Global Voices Online » Jenny Cascante

Costa Rica: Web 2.0 on a Sunday Morning

Jenny Cascante — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:35:38 +0000

Costa Rican bloggers, twitter users and other internet enthusiasts enjoyed their own first DELM on August 30, 2009. DELM stands for Domingo En La Mañana (Sunday Morning) and has been taking place in various Latin American cities such as Santiago, Chile, Barranquilla, Colombia, and Guanajuato, Mexico. These meetings are held, just as its name states, on Sunday mornings, but can take place at a café, park or even at someone's house in order to share knowledge and experience.

Photo by María José Lerena and used with permission.

David Alfaro had the opportunity of attend and participate in the meet up. He shares some of his personal thoughts related to the range of the different types of social networks in his blog Tiquicia Sublime [es]:

Las diferentes tecnologías de medios sociales tienen diferentes grados de inmediatez y de sostenibilidad de conversaciones.

Inmediatez: Me refiero a la facilidad de acceder a medio cuando ocurre el impulso expresivo, la rapidez de publicación y la rapidez de recepción. Una alta inmediatez permite una alta virulencia.

Sostenibilidad: Me refiero a la longitud de una interlocución, cuántas idas y vueltas conversacionales con alguien es realística y cómodamente tener.

The different technologies applied to the social networks have diverse degrees of immediate response and sustainability of the conversation.

Immediate: I refer to the facility of access that a person possesses when the expressive impulse occurs, the promptness of publication, and the velocity of reception. A high-degree of immediacy allows for a quick expansion.

Sustainability: I refer to the length of a dialogue, how many conversational comings and goings with somebody are realistic and yet comfortable to have.

Moreover, Alfaro stresses some important differences [es] between Twitter and Blogs:

Twitter tiene una enorme inmediatez, a pesar de su sistema de replies, Twitter una baja sostenibilidad de conversación, esto es debido a su falta de hilos de conversación y grupos.

Por otra parte los Blogs tienen una inmediatez bajísima, pero una sostenibilidad altísima pues permite al autor construir un tópico, crear su posición e iniciar una discusión, hasta en hilos si quiere.

Twitter possesses a huge promptness, despite its replies system. Twitter experiences a low support of sustainable conversations because of the lack of conversational strings.

On the other hand, a Blog has a low promptness but a higher conversational sustainability because it allows the developing of a topic and discussion if desired.

Reiner Sibaja, author of Hoy en Costa Rica [es] delivers a detailed summary of the activity, as well as some pictures. On the discussion held regarding new media in Costa Rica (blogs, twitter, podcasts, & live streaming), he writes:

Para concluir el tema de los streamings, quedó muy claro que todos podemos tener un streaming siempre y cuando le pongamos cariño pero sobre todo esfuerzo en el contenido que presentaremos a nuestros “viewers”.

To wrap up with the topic of live streaming, it was clear that anybody can produce a live streaming as long as it held carefully and with some effort on the content that is going to be delivered to the viewers.

Also, he writes about the participation of the international guest [es]:

Christian Van Der Henst - @cvander - fundador de proyectos como Maestrosdelweb.com y Forosdelweb.com hizo su participación desde Argentina vía Skype. El compartió una perspectiva a nivel latinoamericano del fenomeno social que esta pasando la web en estos momentos.

Christian Van Der Henst - @cvander - founder of projects like Maestrosdelweb.com and Forosdelweb.com participated via Skype from Argentina to share a Latin American perspective of the social phenomena that the web is going through nowadays.

Feedback and reoccurring meetings are part of the next challenges that the DELM organizers and participants will be facing in order to offer continuity to the project. DELM was widely commented in Twitter under the hashtag #DELM, which is surely helpful to not only gather opinions, but updates on coming gatherings.

Costa Rica: Chairs, Posters, and Lamps on Exhibit

Jenny Cascante — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:32:40 +0000

A curious collection of chairs, posters, and lamps are currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design [es] in San José, Costa Rica. The 300 pieces of Spanish artwork are distributed equally in quantity, and contains works from some of the biggest names in European Art History with pieces of some of the most distinguished Spanish artists and designers such as Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí, Tusquets, Mariscal, Moneo and Hayón among others. This traveling exhibit called “300% Spanish Design” has caught the attention of Costa Rican bloggers.

