Most of the Rising Voices projects [1] have found that training someone how to blog is a relatively easy process. Services like WordPress [2] and Blogger [3] make setting up a new weblog as fast and easy as setting up a new email account. However, there are those days when the technology and bandwidth just doesn't want to cooperate. Yesterday Voces Bolivianas participant Cristina Quisbert (who blogs in English here [4]) described a frustrating experience [5] she had at a cyber-cafe in El Alto while trying to publish a photo from her digital camera.
Carrying an image on a USB drive, and wanting to write about a subject, I entered an internet cafe. I took a seat and got ready to write. The letter ‘t’ doesn't work on the keyboard. I try several times. Upper-case letters and other keys don't work either.
“Can I change machines?” I ask the attendent. “Yes”, he says, I change to another computer. “Is the USB drive working?” I ask him. “Yes” he repeats. I log on and the computer acts like a turtle. Again, I change machines, this time log on without problem. I write my entry and when I try to put in the USB drive, the slot is covered with tape. Does the USB drive not work? I ask. “No, that one is broken”, says the attendent.
These things happen often. Some time they will improve.
Fortunately for us, it seems that Cristina did eventually find a working computer, where she published beautiful photographs from Copacabana [6] on the shores of Lake Titicaca.