Queer Chicanisma Online

Digital Media & Learning Competition

2008-09-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!
It has been over a year since my last entry. In an effort to get back into blogging I would like to forward the following press release for the Digital Media & Learning Competition issued by HASTAC.

MACARTHUR'S $2 MILLION DIGITAL MEDIA AND LEARNING COMPETITION FOCUSES ON PARTICIPATORY LEARNING, GOES INTERNATIONAL

Chicago, IL (August 18, 2008) – The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine, Duke University and the virtual network HASTAC, announced today a second annual open-call competition that will provide $2 million in awards to innovators shaping the field of digital media and learning. The Digital Media and Learning Competition, supported through a grant to the University of California, Irvine and administered by HASTAC, has been expanded to pilot international submissions and introduce a new category focusing on young innovators aged 18-25.

"Digital media are helping to make the world smaller, spread ideas, and encourage collaboration across borders and among people who otherwise might not have an opportunity to work together," said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. "To ensure support for the freshest thinking and most innovative applications of digital media to learning, we have expanded this year's competition to include international submissions and ideas from young people, who are often the pioneers of the digital space."

Awards will be given in two categories:

Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards will support projects that demonstrate new modes of participatory learning, in which people take part in virtual communities, share ideas, comment on one another's projects, and advance goals together. Successful projects will promote participatory learning in a variety of environments: through the creation of new digital tools, modification of existing ones, or use of digital media in some other novel way. Submissions will be accepted from applicants in Canada, People's Republic of China, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, countries in which HASTAC or MacArthur have significant experience. Winners will receive between $30,000 and $250,000.
Young Innovator Awards are designed to encourage young people aged 18-25 to think boldly about "what comes next" in participatory learning and to contribute to making it happen. Winners will receive funding to do an internship with a sponsor organization to help bring their most visionary ideas from the "garage" stage to implementation. For this competition cycle, submissions will only be accepted from applicants in the United States. Winners will receive between $5,000 and $30,000.

This year's competition will include an online forum where applicants can post their ideas, solicit feedback, offer their services, and connect with other applicants and potential collaborators. All material posted to this "Digital Media and Learning Scratchpad" is publicly accessible. Participation is voluntary and not required for application.

"Participatory learning allows people to work together online toward some collective purpose, sharing knowledge, insights, and expertise, and most important, learning together," said Cathy N. Davidson, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor at Duke University and HASTAC co-founder.

The open competition will be administered by the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC), which was founded and is primarily operated at two university centers, the University of California Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine and the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. Applications will be judged by an expert panel of scholars, educators, entrepreneurs, journalists, and other digital media specialists.

"With the digital media and learning initiative, the MacArthur Foundation is playing a leading role in reshaping both institutional and informal learning practices," said David Theo Goldberg, HASTAC co-founder and director of the University of California's Humanities Research Institute. "Traditional learning practices are being supplemented and supplanted by new digital media, which both enable and extend their reach through virtual institutions like HASTAC. This is a natural partnership."

Competition winners will join an existing community of 17 awardees from last year, including a mobile musical laboratory, a digital humanitarian assistance game derived from existing military simulation technology, and a mobile phone project hat connects young African social entepreneurs with young North American professionals. Winners also will be invited to showcase their work at a conference that will include venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, educators and new media experts seeking the best ideas about digital participatory learning.

Applications are due Oct. 15, 2008 and winners will be publicly announced in April 2009. Detailed information on the competition is available online at www.dmlcompetition.net.

###

About the MacArthur Foundation: The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. MacArthur's $50 million digital media and learning initiative seeks to help determine how digital media are changing how young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. More information is available at www.macfound.org or www.digitallearning.macfound.org.

About HASTAC: A consortium of humanists, artists, scientists, social scientists and engineers from universities and other civic institutions across the U.S. and internationally, HASTAC is committed to new forms of collaboration for thinking, teaching, and research across communities and disciplines fostered by creative uses of technology. More information is available at www.hastac.org.

Press contacts:
MacArthur Foundation: Jen Humke, (312) 726-8000
HASTAC: Mandy Dailey, (919) 681-8897

For Those of You Who Love Books

2007-06-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

As I transition from completing my M.A. to beginning my PhD, I am very excited about a new online tool that has already made my life so much easier. (Thanks silly for letting me know about it). This website, LibraryThing, lets you list/categorize ALL your books and is very user-friendly. You can search books by title, author, ISBN, LC card number, etc and their database even includes book covers.

