- Global Voices - https://globalvoices.org -

Blog Carnival: Colombia, Women and the Web – A Summary

Categories: Latin America, Colombia, Citizen Media, Technology, Women & Gender, Announcements

There seems to be a concern among Colombian women about defending their rights and about increasing the number of women who can use the Internet and new media to express themselves and take advantage of the benefits this medium offers, like other women do in other countries. This is evident after going over 21 posts submitted for the first blog carnival organized by Global Voices in Spanish: Blog Carnival: Colombia, women on the net [es] [1].

What is a blog carnival [2]? It is a virtual event where a host, Global Voices in Spanish in this case, calls on other blogs to write about a specific topic. The carnival tends to last for a determined length of time, and once it is over, a post summarizing the participation is published.

[3]

Young women participating in a digital inclusion workshop in Medellín, Colombia.

Let's begin the journey through these blogs with Kathy Gámez who, from Santa Marta, [4] publishes the blog Lo que no voy a callar (What I Won’t be Silent About), and presents the post, Y tu mujer?? como usas el internet?? [es] [5], (And You Woman?? How Are Do You Use the Internet?) where she gives us her personal view on  Colombian women and the Internet. She points out a few advantages and disadvantages about the use of the Internet, but also mentions that women are now “taken into account, so let’s give ourselves the opportunity to offer something else, something many will remember, this is an invitation to make good use of the Internet, in my network, in your network, in our network..” she also says:

… internet en nuestras vidas juega un papel muy importante sobre todo para las mujeres que trabajamos y que no podemos dejar nuestras obligaciones laborales para ejecutar determinada actividad, hoy en dia nuestras vidas se ven resueltas y pueden girar en torno al sin numero de aplicaciones web de diferentes entidades que nos permiten movernos en este mundo virtual sin necesidad de dejar tirado lo que estamos haciendo en nuestro mundo real, podemos pagar nuestras cuentas, enviar cartas, comunicados, actualizar informacion, enviar hojas de vida, asistir a conferencias e incluso vigilar lo que sucede en nuestras casas mientras no estamos presentes. Lastimosamente y por el poco apoyo de las entidades gubernamentales de algunos paises, por escaces de recursos o por la poca formacion o sensibilizacion acerca del adecuado uso que podemos darle a esta herramienta solo algunas tenemos la posibilidad de acceder a este mundo 2.0.

…the Internet in our lives plays a very important role, especially for women who work and can’t abandon our job obligations to engage in other activities, nowadays our lives are resolved and can revolve around the numberless web applications from different entities that allow us to move around this virtual world without having to discard what we are doing in our real world, because we can pay bills, send letters, memos, update information, send resumes, attend conferences and even keep an eye on what happens in our home while we are not there. Unfortunately and because of the little support from government entities in some countries, because of a lack of resources or because of little education or sensitivity about the adequate way we can use this tool, only a few of us have the possibility to access this 2.0 world.

In the blog Opinopongo, Mrs. Colombia, from a place “close to the city of the wind” in The United States, participates with the post Bloggueras con impedimentos [es] [6] (Women Bloggers with Impediments) where she compares the Colombian Internet with other realities in other places, and despite the differences points out that “there is no valid motive for Colombian women to not contribute more posts on the web.” Nevertheless, she is aware of reality:

Colombia: un país en el que el treinta y ocho por ciento de la población tiene acceso a internet, el tercer lugar en penetración en América Latina después de Brasil y Argentina. Nada mal para un país que lucha diariamente con problemas mucho más graves que darle acceso a la red a todos sus habitantes. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las mujeres colombianas aún no han logrado adoptar este medio como una forma de expresarse a sí mismas o de luchar por sus derechos y sus ideales. … Colombia es un país, en el cual no sólo es el acceso físico a la red, sino más que todo la sociedad la que regula lo que escribes, cómo escribes y para quien escribes. Especialmente en el caso de las bloggueras, la sociedad es un impedimento real para decir a calzón quitao lo que se piensa de un tema en particular.

Colombia: a country where thirty eight percent of the population has access to the internet, the third place in penetration from Latin America after Brazil and Argentina. Not bad for a place that fights daily with problems a lot more serious than giving web access to all its citizens. However, the majority of Colombian women have not been able to adopt this medium as a way to express themselves or fight for their ideals…Colombia is a country, in which not only physical access to the web, but most of all society regulates what you write, how you write and for whom you write. Especially in the case of female bloggers, society is a real impediment to boldly say what one thinks about a particular issue.

