Can the performing arts promote civic dialogue, social and political change? Yes, they do it but as a process and not as much as an immediate and quantifiable outcome. An example of that is the evolution of Am I Invisible, a project where people from the Austin homeless community has been participating and that led…
Immigrant youth experiences are all different. They vary according to a manifold of individual and structural factors. However, all immigrant youth confront several challenges related to the process of assimilation to a new country. Adjusting to new social norms, incorporating to a new institutional environment, adapting to a new community, and often learning a new…
Among all the metaphors that can be used to understand YouTube, I choose the one of an archive because it allows me to explore the relation between media and memory. As an archive, YouTube is an open and global digital repository of audiovisual records in constant expansion, produced by a range of users and participants…
One of the things that surprised me when I moved to Austin four years ago was that in “the music capital of the world” so little hip hop was performed, heard, and announced in the local venues and media outlets. Although the hip hop movement has been thriving in Austin for decades, it has been…
The sound of the printing press was what at first called my attention. We were walking nearby the Plaza Santo Domingo in Mexico City downtown when a percussive and repetitive noise appeared at the entrance of a little street near the church. We walked closely and entered a pedestrian street called Leandro Valle. As we…
In the digital era, maps are everywhere -from large-scale displays within galleries and museums, to mobile smartphone screens. Not only do maps allow us to navigate the places where we live, they also have great potential as educational tools, especially when learners engage in their creation. Next Monday I will be at SXSWedu moderating a…
Over the last three decades, the rapid development and adoption of digital technology infrastructures, tools, and practices, has given rise to a new communication environment that is more interactive, networked, and participatory. This environment has become a central force driving political, cultural, educational, and economic transformations in contemporary societies, especially the post-industrial and advanced capitalist…