Here is a link to my page so you can see an example:
http://www.librarything.com/profile/imillan

Oh, you can also find folks who have the same books as you and join groups.
Hope this helps,
Isabel

A Wiki Para Nosotras

2007-01-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

As part of one of my Independent Studies courses last semester, I created a wiki site I would like to share with all of you. Fyi, a wiki is a website maintained and edited by its own community members, such as Wikipedia.org. Of course, my wiki is microscopic compared to Wikipedia, but that is where all of you come in... Since it is a community wiki for LGBTIAQueer Chicanas, Latinas, y Indigenas, I would like to invite all of you to become a part of this project. Right now it is set up as a Glossary of Critical Key Terms; feel free to contribute to the terms already listed, or to add your own.

So where is this wiki?
I created my wiki through pbwiki (they call themselves the Peanut Butter Wikisite because creating your own wiki is as easy as making yourself a peanut butter sandwich!).
Click here or on the image below to visit my wiki:

Enjoy! ;)

South Park Isabel! :)

2006-10-28T01:43:00.000-07:00

On my quest to find an avatar that looked like the real me, I was introduced to a South Park avatar website! (thanks silly) Hmm, didn’t know what to expect but in the end...I’m quite happy with the new me. ;) What do you think? Looks just like me! Lol Well... it looks more like me compared to my previous attempt (see blog entry from April 5, 06). And for those of you who would also like to be represented as a south park character, click here.

Chicanas & the Internet at MALCS

2006-10-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

I must say I was very excited that this years MALCS at UCSC included workshops on the internet! (fyi, MALCS stands for Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social and their official website is www.malcs.net).

I attended a workshop titled "10 Reasons for Chicana Academics to Love the 'Net." The facilitators, Susana Gallardo and Daneane Gallardo, did a really good job at introducing some major concepts and tools. And they even put it all up on a website: http://tenthings.malcs.net/

Aside from this workshop, the facilitators held another that let mujeres create their own websites. Although I did not attend I am sure this was an amazing experience for the mujeres that did. You can view these as well as steps to create your own website at http://www.malcs.net/tutorials/website.htm .

Oh, I almost forgot...MALCS also recently created a blog: http://malcs.net/blog/

Can't live without the Interent? Read on...

2006-06-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

Do you like being online? Do you believe that the internet should be accessible to everyone? Do you think its wrong to regulate internet usage and website speeds based on who can and cannot pay for them?

If you’ve answered YES to these questions then you should be for NET NEUTRALITY!

What exactly is net neutrality?

It refers to the belief that Internet users should be able to access whatever content they want. Without it larger websites that can afford to pay the extra fees would get prioritized. Net neutrality is especially important because it protects smaller websites, including independent media. It is also what makes many online services free or low cost. (example: www.craigslist.org)

Who is against net neutrality?

Big corporations such as telephone and cable companies who would benefit from charging the extra fees.

Why is it important to act now?

THIS Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee will vote on net neutrality! We need them to vote in favor of it by voting for the Snowe-Dorgan amendment.

I really liked this quote I found online which summed it up like this:

“If you want the Internet to remain a force for innovation and free speech, urge our Senators not to sell off cyberspace to special interests.” --From the Common Cause Blog

What can you do to help net neutrality?

All you got to do is call the senators and say:

“I would like to urge Senator _____ to vote in support of the Snowe-Dorgan net neutrality amendment (S.2917) to the Stevens bill.”

Just like that.

Or you can just say:

“Please tell Senator ______ to vote for net neutrality.”

Go to http://www.commoncause.org/CallForNetNeutrality for a list of the committee members and their phone numbers. [Note: Senators with an * by their names are on our side (pro net neutrality)]

You can also read this article by craigslist founder in support of net neutrality:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/09/newmark.internet/index.html

If the Internet is good for anything...

2006-05-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

its a good tool for exposing ourselves to all the injustices around us--locally and globally. For those of you who are not familiar with the current "dirty" war in Atenco, Mexico, please read, reflect, distribute, and act...

First off, I would like to begin this blog by asking what is: the "State?" "Hegemony?" "Autonomy?"

The first word can refer to a government, such as the United States government or the Mexican government. "Hegemony" means power. "Autonomy" generally means when you break away from the State and begin to govern yourself.

Why might groups/people/communities want to do this?

Generally, because the State is imposing rules that go against the group/people/community's beliefs and ways of life. Many times these groups/people/communities are also seen by the State as dispensable and are marginalized as "lower class citizens."

Few groups/people/communities have been successful in gaining autonomy. This is because the "State" does not want to give up its power.

As punishment for trying to gain autonomy, the "State" will use whatever tactics necessary to get their power back over the land/people it thinks it should rule.

