Stories about Spanish from January, 2012
Spanish-Speaking Twittersphere Fumes Over Announcement
Twitter's announcement that it will restrict certain user content according to the laws of individual countries immediately caused a negative reaction in the Spanish-speaking Twittersphere. Twitter users widely employed the hashtags #CensuramestaTwitter and #TwitterCensored to display their anger with the social networking site.
Puerto Rico: The Art of Sound
Julieta Muñoz interviews artist Carola Cintrón Moscoso for Revista Cruce [es] on the art of sound: “There was light, but something was missing: sound!,” says Carola who works with audio in her pieces. Please check out the video in which Carola talks about her art, and herself, in an interview...
Costa Rica: Young Entrepreneurs Present Mobile Game
Six young Costa Rican entrepreneurs have created a mobile game platform called TweetLand. In the blog Fusil de Chispas [es], Cristian Cambronero writes about the debut of Route 140, the first game in the collection.
Bolivia: Pro-Road March Reaches La Paz
Marchers in favor of a project to build a road that would go through the TIPNIS indigenous territory reached La Paz. Mario R. Duran from the blog Palabras Libres [es] reports that residents of El Alto and La Paz received the march with indifference.
Chile: Mapping Chile with OpenStreetMap
In El Quinto Poder [es], Marcelo Aliaga writes about OpenStreetMap (OSM), “a free editable map of the whole world,” and the OSM community in Chile. He invites Chileans to participate and stay informed through the local blog. [es]
Peru: Terrorism, Youth and Social Networks
One of the strongest repercussions of the MOVADEF's decision to apply to register as a political party is the amount of young activists and supporters the group has attracted and how they are using social networks to spread their message.
Colombia: First Reactions to #TwitterCensorship
Colombian journalist Héctor Abad (@hectorabadf) [es] is one of many Twitter users who are alarmed [es] by Twitter's decision to implement “a sort of geolocated censorship”, as Periodismo Ciudadano explains [es]. On social networks in Colombia and other Spanish-speaking countries users are quoting and sharing related blog posts by Juan...
Colombia: Rector of University of Tolima Resigns
Jesus Ramon Rivera Bulla, rector of the University of Tolima, resigned after 11 years holding his position just days after journalist Daniel Condell [es] accused him [es] of nepotism in an article for magazine Semana. Carlos Arturo Gamboa [es] refers to the issue in his blog, while netizens on social...
Chile: 15 Songs from 2011
Roberto Carreño recommends [es] 15 Chilean songs released during 2011.
Video Highlights: Music, Indigenous Initiatives, Indignation and Wonder
A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories including video from Latin America, East Asia, Middle East and North Africa and Eastern and Central Europe, selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.
Argentina: Diplomatic Conflict With United Kingdom Over Falklands
The conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands has intensified over the past decade. Netizens are divided between those who believe that Argentina should abandon its claim for the Falklands and those who support this claim.
Peru: MOVADEF – The Return of the Shining Path?
In the afternoon of January 20, the National Elections Board made known its decision that it was denying, for the second time, the registration of MOVADEF (Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights) as a political party. Social networks were immediately teeming with reactions. But what is MOVADEF, and why is there so much fuss about it?
Puerto Rico: Debating Maripily
In 80 Grados [es], Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia responds to a controversial column written by Nelson Rivera in the same digital publication on the supposed virtues and failings of the model Maripily.
Paraguay: Learn the Correct Use of Social Networks, a Resolution for 2012
Global Voices contributor Belén Bogado [es] suggests adding “learning how to use social networks correctly” to your list of new year's resolutions. She gives some local and international examples of the bad use of social networks to encourage her readers to be careful with what they share online.
Venezuela: The Essence of African Music in Videos
Venezuela’s African origins can be strongly felt in the music and culture of the country’s coastal regions. Social networking sites play an important role in helping people to become more familiar with the drum festivals. Citizen media sites, particularly YouTube, feature videos of the music and dancing performed during events such as family parties and national celebrations.
Elizabeth Rivera, Global Voices Author and Translator
In this interview, Elizabeth Rivera, Global Voices author and translator, tells us a little bit about her life and the motives that drive her to voluntarily collaborate with Global Voices. She also discusses the Chilean student movement and other current events.
Chile: Crowd Funding a Mapuche-Inspired Mobile Game
Digital communication and social network consultant Paloma Baytelman [es] explains crowd funding in her personal blog. She shares the experience of “Pewen Collector” [es], a mobile game inspired by the Mapuche indigenous people that was financed using a crowd funding platform.
Latin America: Museum Releases Digital Archive of 20th-Century Art
The International Center for Arts of the Americas (ICCA) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has released a digital archive of 20th-century Latin American and Latino art, which, “is now available, free of charge, to the research and teaching community as well as to the public at large.” Culture...
Video: One Year, One World and 52 Different Stories
Video journalist Maggie Padlewska will travel alone for one year, visiting a country each week for a total of 52 countries. During her journey she'll be recording, editing and producing videos of her interactions with communities, organizations and people under-represented by mass media and uploading them to the web.
Costa Rica's Online Community Joins Fight Against SOPA and Censorship
Following the virtual strike against the United States' Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the subsequent shutdown of the file-sharing website, Megaupload, Costa Rica's online community is no longer staying out of the fight against Internet censorship.
Colombia: Hip hop and rap artists unite for peace
The Conspiracy for Peace is the new video the local rap and hip hop artists have made with the support of the local TV network Telemedellin. The song was written collectively by the artists of Medellin and the surrounding cities for the Peace One Day and is a message of...
