Stories from February, 2009
Catalina Restrepo Describes ConVerGentes
This Monday the citizen journalists of ConVerGentes, a project of HiperBarrio, got together for a video blogging workshop which, among other strategies, showed the journalists how to frame interview subjects using different angles and framings. In this video Catalina Restrepo describes the goals and activities of ConVerGentes.
Drop-In Center: Do Not Repeat My Mistakes
Pavel Kutsev, co-founder of a Ukrainian foundation for injection drug users called Drop-In Center, posts a touching story about his discussion with 20 teenagers about the harmful consequences of drugs.
FOKO: Ushahidi Comes To Madagascar
Rising Voices grantee FOKO’s members were at the forefront of the recent coverage of Tropical Storm Eric, Cyclone Fanele, and the recent protests and political turmoil in Madagascar by local citizen journalists of Madagascar. While bloggers from the capital Antananarivo are still actively reporting on the events happening on different key spots of the capital, FOKO Madagascar has introduced the Ushahidi engine, the powerful citizen media platform to report the crisis. Using SMS and web the silent majority of the citizens of Madagascar will record a detailed factual and location based report of the crisis in the country (political or environmental) in FOKO Ushahidi, which will plot them on a map.
Voces Bolivianas: Blogging A Summit And A Referendum
The recently concluded Voces Bolivianas summit at Cochabamba, Bolivia titled “Web 2.0 for Everyone” was a success. Some of the participants have blogged about their experience. Voces Bolivianas members also blogged about the referendum of the amendment of the constitution of Bolivia and why it was important to them.
First Steps to a National Association of Substitution Therapy Receivers
At the end of January twelve activists representing the drug users’ community met in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, to set up a brand new organization - the National Association of Substitution Therapy Receivers.
Serbian Web Journalism School: Learning Web 2.0 Skills
Web journalism is more than just publishing some news on the web. The journalists have a wider scope to attract interest of the readers and add real value to their works by using external hyperlinks, graphs, illustrations, images, audio and video. The Rising Voices Grantee the Serbian Web Journalism School is teaching several such skills to the students.
AIDS Rights Congo: Using Technology to Fight Gender Violence
In late November the AZUR Development organization’s AIDS Rights Congo project participated in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign, using blogs, cell phones, and radio broadcasts to raise awareness of violence against women.
HiperBarrio Gets Its Groove Back
After a slow couple months the members of HiperBarrio have come up with a plan to inject some enthusiasm and inspiration back into the group and its production of new media.
Ukraine: The Best Drug for Harm Reduction Programs?
Ukrainian blogger depo3p, who leads the nonprofit organization Drop-in Center, debates whether the Ukraine is using the most effective medication for substitution therapy programs for opiate drug users.
“Web 2.0 for Everyone” Reinvigorates Bolivia's Digerati
Despite Bolivia's low internet penetration (among the lowest in Latin America at 4.4% compared to neighboring Chile's 36.1%, according to El Deber), the citizen media project and Rising Voices grantee Bolivian Voices is determined to spread Web 2.0 well beyond Bolivia's connected elite. Their latest initiative, Web 2.0 for Everyone, began Friday with a public event in Cochabamba followed by a day of intensive workshops aimed at teaching more Bolivians how to make their voices heard and gain social capital from tools like Twitter, blogs, and various photo- and video-sharing websites.