Dario Alvarez delivers a description of the exhibit in his blog Arquitecturas [es]:

España exporta su valor artístico en decoración. Las piezas más selectas y representativas del diseño español de los últimos 100 años se exhiben en Costa Rica cuando la muestra ‘300% Spanish Design’ abra sus puertas en el Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (MADC) de este país.

Spain decoratively exports its artistic value. The most selective and representative pieces of Spanish Design in the last 100 years will be on exhibit in Costa Rica when the 300% Spanish Design exposition starts in the Museum of Art and Contemporary Design (MADC).

On the other hand, Jose Pablo and Manuel of Sorry Zorrito [es] are more inquisitive about the exhibition:

¿Por qué sillas, lámparas y carteles?

Debe de ser muy difícil exponer el arte y el diseño de un país tan rico en ambos campos utilizando solo 3 objetos, es por eso que esta exposición decide tratar con elementos cotidianos y humildes que ayudan a las personas día a día con sus quehaceres. Según Juli Capella son objetos que logran reivindicarse con un uso humanista y social del diseño al servicio de la persona.

Why chairs, lamps and posters?

It must be really difficult to present the art and design of such a rich country in both fields by only using those 3 objects, the exposition decided to deal with the common items that help people to cope with their daily routine. According to Juli Capella (the curator), these objects manage to achieve reinvindication with its humanistic and social use of design in service to the individual.

The exhibition had previously visited Saitama, Lisbon, Athens, Shanghai, Beijing, Fortaleza, Sao Paulo and Bogotá. Its next destination will be Mexico in August.

In Costa Rica, the exhibits will be presented in all of the rooms of the museum and will last until July 12. One of the sponsors, The State Society for Action in External Culture (SEACEX for its initials in Spanish) offers a virtual tour with pictures and description of all items. In addition, the Museum can be followed on Twitter.

Costa Rica: Creativity Through Collectivity

Jenny Cascante — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:26:07 +0000

Like a delicious recipe, artistic, musical and visual talents are placed together as ingredients in a functional and creative tendency: collectives. Across Costa Rica, many creative groups and collectives are using social media to showcase their work and connect with like-minded enthusiasts. These are some examples of collectives in the fields of film, music, and the visual arts.

Filmic productions

Experimental filmic productions are constantly being showcased by projects by young up and coming filmmakers. Bisonte Producciones [es] shares many of their works on their YouTube channel. As it states on its website, the fostering of a mission has become important for the members of the Collective:

Experimentar de una manera creativa y profesional a travez de la utilización de diferentes herramientas del lenguaje audiovisual, propuestas que representen e identifiquen nuestra realidad socio cultural; y a su vez incentivar la creación de espacios para difusión, discusión y reflexión del cine en Costa Rica

A creative, yet professional experimentation through the utilization of different audiovisual language tools for projects that represent and identify our social-cultural reality; as well as to give an incentive to the creation of spaces for the diffusion, discussion and reflection of Costa Rican motion picture industry.

Another blooming community is Chop Chop Producciones [es]. Their goals are determined and developed by the participation of the members . As expressed on their blog:

Somos un taller audiovisual, una escuela donde experimentar es un medio y se produce para aprender.

We are an audiovisual workshop, a school that promotes experimentation as a way and where production leads to learning.

Chop Chop can be found on their YouTube channel and they can be followed through their Twitter account.

Photography and Literature

Colectivo Nómada [es] assembles images and words to complement one another. It is conformed by visual and literary communicators that aspire to explore the range of photography as an expression instrument. A description of the collective can be found on its website [es] and contains information about how the members of the Collective see their mission and goals:

¿Qué es Nómada?

Nómada es un colectivo integrado por Fotógrafos, se origina de la necesidad de crear historias que traspasaran el ámbito común de la fotografía. Desarrollando un vínculo entre la obra de autor y la fotografía con contenido social.

What is Nómada?

