You might have seen our announcements that we're renaming the newsletter with a community contest – today is the very last day (want to participate? quick! check it out here!) … So keep watch for our new name, to be decided very soon… thanks to all who participated!
What we've been doing
During the past two weeks Rising Voices was been a part of the Beyond Access regional meeting in Medellín, presenting how citizen media can help promote cultural identity (vis a vis languages) in community libraries. Check out their website to learn more about all the things that their affiliate libraries are working on around the world…
From the Blog
Collaborative Map Registers Mexico's Disappeared – A group of citizens have set out to map the 27,000 people reported missing as a result of Mexico's “drug war”. So far 6,890 cases have been mapped since the project was launched in July 2013.
These ruins from an earthquake in Tangshan, China, were identified as a national monument. More in the WikiLovesMonuments article. Photo by Tiansworldathere
Wikimonuments: Cultural Heritage, Your Choice! What would you identify as your local monument? Wikimedia Commons’ annual photo competition WikiLovesMonuments has come up with some surprising answers and some incredible pictures, allowing community members to identify and share online what – to them – is really monumental.
Chicas Poderosas In Bogotá: Inspiring Change in the Newsroom – Chicas Poderosas, an organization founded by Mariana Santos to inspire innovation in the newsroom via technology, hosted its third event in Bogotá, Colombia from September 11-13. The three-day meetup culminated in a Hackathon led by Mozilla and featured lectures on content creation, data visualization, and much more.
Aboriginal Australians Create Online Hand Sign Dictionary – Iltyem-Iltyem, meaning “signaling with hands” in the Anmatyerr language, is a women-led project collecting hundreds of videos from four Aboriginal communities, documenting sign language which has been used for generations to communicate across distances, when someone else is talking, or in secret
Mapping for Niger – The Mapping for Niger project is one of this year's micrograntees working with geography students in Niamey, Niger, to map and document public resources with Open Street Map. Despite monsoons, electricity outages, and holidays, the project is excited to be getting off the ground.
Learning
The 3rd edition of the UT Knight Center's MOOC on infographics and data visualisation is now open for registration. The MOOC will focus on how to work with graphics to communicate and analyze data. Previous experience in information graphics and visualization is not needed; participants will acquire enough skills to start producing compelling, simple infographics almost immediately http://bit.ly/15kv57k
The Ti Tree participants of the Iltyem-Iltyem Hand Signs project. More in the Aboriginal Hands Signs article.
How journalists can use Storyful MultiSearch, an open source tool which enables journalists to search multiple social media platforms in one go http://bit.ly/18prFgt
The Geojournalism Handbook is a free, online guide to mapping and visualization technologies. It explains environmental data such as satellite imagery and even shows you how to build your own balloon to take aerial pictures http://bit.ly/16weGXj
The Journalist Survival Guide is now available: 12 short videos and tutorials in English and Arabic, designed to primarily aid journalists and activists working in war zones and conflict areas, but also includes tips on digital security and covering your tracks http://ow.ly/pjRiY
In the News
Boukary Konate, who ran one of Rising Voices’ micrograntee projects last year, worked on a project for electoral innovation in Mali: citizen-driven monitoring online, helping to give increased information on the electoral process to the media http://bit.ly/1aNACWz
For the last 18 months in South Jakarta, a new project is developing – RuaiSMS, a non-profit citizen journalist news service for local residents. Approximately 200 people in several districts have been trained to send reports to RuaiSMS, and most are farmers http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/09/19/in-west-kalimantan-citizen-journalists-get-their-say.html …
A post about photoblog Everyday Africa made the NY Times Lens blog about how their work is helping to change the way Africa is represented: “It’s just people as they are, and I think that’s the way people should be seen, wherever they come from. Not idealized, not debased, but just people” http://nyti.ms/19WCeZA
Inuit Broadcasting Corp. teams up with other Inuit organisations for the future Nunavut Media Arts Centre in Iqaluit http://bit.ly/15Fy70V
The Nairobi mall attack has inspired two new online tools for emergencies from Ushahidi, to help families check in with each other in case of emergency, and to organise blood donations http://bit.ly/19PWDP5
Coming soon! Join the Mozilla team at Mozilla Fest in London, Oct 25 to 27. They say its “an annual gathering of passionate thinkers and inventors from around the world who meet to learn from each other and help forge the future of the web” http://mozillafestival.org/
Opportunities
Why does culture matter? How does it matter? What role does culture play in our lives, as individuals, and as members of a community? The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture is hosting a “why culture” video competition, deadline Nov. 22 http://ow.ly/p3aAD
A chance for young voices to have their say against poverty – The eudevdays video contest ‘Young voices against poverty’ encourages children and young adults aged between 13 and 24 to make their voices heard in the dialogue on addressing global poverty. The task is to create a short video that showcases visions for the world in 2030 and ideas for eliminating poverty. Deadline 1 Nov http://bit.ly/1fgjd8d
