Stories about Brazil from April, 2011
Brazil: School Bullying and the Realengo Massacre
On 7 April 2011, twelve adolescents at the Tasso da Silveira City School in the west of Rio de Janeiro were shot dead. The culprit was ex-pupil, Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23, who then turned the gun on himself. The growing speculation about the killer’s profile, in both the blogosphere and traditional media, raised the issue of bullying in Brazilian society.
Peru: Hydroelectric Projects in the Amazon Under Discussion Again
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested the suspension of Brazil's Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, reopening the debate in Peru on similar projects and their impact on the Peruvian Amazon communities. In Peru, the most publicized hydroelectric megaprojects are the Inambari and Pakitzapango centrals, included in the Peru-Brazil Energy Agreement signed last year.
Brazil: An e-Book to Understand Social Media
“Aiming to stimulate discussion and sharing of best practices related to the universe of social networks”, Brazilian journalist Ana Brambilla has launched the e-book “Para Entender as Mídias Sociais” (To...
Brazil: LGBT Scene Under Discussion
With recent legal advances and a proposed bill that criminalises homophobia in the Brazilian Senate, cases of violence against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) groups and expressions of prejudice and heterosexism have come under focus. The online arena has been used to expose many reflections on the right to sexual orientation in the country.
Brazil: Friends and Advocates of a Street Full of Trees
The Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho‘s blog (Friends of Gonçalo Carvalho Street) [pt] explains how a group of people in Porto Alegre, Brazil, mobilized an advocacy campaign against the...
Brazil: Satire of Middle Class Problems
The satirical blog Classe Média Sofre (Middle Class Suffers) [pt], takes advantage of humour to expose the complaints of Brazilian middle class cybernauts about minor problems via social media. It...
Brazil/Japan: Bridge Blogging Post-Earthquake News
“I read a post from a japanese blogger, I found it truly interesting and I decided to translate part of it”, said [pt] Satou Mihoko, who has decided to bridge...
Brazil: The Biggest Brazilian Newspaper Violates Labour Rights
The biggest Brazilian newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, violates labour rights for its journalists, says [pt] Altamiro Borges in his blog. Borges enumerates some of the “failures“: besides not having...
Brazil: Reading Habits and Cultural Roots
Journalist and blogger Marcos Bahé criticizes [pt] a statement made by Luciano Siqueira, a State Deputy of the Communist Party, who said that Brazilians don't read much because of oral...
Brazil: The Wikicity of Porto Alegre
PortoAlegre.cc [pt] is a platform for “understanding, debating, inspiring and transforming [Porto Alegre]” based on the concept of Wikicity. The platform was designed in the Brazilian university Vale do Rio...
Brazil: Mapping a Traditional Music Instrument Online
Rabeca.org is an online project that aims to gather and present information about the Brazilian rabeca and Guanari rawé in a map with audio recordings, photos, texts and videos. The...
Brazil: Was the shooting of Ricardo Gama politically motivated?
Controversial Brazilian blogger Ricardo Gama was shot in Rio de Janeiro on the March 24. Gama, a "forceful critic" of political power and police in Rio has already left the hospital and promises that his blog "won't change".
Brazil: Blood appeal for the victims of school shooting rampage
Bloggers support blood appeal to help the victims of the shooting rampage inside a school in Realengo, Rio de Janeiro, that echoed the Columbine High School massacre. Luiz Felipe Vasques...
Brazil: Making the web accessible to the hearing impaired
Leonardo Leite, on the blog Stoa, writes [pt] about Poli-Libras – a software developped in the University of Sao Paulo that translates contextualized sentences in Portuguese language to 3D graphics...