Nómada is a collective comprised of photographers, originating from the necessity of creating stories that go beyond the ordinary scope of photography. Nómada develops a bond between the author’s work and the photography with social content.

Photo by Adrián Arias and used with permission

Besides its blog [es] where short descriptive narratives accompany some of the photos, Nómada manages a photo-essay section [es].

Music and Art

Electro-acoustic musical productions are the focus of Oscilador [es], whose aim is to bring about reactions from the audience. Their website includes a description of what the collective is all about [es]:

Oscilador tiene como objetivo la integración de una comunidad electroacústica en torno a la producción electroacústica en Costa Rica. Trata de ser incluyente más que dirigir su atención a un género específico de música creada a partir de la tecnología.

Oscilador's main objective is to integrate the electro-acoustic community with electro-acoustic productions in Costa Rica. To attempt to include instead of directing one's attention to a specific genre of music created by technology.

Another musical collective is NoisNois [es], which works with the union of visual-audio expressions with other creative arts. As stated on its website, this Collective seeks participation and propagation of interdisciplinary collaborations. The main idea behind NoisNois, apart from serving as a platform for the diffusion and distribution of the collective’s artistic work, is to interact with others interested in their work. They share information on their Twitter account.

Comics and humor

People skilled in graphic design, especially cartoonists and comic book artists also participate in collectives to share common interests and their work. One good example of this is Colectivo de Comics [es], whose members are constantly looking for ways to improve upon and interact with others through the use of art. Some of their works can be seen on their website [es].

Costa Rican collectives have been growing and encouraging all kind of artists to group and combine their individual talents into a whole new and attractive groupings. By working together on projects, the results are as interesting as diverse.

Costa Rica: Citizen Journalism Has Yet To Reach Its Full Potential

Jenny Cascante — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:09:19 +0000

From local bloggers to professional journalists to those that simply follow the media, everybody is waiting for the The First International Encounter of Citizen Journalism sponsored by Periodismo Ciudadano [es] and the Department of Collective Communication Studies at the Costa Rican University. The event will take place in San José on November 17th. Despite the fact that a considerable percentage of Costa Ricans have access to internet and related communication tools, citizen journalism is still not being developed at its highest and most desirable level.

Cristian Cambronero offers a quick description of the event in his site Fusil de Chispas [es]:

Entre los participantes como panelistas, habrá periodistas, bloggers, investigadores sociales y por supuesto: periodistas ciudadanos que han puesto en marcha emprendedores proyectos en línea. La asistencia estará limitada a 100 participantes, no se cobrará nada, pero las inscripciones estarán sujetas a aprobación.

Amongt the panel participants, there will be professional journalists, bloggers, social investigators and of course: citizen journalists that have been working on online projects of their own. Attendance is limited to 100 participants, there is no cost, but the registrations are subject to approval.

The official site of the event shows a complete view of the activities, with the event's objectives and other important details. According to Manuel Maqueda at Periodismo Ciudadano [es]:

La información ha dejado de ser vertical y está adoptando un modelo conversacional a escala global, con efectos inmediatos sobre la inteligencia colectiva, la formación de opinión, la libertad de información, la transparencia democrática y la participación popular en el devenir social y político.

The information is no longer vertical and it is adopting a conversational model on a global scale, and the immediate effects will be reflected on the collective intelligence, the shaping of opinions, the freedom of information, democratic transparency, and popular participation on social and political matters.

The site also offers a video-invitation with Maqueda, one of the organizers, who said:

El primer evento se celebrará el domingo 16 de noviembre en el Cuartel de la Boca del Monte en San José. Lo hemos denominado Red y Cervezas 2.0 y como el nombre sugiere es un encuentro informal para conocerse para intercambiar ideas y para establecer relación con otras personas. El día siguiente, lunes 17 de noviembre es el Primer Encuentro Internacional de Periodismo Ciudadano en Costa Rica. Es una agenda muy interesante e intensa llena de ponencias y debates.

