Page 32 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

32journalist writes her story, and emails it to the IT building, where a web developer, usually a man, makes sure the story gets online. What happens with this is that the woman journalist who wrote the story in rst place loses contact with her audience and is unable to track outcomes or follow analytics, a badly needed skill nowadays. The same used to happen in newsrooms where I used to work such as The Guardian, where the male developers greatly outnumber women, something along the lines of 90%–10% at the best. This is an issue that I deeply believe needs to be addressed as in order to be powerful and have a voice online, motivating culture exchange and democracy, we need to be able to hear all voices, have a real diversity both in newsrooms as well as in technology, as this is the way we communicate and operate today and forever.Chicas Poderosas sets out to address the lack of female voices in the digital world, equipping them with technological tools to give them a say and boost their careers.As I write this, sitting in La Paz, together with Professor Robert Hernandez and Teresa Bouza, I am teaching a group of 60 women journalists, most of them community communicators, from the rural areas of Bolivia how to use Twitter, have an email account, use WhatsApp, YouTube, WordPress, Snapchat, Periscopic etc. Theywere using only voice recorders – as radio isthe main communication tool, due to the lackof connectivity in some remote areas – andwe are teaching them how to use optionsof connectivity such as FireChat8 to remain connected with each other. This is a huge shift in culture exchange and maintenance of their heritage, as they are the ones keeping their dialects alive and making sure future generations to come will have access to and be able tolearn from what they are recording. So these technological tools enabling them to have a blog, share their news on Facebook or engage with communities around the world via Twitter, areof extreme importance. One of our attendees has a Facebook page only in Aymara,9 a native language, so as to keep the culture alive.Chicas Poderosas have been trying to doexactly this: give voice to women journalists in newsrooms by providing them with technology training and mentorship and empowering them with leadership skills, so as to motivate them to believe in themselves and take a stand, let their entrepreneurial spirit ourish and foster change. Due to cultural heritage, I feel that we [women] need to be told that we can, and to be allowed to make it happen. That’s the role of Chicas Poderosas: while using my professional network, we are empowering other women from all across Latina America and soon from the whole world as we move into a global reach with partnerslike the International Center For Journalists, United Nations, United Airlines, Open Society Foundation and so on.Chicas Poderosas10 is bringing women to the forefront of digital journalism. The Chicas initiative is helping women take on leadership roles in their newsrooms, start their own independent platforms and projects, advance their career trajectories and generate timely news stories using open data. The goal: to increase the diversity of voices and encourage women to become news media leaders and entrepreneurs.The Chicas Poderosas movement empowers Latina women journalists to play more signi cant roles in the media industry, giving them the tools and support they need to take leadership positions. Through mentoring from leading media innovators, Chicas Poderosas members learn to work in multidisciplinary teams of journalists, developers and designers, and to develop thematic digital stories that resonate with audiences.THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON CULTURAL CREATION · MARIANA MOURA SANTOSSmart Culture: Impact of the Internet on Artistic Creation