A screenshot of the reading by Victoriano de la Cruz sharing a selection of his translation of the book Pedro Páramo.

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.

Hello readers, how did you observe International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples?  How about stopping by our @ActLenguas Twitter account to catch up on some readings of oral histories, stories, literary translations, and poetry in the Nahuatl, Maya, and Tenek languages of Mexico as a start? Rising Voices recently partnered with Twitter Mexico to highlight these voices during a live stream.

For those who are in the mood of exploring more, please be invited to check out two recent roundtables* we’ve organized, along with the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, where indigenous activists from Mexico and Canada shared their experiences of language revitalization by way of technology and the Internet.  You are also very welcome to join us live in the weeks to come for the remaining sessions in this conversation series!  

Before you read on, please allow us a moment here for an announcement of our shift from a fortnightly to a monthly newsletter.  Hopefully we will see you around, safe and sound.

* These recordings are available in English and Spanish

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 under-resourced 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.

@AsiaLangsOnline (Asia)

• Kristina Gallegos from Language Warriors PH on their role in supporting local efforts around information dissemination amidst this current pandemic as well as future plans of this initiative, along with other projects by its parent department at UP Diliman
• Muhammad Zaman Sagar on the Gawri (Kalami) language, indigenous to northwestern Pakistan, and his community-based revitalization efforts through education as well as multiple digital media platforms
• Veer Keram on his involvement in promoting the Gondi language — an Indian indigenous language — as well as the pivotal role of a language in the identity of a culture and the transmission of its heritage

And, in this issue, we are taking you to Bali, a popular tourism destination in Indonesia, to see how the locals are holding up while its tourism sector has been brought to a halt.  → “How Balinese communities in Indonesia are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic”

Got some concrete, innovative ideas in addressing the imbalanced newsroom representation or on advancing public health journalism as it is?  The Nieman Visiting Fellowship program is inviting you to join them in answer to these pressing issues.  Journalists are welcome to apply and there’s no age or academic requirements (details here).  Application due: September 25, 2020

The previously postponed Our Networks 2020 is coming soon in the form of an online event!  It’s a conference for those who care about our collective experiences in the digital space as well as the future of the Internet and the possibilities for alternative infrastructures.  For more information, please see here.  Date: September 8-13, 2020

• How Steep Is That Sidewalk? A Digital Map for People With Disabilities via YES!
• How to Resurrect Dying Languages via SAPIENS
• 電音尬古謠 [zh] [en] via 台灣光華雜誌 Taiwan Panorama
• Digitally-Documenting the Sundanese Language and Cultural Heritage as presented by O Foundation via Anchor
• Congo Check brings fact-checking to the streets and doubles its reach via jamlab (the Journalism and Media Lab)

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