Stories from February, 2008
Nari Jibon: Spring is in the air
In this weeks update on the Rising Voices grantee Nari Jibon project we look at how the women bloggers are continuing to produce interesting blog contents using texts, photos and videos with their newly learnt skills.
Five Minute Phone Call with Eddie Avila
This week we begin a new feature on Rising Voices where we will regularly check in with project leaders from the 10 Rising Voices outreach projects. We start with Eddie Ávila who is currently in the United States to present Voces Bolivianas at the We Media conference in Miami, Florida.
Inmates take on blogs to start a reform of society
This week we are introduced to another of the Rising Voices second round grantees, “Prison Diaries”, based in Jamaica. It will use citizen media tools like blogs, video and podcasts to share the daily journals of inmates, allowing all Jamaicans to learn about the realities of Jamaica’s overcrowded prison system with the hope that this will counteract the false ideas of veneration of gang leaders implanted by the media.
Jorge Jurado Raps About Citizen Media
Jorge is one of about 20 young people in the peripheral working class neighborhood of San Javier La Loma who are using citizen media to rescue the forgotten history of their community. His song "ConVerGentes" which he performed in this video in early January 2008 discusses the potential of using participatory media to rescue the forgotten history and culture of local communities.
Voces Bolivianas: Success is sharing of knowledge and generating enthusiasm
The Voces Bolivianas project successfully completed the first round of workshops in El Alto city with the help of a Rising Voices microgrant. They taught tools and techniques of citizen media to members of underrepresented groups in Bolivia. Their success prompted them to start a second series of workshops in El Alto and they also extended the program to another city, Santa Cruz. In this week's feature we look at the evaluation of their success and the expansion projects.
Cristina Quisbert on Blogging
Cristina Quisbert shares her experiences of being a member of Voces Bolivianas. Cristina was also featured in an interview published here a couple months ago. You can read translations of posts by Cristina and fellow Voces Bolivianas participants on the English version of the Voces Bolivianas site.
Growing Up Blogging in Rural Uruguay
Rising Voices grantee Pablo Flores, who is in charge of the implementation of the One Laptop Per Child program in Uruguay, believes that the XO laptop is more than just an educational tool. He also sees the lime green laptops as an important communication device which he hopes will allow all Uruguayan students to be heard by the rest of their country and participate in the online conversations which will affect their future.
Blog Outreach in Madagascar – From Forumists to Bloggers
We are delighted to introduce to you the first of the second round grantees of Rising Voices. Foko Blog Club is a blog outreach arm of FOKO, a project founded by four bloggers committed to the development of Madagascar by teaching blogging skills to the young people in Madagascar.
Come Explore New Videos at Rising Voices
The first round of Rising Voices outreach projects have already been training participants in underrepresented communities how to use the tools of citizen media for just over seven months now. Now many of the projects are taking their media production skills to the next level by using Windows Movie Maker to produce short video documentaries that reveal the realities of the communities where they live.