The first celebration will be on November the 16th. We are calling it Networks and Beers 2.0 and as the name suggests, it is an informal encounter to meet one another and exchange ideas by establishing connection with other people. The next day, on November the 17th is the First International Gathering of Citizen Journalism in Costa Rica. The agenda is really interesting and intense, full of debates and experiences.

Although journalism is still primarily considered a trained profession, there are other alternative activities that can be powered using citizen journalism principles. Journalist and professor Gabriela Mayorga points out her plans and thoughts regarding education and Citizen Journalism on her blog Lo Imaginado [es]:

Tengo planeado un curso de extensión docente en la UCR (Universidad de Costa Rica) para facilitar a profesores el uso de algunas herramientas web para sus lecciones.

I am planning an extension course at the UCR (Universidad de Costa Rica) for professors to promote the use of some web tools for use in their lessons.

Gabriela also makes a little research on Citizen Journalism and finds some good examples on how news coverage can be reached by any one.

Los profesores también están pensando en cómo utilizar los dispositivos móviles que los estudiantes ya llevan con ellos -uso del celular para grabar el audio, o uso de la función de vídeo de una cámara fotográfica digital.

Teachers are also thinking about the utilization of mobile gadgets that students are already carrying with them –cellphones for audio recording, or using the video function of a digital camera.

Modern citizen journalism evokes the engagement of traditional media with networking investigation, which surely may improve, not only the processing of information, but material distribution. By including members of the community through feedback through communication, expectations will grow, but knowledge will also be enriched.

Costa Rica: National Films Gain Positive Reviews

Jenny Cascante — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:36:32 +0000

An interesting, yet important storm of audiovisual productions is shaking Costa Rica’s attentive eager audience this year. Costa Rican bloggers provide their thoughts to the new cinematic offerings.

Miguel Gomez and his film El Cielo Rojo (The Red Sky) debuted at the beginning of August getting favorable reviews from experts and general viewers. Cristian Cambronero of Fusil de Chispas [es] delivers a short, yet detailed review of the premiere of El Cielo Rojo on his blog:

Miguel escribió varios diálogos brillantes, absolutamente creíbles para nosotros, su público meta, los espectadores costarricenses. Yo, y estoy seguro que le pasará a muchísimos de quienes la vean, me reconocí a los 17 años en muchas secuencias, y mi mamá, y a mi abuela, y a las vecinas.

Miguel wrote a brilliant script, absolutely believable for us, his target audience, the Costa Rican viewers. I (for the many others that will see the film) recognized myself at 17 years old in some scenes, and I also recognized my mother, my grandmother and some of my neighbors.

Trailer of El Cielo Rojo

Another director, Isthar Yashin recently contributed to the national cinema with El Camino (The Road) which received important awards and recognition in foreign Film Festivals. Inspired by El Camino’s intended message searching, Sergio Pacheco from La foto salió movida [es] writes:

Siempre me he reconocido migrante en mi propio país. Nací fuera de la capital y desde hace diez años estoy en la urbe (si a San José se le puede catalogar de tal forma). Muchos nos movemos dentro de nuestro país, entre países, entre mundos, entre el mundo, y el común denominador de ese movimiento es la búsqueda. El resultado es para todos diferente y para mí nunca estarán en el paralelo ganar- perder, si no en el de sobrevivir, que es un fluir.

I’ve always felt like a migrant in my own land. I was born in the countryside and ever since ten years ago, I live in this large city (if we can call San Jose as one). Many of us move around inside our country, between countries, between worlds, among the world and the common denominator of this movement is the search. The result is different for all, and for me it will never be about winning-losing, but about surviving, which is always in movement.

Trailer of El Camino

Both Gomez and Yashin, intend to portray cultural and precise characteristics that may be considered as part of the distinct innermost nature not only of Costa Ricans, but all habitants of Central America.

The party is not over. Last week Bisonte Producciones offered a warm invitation in the form of a Two-Day Film Festival that exhibits different short films produced in its majority by students and amateurs whose lives, imagination, and reality have been seduced entirely by the audiovisual production. Latin America has always fostered the development of artistic expressions that expose one of the richest cultures regarding way of thinking, feeling and doing. Without a doubt, this is just the beginning.