Friday, 13 December
9.30 p.m. in Gato Vadio: Exposing the Invisible, Tactical Technology Collective
Saturday, 14 December
2.30 p.m. -6.30 p.m. in Maus Hábitos: Citizen journalism and new media in the Lusophone World. Registration necessary: http://tinyurl.com/GVmeetup
in conjunction with: Transparência Hackday.
8 p.m. in Espaco Compasso: Lusophone dinner.
9.30 p.m. in Espaco Compasso: Concert “Gringo e o Curisco” (Brazil)
Design: Manufactura Independente (@ManufacturaInd). Background image: Analysis of the protests in Brazil on social networks, by Andrés Monroy-Hernández on Flickr (Creative Commons: BY-SA 2.0).

Global Voices in Portugal invites journalists, amateur media practitioners, citizens and groups dedicated to independent online communication projects or in favour of a more active digital citizenship to a meetup in Porto on 14 December, 2013.

The first Global Voices meetup in Portugal will take a look at how people can come together and strengthen dialogue, understanding and solidarity within and between communities that express themselves in the “languages in Portuguese” (as the only Portuguese-language literary Nobel prize winner, José Saramago, used to refer to the diversity of languages existing in the Lusophone world), as well as what roles do people play – and can play – today on the Internet to share Lusophone issues with the world.

At the Porto meetup, we will search for new ways of working together and building bridges between platforms of online communication that elevate voices which need to be heard. We want to see, hear, record and sow the seeds for a more civic kind of journalism. We believe that we can reap rewards from sharing and collaborating through the “networks of indignation and hope” (Castells).

What's going to happen?

Broadcasters, amateur filmmakers, professional reporters, volunteers, and developers from diverse locations of our scattered linguistic region will be present.

Click to see a larger version. Design: Manufactura Independente (@ManufacturaInd). Background image: Analysis of the protests in Brazil on social networks, by Andrés Monroy-Hernández on Flickr (Creative Commons: BY-SA 2.0).

The programme is mobile and stops off at three social and cultural intervention associations in Porto's city centre, bringing together collaborators and friends of Global Voices from various parts of Portugal, with participants from Brazil, São Tomé and Angola. At the end there will be cachupa from Cape Verde – a popular dish made from corn, beans and fish or meat – along with Brazilian music at the association Espaço Compasso [pt]. 

The meetup begins with an evening of cinema and a conversation about investigative journalism documentary Exposing the Invisible by the Tactical Technology Collective. This pre-event will happen at the Gato Vadio (Stray Cat) [pt] association and is part of an international film festival organised by Tactical Tech, which began 9 December and runs until the 15.

The meeting and the items dedicated to citizen journalism and new media in the Lusophone world will take place throughout Saturday afternoon on 14 December in Maus Hábitos (Bad Habits) [pt]. The meetup will run in conjunction with the monthly meeting of Transparência Hackday (Transparency Hackday), a Portuguese group which aims to make information freely available to the public and encourages the interaction of citizens with technology. That meeting has promised the disclosing of public expenditure data in Portugal, following the example of the platform launched by the Open Knowledge Foundation, Spending Stories.

Participation in the meetup is free, but registration is necessary and should be done through this link: http://tinyurl.com/GVmeetup [pt]. All information about location and events can be found on the programme [pt]. A private Facebook event is being used to introduce participants and topics for the meetup. 

Global Voices in the Community

Beginning in November and running until the end of 2013, Global Voices is organising a series of face-to-face meetups in six cities around the world. The Global Voices in the Community meetings are led and facilitated by members of Global Voices who live in and know the local communities where the meetings take place. 

In the last GVFace (the weekly forum of debates and conversations which Global Voices runs on Google Hangout) which took place on Friday, 6 December, the meetup organisers discussed the events that have already happened, with the Porto meetup the only one yet to take place. The conversation revolved around the theme, From online to offline: Recreating the virtual Global Voices world for real audiences. You can watch the discussion here.