Latest posts by Jorge Gobbi
Argentina: Diego Maradona Named New Coach of National Team
Diego Maradona must be the most famous Argentine in the world, and anything that he does usually becomes news. It is even more newsworthy, when he is named the next Coach of the Argentine national football team. Many Argentines are left wondering how the greatest footballer will ensure that the country qualifies for the World Cup 2010.
Argentina: Government Seeks to Nationalize Private Retirement Funds
The government of Argentina recently announced that they would send a proposal to the Congress by which the Pension and Retirement Plan Administration or AFJP in Spanish (also known as mutual funds in the US) would become nationalized. The AFJP privately manages millions of Argentineans' retirement funds, and under the proposal, their funds would now go to the State. Many blogs have commented on the possible changes.
Latin America: Reporting On, Twitter for journalists gets popular
Reporting On, a new micro-blogging tool is getting quite popular among Latin American journalists who are using this tool to let others know what they are writing about.
Argentina: Weblogs Day 2008 in Buenos Aires
The 2008 version of Weblogs Day recently took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This year, topics went beyond the discussion of blogs, and included information about web 2.0 entrepreneurs and other online events. Global Voices Online was also presented by Argentina author Jorge Gobbi.
Argentina: Senate Rejects Tax Hike on Agricultural Exports
The Argentinean Senate recently rejected the proposal to increase taxes on agricultural exports. The poll ended with a tie of 36 votes, and the country's Vicepresident broke the tie with his vote against the retentions. Such decision is a victory for the sectors linked to the so-called “countryside." This continues the internal political crisis of unpredictable consequences for the Kirchner's Government, which still has three more years to govern.
Argentina: The Countryside and Social Conflict
During the last two months, the Argentinean political agenda has been marked by the conflict between the government and “the countryside,” a generic denomination that groups everything from big land owners, to private companies that rent the land for soybean harvesting, to small producers, and rural workers. Blogs on both sides take a stand on the conflict.
Argentina: Economist Blogs and Economy Policy
Economy blogs in Argentina have made a recent splash due to the interest in recent events involving protests and road blockades due to the economic policies of the govenment. Much of this has resulted in the need for better information about the conflict between the countryside and the government, which, according to many, was poorly covered by the media and which was plagued by generalizations.
Argentina: Web Entrepreneurs in Palermo Valley
Web 2.0 entrepreneurs from Argentina gathered in a new Buenos Aires neighborhood called "Palermo Valley." The interest in these gatherings demonstrate that there are many projects in development, as well as many others who want to learn what it takes. These get-togethers attracted attendees who heard about the event through blogs and twitter messages, and also motivated others in Costa Rica and Chile to put on their own events for local entrepreneurs.
Argentina: Direct Taxes and Digital Rights
A new proposal in Argentina sought to add a direct tax to any electronic equipment capable of reproducing digital media, which would seek to offset some of the revenues lost by artists due to piracy. Bloggers in that country mobilized to say that this move would encourage piracy because compensation would have already been paid. It would have also raised the prices of these goods in a country where the prices are already expensive.
Argentina: What the Media Didn't Say About Personal Fest
Personal Fest is a two-day concert held in Buenos Aires and sponsored by a major telecommunications company. During the concert, an incident involving the stabbing of a concertgoer caused a stampede and resulted in many injured. The traditional media failed to cover the incident, and many bloggers picked up the story of the events, as well as the failure to cover the event and the organizers to properly explain what had happened.
Argentina: Kirchner Wins Apathetic Election
Cristina Kirchner, the wife of outgoing Argentina president Nestor Kirchner, captured 45% of the vote in last Sunday's election and avoided a run-off election. However, many bloggers indicate that this was an election that was met with apathy leading up to the vote, but some reacted to the results and some usual problems that take place on election days.
Argentina: Following the Impacts of Mining
The environmental impact of the mining sector is not confined to Argentina. However, Luis Claps is a blogger that closely follows and provides coverage to some of these stories not covered in other media sources. He is also the Spanish editor for a network of websites that follows similar cases all around the world. GV author Jorge Gobbi recently interviewed Claps about the internet coverage of these mining cases.
Blogs and social participation: the coverage of the Neuquen conflict in Argentina
In the last few weeks, a series of protests by teacher unions from the Argentinean Patagonian provinces has been all over the news. In particular, this attention was even bigger after the murder of Carlos Fuentealba, a teacher that participated in a protest on one of the routes by the local police force. The seriousness of the events not only mobilized the traditional media, but also many blogs started to cover the events. An outstanding blog in this coverage is Pensamientos Despeinados [ES]. Ezequiel Apesteguia, one of the collective blog members answered a few questions about this citizen's coverage.
Argentina: Scholar networks, the Web according to professors
One of the most pressing issues of Latin America's education system is the teacher's poor training in the use of new technology, particularly those related to computers and the Internet. It's not uncommon to find cases in which the students know more about PCs than their teachers. So, the creation of Redes Escolares (scholar networks) is quite good news. The site gathers blogs maintained by teachers from Buenos Aires schools, and they're managed with Feevy.
Blogs and Mafalda: The Story of a Commemorative Plaque
On october 30th of 2005, Dario Gallo, chief editor of Noticias magazine, published an entry [ES] with a picture of the entrance door to Quino building near Mafalda‘s home, at Chile 371, in San Telmo, Buenos Aires. Gallo wrote: The funny thing is that neither the City's Government nor its...
Some lessons about blog attacks in the spanish-language blogosphere
Spanish version here: Algunas enseñanzas sobre los ataques a blogs In the last weeks there have been a series of quite similar attacks to popular blogs in Spanish. The series began at the immensely popular Chilean tech blog FayerWayer [ES], which not only was hacked, but also got all of...
The State of the Argentinean Blogosphere: Metroblogs
Este artículo también está disponible en español. Metroblogs are blogs specifically focused on covering activities that take place within a city. In these times, these kind of blogs have sprung up in many places around the world, spreading initiatives and activities that are not frequently covered in other, more consolidated,...
The State of the Argentinean Blogosphere: Blogs About Journalism and the Media
Original version in spanish here To find information about the media is not usually, at least not in Argentina, an easy task. For many particular reasons – economic, political, or pure convenience – there are very few places to find information about facts related to journalistic issues such as dismissals,...
The state of the argentinean blogosphere: Entre Rios
Fourth delivery of entries dedicated to argentinean provinces blogosphere. This time it's turn of Entre Rios, a neighbor of Buenos Aires province. One of the topics we board the most in these reports is knowing if there is a perception of “community” among bloggers that are located within a determined...
Comic Strips and Blogs: Not Everything is Text
Usually, blogs are associated with written text. But for some time now, an interesting transformation is taking place in the blogosphere, and the methods used are more varied. In Argentina, comic strip blogs are becoming more common and many times they're made by people with trajectory in low circulation magazines....
The State of the Argentinean Blogosphere: Tucuman
Original post in Spanish here. Following the notes dedicated to Argentinean provinces, this time we'll talk about Tucuman. In this case, I've had more time to prepare everything and I've also had the invaluable contribution of many bloggers, that have helped me build a wiki of Argentinean blogs, arranged by...
