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Discussion about Digital Rights?
tettner

During the 2nd day of the "Digital Natives with a Cause?" workshop in Santiago, we had a bar camp and Andres Azpura proposed talking about digital rights. I joined the conversation a bit late, but I was able to learn a lot about how Luis Carlos and Roberto from Peru, Joan from the Dominican Republic and Brendon from Trinidad and Tobago see questions about digital rights.

What was most interesting to me was the lack of conversation on the modern state. I think that whenever one enters into a discussion about rights, the concept of the state must be talked about. Rights, after all, exist only in the discourse of states, they are recognized by states and safeguarded by states. I talked a bit about this with Brendon more on the connection between rights and justice. For some reason, our conversation centered around ISPs, private corporations, and companies. And I am not too sure corporations formally recognize or even care about rights.

Private corporations have...

Fear of the natural learning: digital immigrants
FernandaTusa

 

-Does one plus one equal two?-asked the professor Walter Temporelli.

With him, I had my first class about theories of education.

His favorite topic: constructivism, which “suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their experiences. Constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches that promote active learning, or learning by doing.” (Wikipedia)

One plus one is not always equal two.

Constructivism focuses on the learning process rather than final results.

This is almost similar to the Socratic Method (doing it yourself.)

Then, when I worked with digital immigrants in Catalonia, Spain, I understood that the differences between natives and immigrants were principally concentrated in the learning styles.

How we learn as digital natives?

Digital Immigrants learned by mean of behaviorism...

On the road to the interface (Digital Natives Santiago - Day One)
Estefania_Salazar

Have you seen a group around Chile that speaks many languages, carry laptops and can be "traced" thanks to the Internet? That´s us, the 25 participants of the "Digital Natives with a Cause?" Workshop.

In the few hours spent since the formal beginning, with some surprises already down the road. While individually speaking with other three participants (our first appointed task), I find out that Kara Andrade (participant, journalist from Guatemala) and I formerly worked in the same initiative: HablaVenezuela.com, a citizen journalism website which is part of the HablaGuate network (led by Kara). We did not know this before coming to Santiago. Both Juan Guerrero (República Dominicana) and Diego Gómez (Colombia) know people both on and offline that are acquaintances of mine.

Their experiences are different, but keywords such as human stories collaboration, networking and corporate honesty came up in that first conversation. For example, Juan and I discussed -in a...

Three questions for social change(rs)
Estefania_Salazar

Right now, different groups from the workshop are tackling three questions posed by the day´s first presentator, Juan Manuel Casanueva (Mexico) which -he suggests- every person interested in social change should ask about themselves.

1. Why do you work for/in social change?
2. What is incidence (influence)?

Through conversation, six of the participants (from Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica and Venezuela), along their facilitator (Pedro Markun, from Brazil) came up with several conclusions related to the questions.

The participants´ personal experiences with Latin America´s inequalities are a main factor in their personal motivations in their work in social change. "We cannot stand aside and do nothing", said Diego Fino (Colombia).

"But would you work in change if there inequalities (or the reason you´re working for) did not exist?", commented Pedro Markun. "If it makes you happy, first and foremostly, you should not quit your activity,...

Synonyms for Change
BrendonOBrien

It's amazing how much one word can actually say.

Our first mission on Day 1 was to use one word to describe ourselves and the reason why we do the work that we do. After we find our own word, we were asked to pair off and find other words that match well with ours, and talk to the people who wrote them.

Usually, describing myself is pretty hard, but I know what I do and why I do it; my word was rights. Human rights, civil rights, legal rights...rights. And I knew that there would be people who used digital technology for the same reason - to rally together those who have similar concerns about their rights and the rights of others in their countries, and to arm them with the knowledge and tools necessary to defend those rights. And I was absolutely right.

Karl Jean-Jeune's word was the first to get my attention - justice. I make a beeline in his direction and ask him about the injustices that he fights for in his country of Haiti....

cyberfears: the end of internet
jencg

No, it is not the title of a Hitchock movie. Not a new pop song either. I am talking here about one of those fears of mine, an anxiety that was not with me while I was growing up. As a child, my fears would resume in ghosts and leprechauns.  But now, as an adult, I worry about losing something that I am so used to and that, by the way, I am totally in love with.  The fear of losing a tool, an instrument, a communication channel.

How would the world change without internet? Could its disappearing be compared to the books burning that we have seen in the past? Are we ready to continue our lives without internet?

My main fear refers to the lose of information. I don't believe there are enough backups in the world to keep all the data that we can reach thanks to the internet .  Also, the communication process could be affected; so many people are using internet as their main channel for...

Raising Awareness: meaning and method
mar.zavala

What does "Raising Awareness" mean?

-Making people notice things
-Making people happier by making them notice things and thus making them commit to something
-Planting an idea in people's heads and leading them to an "awakening"
-Making people understand that they need to stand up for something
-Sharing passion: showing people why you're passionate about something and why you think they should be passionate too

*Knowledge is not the same thing as Awareness. Awareness is the next step, it's what makes you take action, because you can relate to the situation, it is significant to you.*

How do you raise awareness?

-Document what you do. It not only serves as back-up, but it also advertises what you do.
-Showing people what's wrong
-Document what's going on. You will get feedback, and feedback will lead to a better insight.
-Citizen journalism is a good method to raise awareness, regular people relate better with...

The Language of Digital Activists
BrendonOBrien

Activism is a difficult sort of outreach; there are multiple types of target audiences that are drastically different, and all need to be touched by the same story or idea. Often times, it is even more difficult because the people to be reached comprise of those with authority, who are on the opposing end of those with the desire for change. This creates a very dynamic kind of activist - someone who is capable of navigating those different group by crafting special approaches for each group while engaging with them all physically.

But does the digital activist have the same skill?

Activism through social media and other web-based tools are the product of a necessity to reach and mobilize a large amount of persons quickly and easily, which is something we see now that the internet does best. However, those messages don't change from computer to computer. The student and single mother, politician and preacher all see the same thing.

While face-to-face...