These tactics include the raping of women, detaining political activists, having people "disappear." This is currently occurring in the town of San Salvador, Atenco in Mexico and is UNACCEPTABLE!

This is how it begins:

Wednesday, May 3, 2006: "State police try to violently drive out flower farmers who are trying to sell their flowers in the street. The community resists the attack and the ensuing confrontation results in over 100 arrests, various people suffering from bullet wounds, and the death of a minor. Police forces establish "control" over the community." (taken from the website below)

For the latest news on this visit:
http://mexico.indymedia.org/tiki-index.php?page=AtencoNews

The women who have been abused and are currently being detained by the Mexican government have come together and produced the following document of their experiences. Please read and distribute widely: (note: the content is both horrific and graphic)

------------------------------------------------------

San Salvador Atenco: Letter of Women Political Prisoners

Santiaguito, Almoloya, May 12, 2006

To the population in general:

We women, workers of the country and city, housewives, students, etc.; political prisoners since the 3rd and 4th of May of the current year, are enraged by the formal indictment handed down on May 10th. Not only were we insulted, humiliated, beaten, tortured, sexually abused, and raped, but now we are also prisoners and delinquents. We have lived with repression, not only in social struggle, but also in a particular way as women, because if it's true that the men were beaten the hardest, we were attacked sexually and raped.

We were submitted to every type of repression during our detention, first with insults like ''you are a bitch,'' ''goddamn fucking bitch,'' ''we're going to rape you like the bitch that you are,'' etc.; and then, not content to beat us, for some, unconscious, they threatened to kill or disappear us, even to torture us into giving names and information of our families with the threat to kill them, too.

Nothing can heal us of the sexual abuse and rape we suffered; we were touched, pinched, kicked, hit with fists, batons, and shields on our breasts, buttocks, and genitals. While they continued threatening us we were bitten on the breasts, nipples, ears, lips, tongue, etc.; some of us were penetrated with fingers and objects, some were forced to perform oral sex, all of this while they made fun of us as women.

In addition to being subjected to this abuse, we continue to be victims of medical negligence. Some of us should have been bandaged and cured since the day we arrived, some of us have vaginal infections, others infections in our wounds, others of us can't even sit down because of the blows we received, and despite all this we continue in hunger strike, because we will not take one step back in this struggle, because we want justice for all, for everyone, because if we must fight from this prison that is what we will do.

We continue to stand in struggle!
We demand our liberation!
We demand justice for the physical and sexual abuse and rape!
May no one be indifferent to the pain that we have lived!
Free political prisoners!

Sincerely,
The women political prisoners, below and to the left, standing in struggle

Translated from Spanish by El Kilombo Intergalactico

-----------------------------------------------------

Avatars... Who are they trying to fool?

2006-04-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

Pienso que...these avatars have come a long way but still have an even longer ways to go if they want to really capture a virtual image of who we, with all our multiplicities, are. What about queer bodies? Differently abled bodies? Differently sized and shaped bodies?

Why must all "women" wear make-up? And why can't any of the "men" wear skirts? Why are our constructions of gender and sex so limited?

And the list goes on...

Of all the "options" from Yahoo, this image to the right is about as close to "me" as I can get--and its not very close since I look nothing like this.

Presentation on Cyberspace

2006-04-04T03:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 1, 2006 I presented at the National Association for Ethnic Studies conference in San Francisco.
The title of my talk: Cyber Sexualities: Queer Chicanas/Latinas and Lesbian Mexicanas Online.
Research Question(s):
-What is currently being theorized about cyberspace? How is this scholarship relevant to social justice and cultural productions? And why is this scholarship necessary?
-How are communities of Queer Chicanas/Latinas and Lesbian Mexicanas utilizing cyberspace?
For my analysis I looked at two websites, www.marchalesbica.org.mx and www.almalopez.net.
Overall it went well, especially considering it was my first time presenting on this content. I am always looking for constructive criticism and/or someone who shares my research interests. Send me an email if you would like to see my powerpoint in its entirety.

Here I go...de nuevo

2006-01-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

I am (re)writing my first blog again because someone attached spam as a comment to my original post! That said, I will use this blog as a way to think aloud about cyberspace, the internet, and online communications/communities. Why? Because I am so interested in these topics that I have decided to write my Masters thesis on them!

So first, I would like to encourge all of you who are still using Internet Explorer to switch over to Firefox. It is an open source (meaning it is constantly being publically edited and is not coorporately owned so you don't have to worry about unwanted popups, etc.)

For more info about Firefox and other open sources you can do a little research on Wikepidia, another open source (this one is an online encyclopedia).