HablaCentro.com is a center of citizen news hubs in Central America
HablaCentro is a “regional pulse meter,” a collection of citizen news hubs where local communities can share news and discussions in Spanish using cellphones. Hubs consist of an editor, community organizer, and technologist, maintaining the hub, editing and training contributors to increase participation and ownership by the local community.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Kara
Last Name
Andrade
Website
Organization
HablaCentro
Country
Guatemala
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
HablaCentro
Organization Website
Organization Phone
510-384-0788
Organization Address
La Antigua, Guatemala
Organization Country
Guatemala
Your idea
Name Your Project
HablaCentro.com is a center of citizen news hubs in Central America
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
HablaCentro is a “regional pulse meter,” a collection of citizen news hubs where local communities can share news and discussions in Spanish using cellphones. Hubs consist of an editor, community organizer, and technologist, maintaining the hub, editing and training contributors to increase participation and ownership by the local community.
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Non-profit
Country your work focuses on
Guatemala
What will be the impact of your idea?
In Central America there are about 35 million cell phone users. A 1999 report by Pyramid Research states the number of mobile phones in the region grew more than 180 percent, going from 443 thousand units to 1.2 million. Within this context, HablaCentro was formed as a collection of citizen news hubs in Central America, where the local communities can share their news, opinions and discuss in Spanish and with the means available to them – computer, email and text messaging. A team consisting of community organizers, editors, designers and technologists, support these hubs with tools and develop tutorials in Spanish to increate participation and ownership of the hubs by the local community. Currently there are five live hubs – Honduras, Guatemala, Venezuela, El Salvador and Costa Rica. Each of the hubs reflects the national and regional interests of the hubs, with cross-national discussions. HablaCentro acts as a distributed 'hyperlocal' online news community in regions where there's nothing in between bloggers and professional journalists. The structure grew from HablaHonduras - created on June 28– in order to provide an alternative news outlet during the seizure of state.
Who will help you develop your idea? Why are you the one to make this happen?
Our team is the one to make it happen because we believe strongly that Latin America needs to join the online conversation and we have the knowledge and "ganas" to do it.
Manuel Maqueda is the director for the Americas of PeriodismoCiudadano.com, a leading news source on citizen journalism, and the founder of Nuestra Voz, a nonprofit organization. He organized the First Congress on Citizen Journalism in Central America and is on the advisory boards of Knight-funded project Spot.US and is an advisor to CircLabs.
Iria Puyosa Master in Social Communication, PhD in public policy in higher education (University of Michigan). Consultant on social uses of ICTs for NGOs, local governments and educational institutions, as project director in FormaComuna. Faculty member at the Universidad Central de Venezuela & the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello; leads the research line on Digital Democracy in the Public Sphere Mediated.
Brad Eller is a graphic designer with 5 years of agency experience, a BFA in sculpture and quick hands from years of DJ’ing. He likes bright lights and backlit displays and would rather see his work lit up on screen than printed on paper.
How much will it cost to launch your idea? (This can be an estimate)
$20,000
This Entry is about (Issues)
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| HablaHonduras_closeup.png | 504.34 KB |
| HablaGuateCloseup.png | 481.62 KB |
| HablaElSalvador.png | 274.78 KB |
| HablaVenezuela.png | 284.31 KB |
| HableCostaRica.png | 492.08 KB |
 | 174 weeks ago a. b said: Please explain why your idea/project, is suited/perfect to using... 'media' ...to bring about A BETTER "WORLD"...the entire ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 174 weeks ago David Cohn said: I'm bias because I know the people involved in this organization. But that also gives me the insight to know that, as they say, they ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 174 weeks ago Kara Andrade updated this Competition Entry. |
| 174 weeks ago Kara Andrade updated this Competition Entry. |
| 174 weeks ago Kara Andrade submitted this idea. |
