Stories from December, 2009
Hip-Hop as Cosmpolitan Citizen Media
Seeking greater social inclusion through new communication technologies is a strategy with a long and accomplished history that has persisted through waves of new inventions including the telegraph, radio, television, satellite, and of course, the Internet. But has any "communication for social inclusion" project been as successful as hip-hop? Just ask the bloggers from Rising Voices citizen media projects.
Rising Voices Launches the Transparency and Technology Network
Next month Rising Voices will launch a new initiative, the Transparency and Technology Network. This is a three-month, participatory research mapping to gain a better understanding of the current state of online technology projects that increase transparency, government accountability, and civic engagement in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, China, and Central & Eastern Europe.
OLPC Uruguay: Successful Completion Of National Blogging Competition
Tus Ideas Valen (Your Ideas Are) is the contest of ideas and projects for the incorporation of innovation by the young people of Uruguay. Tus Ideas Valen arranged the First ever National School Blogging contest for students. This event was supported by Plan Ceibal and Rising Voices grantee OLPC Uruguay along with many other organizations.
FOKO: The BOMBS have arrived
FOKO Madagascar has announced the Best Of Malagasy Blogs (BOMBS) awards to introduce more bloggers to the global conversation and show the world the diversity of Malagasy culture. In other news JADE Madagascar and FOKO Madagascar have organized a VIDEO Conference in Tamatave to discuss about what is happening the in the Copenhagen COP 15 conference.
Drop-in Center: Playing Many Roles at the Same Time
The leader of the Ukrainian harm reduction movement Pavel Kutsev shares his thoughts on what it means to be a public activist and a representative of a marginalized group at the same time.
Blogging the Dream: From Dream to Reality
For over a year, the Orizonturi Foundation’s “Blogging the Dream” project has been laying the groundwork for a collaborative blog written by their mental health service users. A few months ago the blog became a reality and has since explored various aspects of mental health in Romania.
Interview with Ghaida'a Al Absi
Ghaida'a al-Absi is the leader of Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques in Yemen, which provides digital media training courses to Yemeni women activists.
AIDS Rights Congo: Blogging Against Gender Violence
As part of The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, which ends today, the AZUR Development organization's AIDS Rights Congo project has been using blogging and other citizen media as tools to fight violence against women.
Drop-in Center: How Rehab should Work
Pavel Kutsev, the leader of Drop-in Center, a non-profit organization dealing with issues of people living with drug addiction, recently shared his opinion about the effectiveness of work of drug addiction rehabilitation centers. He offers some specific suggestions to curb corruption and encourage sustainability and self-sufficiency for rehab clinics.
Voces Bolivianas: Bolivian Election 2.0
As the Bolivian voters go for polls for a general election today (6 December 2009), a number of Bolivian netizens are using Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, flickr, youtube, twitter and facebook to share other perspectives of the election. Members of Voces Bolivianas, the Rising Voices grantee from El Alto, Bolivia, are also taking part.
HiperBarrio Maps San Javier La Loma with Open Street Maps
Led by two passionate open source enthusiasts, Fredy Rivera and Elkin Botero, the members of the HiperBarrio collective of youth citizen journalists in Medellín, Colombia have created the first freely accessible online map of their own community.
