Stories from Quick Reads from November, 2014
Sexual Violence as Weapon of War
Marita Seara, blogging for Voces Visibles, invites us to reflect on the suffering of women sexually subdued during armed conflicts. The author recommends us to watch the documentary The war against women, where director Hernán Zin describes rape as real “weapons of war” and confronts us with the reality of...
Position-ography: ‘I Know What You Did Last Term’
During the economic and political crisis in Argentina in 2001, people shouted in the streets, “Go to hell, everyone (rulers)!” More than a decade after these events, this popular cry was transformed into a digital tool that allows voters to learn about the political background of their candidates. On Infoactivismo, there...
Adorably Ugly Cats Take Over Tokyo Train
Winners of a popular contest have taken over trains in Tokyo. The goal of the contest? The most adorably ugly cats (busukawa neko) in Japan.
A March in Solidarity with Migrants Who Perished Trying to Reach Europe
“Europe is fighting its own make-believe enemy”: This is the message that a dozen of associations in defense of migrants wanted to convey when they organized a human chain between the tramway station “Droits de l'Homme (Human Rights)” and the EU Parliament station in Strasbourg on November 26. In order to put Human Rights back at...
Updates on the 18th SAARC Summit On Social Media
The ongoing summit of the The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was covered by international media with different perspectives. However non-official initiatives such as 18th SAARC Summit blog, Facebook account, Twitter and Google+ account are aggregating updates on the summit for easy archiving. Here are some examples: This...
The Internet of Things and Smart Crops
Today, it's not enough to just talk about the Internet. This concept has broadened and it's a good challenge for those who want to become electronic engineers. César Viloria Núñez, a professor at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia, explains what the Internet of things is: Consiste en que las cosas...
National Conference on Internet Governance in Ecuador
The International Center of Research in Communication for Latin America (CIESPAL, by its name in Spanish), the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), Association of Free Software of Ecuador (ASLE), Infodesarrollo Network, the organization Free Libre Open Knowledge Society (FLOK) and the Latinoamerican Agency of Information (ALAI) are hosting the National...
Iranian Facebook User Sentenced to Death
Soheil Arabi was sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Mohammad on the Facebook.The Revolutionary Guards arrested Soheil Arabi on November 2013. Iranian Twitter user Velgard tweeted below about this, explaining that Arabi is only a 30 year old Iranian who is not a political activist, but merely “one of...
Experiences After Working at a Youth Hostel
Queralt Castillo Cerezuela describes herself as a ‘wanderer’, natural born nomadic and, of course, journalist. That's possibly the origin of her blog's name, Errabundus. On one of her posts, this globetrotter tries to report about her time working at a youth hostel in the Southern Alps and lists six things...
Three Cases that Show Social Networks Are Helping Hold Mozambique's Government Accountable
In spite of the fact that in Mozambique, only 4.3% of the population has access to the Internet, the citizen reporter perspective is valid and useful.
11-Year-Old Girl Starts Petition Calling for Mexican President's Resignation
An 11 year-old Mexican girl decided to collect signatures calling for the resignation of the president of her country, Enrique Peña Nieto, due to his handling of the disappearance of 43 trainee school teachers.
Using Your Reflex Camera From Your Cellphone? Lumera!
Yes, now it's possible! Thanks to Lumera, after two years of hard work as a result of a project by Open Hardware, from Hackbo, Bogota's hackerspace. It's all about a small device that gets integrated into your reflex photographic camera, transforming it into a “smart camera”. Using Lumera, you can...
Communicators Profession: Reinventing Itself Day by Day
After talking with a colleague, Cintia Oliva reflects on a reality known by many communicators: [Mi colega] me decía que con esto de las tecnologías, el periodismo como carrera estaba en decadencia. Ella, una excelente reportera y entrevistadora, contaba que cada vez le costaba más meter su pauta o que...
Colombian Economic Deceleration, Is the Government Aware of This Situation?
On a review of what is going on with Colombian economy, Daniel Bustos writes on his blog Trayectoria Económica an analysis of what he calls ‘skinny cows’ or lean times. Although the economy is still standing thanks to public and private investment and the construction industry, the oil barrel price...
Hossein Derakhshan Released from Prison
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, on Thursday pardoned the jailed blogger Hossein Derakhshan after his six years.Derakhshan thanked God, Khamenei and his family on his Google Plus page.
Paddington Bear Visits the Land of His Peruvian Forefathers
El oso Paddington, popular personaje de ficción de literatura infantil del Reino Unido, llegó al Perú, su tierra natal como parte de una campaña del Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo del país andino.
Moments of Life: A Call for Sympathy
Carlos G. de Juan, blogging on Hacia rutas de cambio positivo (Towards routes of positive change), offers a reflection through a short mute film about the story of many homeless people in big cities, who had a normal life until life struck them so hard they just lost heart: Esta...
Recreating Life of Comechingon People
Villa de Merlo, in the province of San Luis, was home of one of many indigenous communities that settled in the territory of what we now know as the Republic of Argentina. Wenceslao Bottaro tells us about the Theme Park Yucat Land of Comechingones, which teach us about this culture:...
Is the ‘Sky Cycle’ Japan's Weirdest Theme-Park Ride?
Every nation has its own unique theme-park customs, and some build them in rather unexpected places. Meet Japan's "Sky Cycle" ride in Okayama Prefecture's Brazilian Washuzan Highland park.
Mexico ‘Adrift'!
The tragedy of the students from Ayotzinapa in Guerrero, Mexico, has started a wave of solidarity among Mexicans and people throughout the world, so much so that students from at least 43 counties are demanding justice for their missing peers. But to explain the sentiments of families and locals engaged...
Let's Keep Fighting Gender-Based Violence!
Mujeres construyendo (Women building) reports about the Campaign Beijing+20 de UN, a small contribution in the fight against gender-based violence. Violence against women isn't just about physical violence, but sexual and psychological violence as well. According to data provided by UH Women, 120 million girls have been victims of sexual...