Infrared HDR Buena Vista Colorado taken by David and used under a CC BY 2.0 license.

Rising Voices note: Our biweekly newsletter provides a summary of our recent blog posts about all aspects of digital inclusion including access and adoption of digital tools, as well as different ways and opportunities for communities to fully participate online. Read here for previous editions of this newsletter.

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is calling for proposals for its 2020 annual report.  The theme of the year is: Technology, the environment and a sustainable world: Responses from the global South. Interested contributors are asked to submit a 400-word pitch that outlines the related issue or topic in a particular country. Some of the questions potential contributors may consider include:

How can technology be used for building a sustainable, greener future? What are the ways in which the internet is being used now in your country to protect the environment, change economic modes of exchange and social behaviour, or to adapt to climate change? What works, what doesn’t? What examples in your country help us to critically interrogate sustainable development, growth and future economies through the lens of the environment? What concrete responses to the environmental crisis are necessary and possible?

Please see here for details.  Proposal due: May 20, 2020

Following our commemoration of the International Year of Indigenous Languages (#IYIL19), Rising Voices and our partners are continuing a series of rotating Twitter campaigns based off last year’s successful initiative. If you are curious about indigenous, minority, endangered, or underresourced languages across the world plus how the internet and technology may play a role in their promotion and/or revitalization, please stay tuned! You can also read the profile posts as follows to learn more about our recent hosts, their work and visions for their languages.

@ActLenguas (Latin America)

• Isela Xospa [es] on the current status of a Nahuatl variant from Milpa Alta (southeastern Mexico City) and her work in the revitalization of indigenous languages, which focuses on bridging the gap of culturally relevant materials tailored to the younger generation
• Mito (Jaime López) Reyes [es] on being ayöök jayu (speaker of the Mixe languages indigenous to the eastern highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico), racism in Mexico, as well as his work on Mixe literature
• Elesban Landero Berriozábal [es] on his work at the intersection of language and technology, with a focus on the Nahuatl language spoken in the Sierra Norte de Puebla (Mexico)

@AsiaLangsOnline (Asia)

• Zubair Torwali on the Torwali language from northern Pakistan as well as his dedication to the empowerment of local communities through the preservation of language via technology and the cultivation of cultural identity from a young age
• R. Ashwani Banjan Murmu on the present and the past of Santali, a language spoken in several eastern India states and some of the neighboring countries, as well as what he is doing to keep it vibrant and its speakers engaged in the face of challenges ahead

Seeking to advance digital rights and diversity in the Latin American and the Caribbean internet landscape?  Please check out this FRIDA page and see whether you meet the eligibility requirements for one of their funding opportunities.  Submission due: May 22, 2020 at 23:59 (UTC-3)

Independent filmmakers worldwide, this is for you: Filmmakers Without Borders is taking applications for its Filmmaking Grants, aiming to support projects in relation to social justice, empowerment, or cultural exchange.  Please see here for additional information.  Application due: June 1, 2020 (Summer Cycle) / August 1, 2020 (Fall Cycle)

How do you like the Web as is with all the ads, clickbaits, and complicated algorithms behind them, not to mention constant concerns in relation to your privacy online?  Grant for the Web is inviting you to imagine a different monetization model with them!  Please see here for details.  Application due: June 13, 2020

Are you a technology strategist based in the Global South who also cares about social justice issues in civil society?  Please don’t miss out on this opportunity to become a Mozilla Fellow for Tech + Society and join forces with regional organizations to create more impact.  Please see here for details.  Registration due: May 28, 2020 / Application due: June 2, 2020

Are you one of those who have to shift their work online amidst this current pandemic?  Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is relaunching its Closer than Ever guide to help ease the transition to the new normal for you and your social change organizations.  We hope you find it useful.

Having questions as to how you should be covering COVID-19 stories?  Please come join this Knight Center free online course to learn more about it.  This course is offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese, as well as French and will be running till May 31.

For anyone who needs a Myaamia Dictionary: Our friends at @MyaamiaCenter have just the solution for you — available here and as mobile apps.

• The COVID-19 Pandemic requires us to reconsider the Internet as infrastructure via MediaNama
• For tribal lands ravaged by COVID-19, broadband access is a matter of life and death via azcentral
• 50 Baltimore orgs are joining together to close the digital divide — during the pandemic, and beyond via Technical.ly
• Partnerships Can Close the Digital Divide (Contributed) via Govtech.com