed in the context of the High Atlas in Morocco using the proposed model. By reinforcing a systems perspective, internal and external elements of the research system can be defined better to understand its relevance to optimal fulfilment of the research purpose. The value that sociocybernetics adds may be the comprehension of processes of change through the assimilation, accommodation and adaptation of the components and limits of the system, the feedback process and other interactions within the system and its environment, in order to analyse how social changes occur in complex settings.

The concept of sociocybernetics has been shaped over the past 40 years at the intersection between first- and second-order cybernetics, constructive epistemology and systems science. This has produced a common language to bridge these different disciplines and a common basis for research analysing complex social problems. Sociocybernetics applies second-order cybernetics concepts to the study of societies, communities and groups in which first- and second-order reflexivity may play an important part, but it is not only a theoretical perspective in the abstract; it is also an approach that is applied to the analysis of cross-disciplinary issues such as systemic violence, the role of technology in society, environmental challenges, urban planning, community development, social identity and media representation, among many others. This article provides an introduction and a general conceptual description of second-order cybernetics in the broader context of cybernetics and systems sciences. It also presents the sociocybernetics debate as it stands today, after the 20-year anniversary of the Research Committee on Sociocybernetics’ (RC51) activities within the International Sociological Association (ISA) and its contributions to understanding and acting upon an increasingly complex social world. Sociocybernetics is the science of turbulent societies that somehow continue to adapt themselves, despite the complexities they are confronted with. The articles in this monograph introduce some of the current work of the research committee and showcase the extensive potential for sociocybernetics’ interaction with other areas of sociology and contemporary debate.