For several years I was unaware of “educomunicacion” (in Spanish), a rich tradition and diverse movement of media literacy education that originated in Latin America in the 20th century and that continues to resonate today through the projects of many grassroots communities, social organizations, and the work of researchers and media educators (“educomunicadores“) in countries…
Blogging is one of the media practices and socio-technical systems that has made the world wide web what it is today. As a practice it has democratized writing, editing, and publishing at a scale that can be compared to the printed press. As a system, it has created a powerful infrastructure for creating, consuming, and…
Last November I was invited to participate in the conference “Cultura Social Media 2020” organized by the Escuela de Comunicaciones y Periodismo de la Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, in Chile, and delivered, via Zoom, a keynote about youth and digital citizenship. Moreover, I had the opportunity to join Sonia Livingstone in a discussion about how to bring…
Among all the variety of cumbias that have traveled across the Americas, the Cumbia Sabanera is one of my favorites. Its tempo, cadence, instruments, and lyrics are deeply connected to the culture of the Colombian Caribbean savanna and are powerful expressions of the sensibility of indigenous and mestizo peoples living in these extensive and warm…
The relationship between youth and digital technology has been at the center of the public discourse about digital culture, education and socialization in the last two decades. From the myth of the digital native to the alarms about cyber-bullying to the promotion of ed-tech and the debates about children digital rights young people have been…
Big data about individuals and populations is one of the most important resources we have today for understanding our societies, and for communicating and taking decisions. The pandemic we are confronting has confirmed that fact. Data visualizations about the exponential spread of the virus (“the curve”) in cities, countries and the world have been used…
The pandemic and the global public health crisis have proven the resilience and adaptability of the Internet and the ecosystem of digital platforms. Social networks, cloud services, streaming video, music and game platforms, and a wide variety of mobile applications have successfully supported the growth in user demand and services around the world. With millions…