Self-enforced impediments, among other things, is what the young Lina Marcías talks about in her blog Angelesituango's blog, from the small city of Ituango [7]. She published the post La mujer en la red [es] [8] (Women on the Net) where she says:

(las) mujeres aceptan y son testigos del avance tecnológico, pero se inhiben a participar de él, poniendo como escusa su edad, diciendo que la internet y otros adelantos son hechos para los jóvenes. Pero “como todos no pensamos igual”, son muchas otras las mujeres que se atreven a hacer parte del desarrollo tecnológico, sin importar su edad, descubren las infinitas posibilidades que la red ofrece: saber de sus viejos amigos, investigar, jugar… otras se proponen cambiar los estereotipos que hay de la mujer, hacer respetar sus derechos, reclamar por sus violaciones, formando en la red una comunidad de apoyo hacia la mujer, causa a la que muchos hombres se le unen.

Women accept and are witnesses to technological advances, but they inhibit themselves from participating in it, putting their age as an excuse, saying that the Internet and other technologies are made for young people. But since “we don’t all think alike,” there are other women who dare to take part in this technological development, despite their age, and discover the infinite possibilities the web has to offer: learn about old friends, research, play… others aim to change stereotypes about women, have their rights respected, complain about violations, forming a community of support in the web for women, a cause which many men also join.

And speaking of men, a gentleman from Bogotá [9], Luis Angel Pérez, through his post Mujeres conectadas [es] [10] (Connnected Women) from his blog El blog de Luis gives us the names of various women who presently lead in the fields of Free Software, and Free Culture in Colombia, and not only that, also [talks about] their growing presence in the expression of various opinions through blogs and Twitter. This is what he says:

Tomo como base lo que al principio fué el FISOL (Festival de Instalación de Software Libre), cuando asistí a este evento por primera vez en 2003 todos eran hombres, en la logística y como instaladores. Hoy la situación es muy distinta. Las mujeres han liderado en los últimos años el capítulo del FLISOL (Festival Latinoamericano de Instalación de Software Libre) en Colombia un evento internacional desde el aspecto organizacional y también en la creación de proyectos y productos relacionados al software libre. Desmintiendo con hechos el mito de que la informática era un campo exclusivo para los hombres nerd.

I base [my argument] on what once was FISOL (Festival of Free Software Installation), when I attended this event for the first time in 2003 there were all men in attendance, in logistics as well as in the installation. Today this is very different. Women have led in the last years in the chapter of FLISOL (Latin American Festival of Free Software Installation) in Colombia it is an international event from its organizational aspect as well as the creation of projects and products related to free software. Denying the myth that IT is a field exclusively for nerdy men.

Acting as a testimony to this, madame web from the blog La lógica de mi papa (My Father’s Logic), from Pasto [11], asks ¿La Mujer y la Red? [es] [12] (Women and the Web?) where she considers her recent experience at Campus Party [13] and poders:

Este año asistieron mas mujeres que en versiones anteriores, pero ¿a que se debe que no haya una igualdad en la asistencia? acaso las conferencias, talleres y concursos que se desarrollan en Corferias durante estos días no son lo suficientemente atractivos para las mujeres?. Seria muy atrevido generalizar y decir que todas las mujeres tienen acceso a un computador, mas aun cuando yo trabajo en un proyecto de Inclusión Digital en la zona rural y se que no es así. Si, Internet te acerca a todo, pero también te aleja de la realidad.

This year more women attended than in previous versions, but what is the reason for a lack of equal attendance? Are the conferences, workshops and courses that are developed in Corferias during those days not attractive enough for women? It would be very bold to generalize and say that all women have access to a computer, even more when I work in a Digital Inclusion project in a rural area so I know that is not the case. Yes, the Internet brings you closer to everything, but it also alienates you from reality.

Reality is something that Maria Eugenia Alonso, from Bogotá but living in Cali [14], takes into consideration in her blog La Mariposa (The Butterfly) and asks ¿Por qué creé un blog? [es] [15] (Why did I Create a Blog?). This introspection leads her to remember some criticism she got for blogging, in the sense that she was doing it because she had nothing better to do, to which she answers enumerating all of her domestic duties as a woman, wife and mother, and also adds:

ahh… fuera de eso me queda tiempo para tomar fotos, encontrar gente que hace 40 años no veo y hacer dibujos en computador para un proyecto. Dios si eso es no tener qué hacer y es tanta mi depresión que tengo que llenar mis vacíos con el blog y estar 24 horas frente al pc sin ningún objetivo, entonces sí es pérdida de tiempo, pero si me sirve para salir de mi supuesta depresión y ayudo a mi vejez porque no tengo que tomar ativan, ni bon sleep, ni valeriana para conciliar el sueño, ayudo con mis sugerencias y comentarios… Entonces NO es pérdida de tiempo.

Ahh…apart from that I have time to take pictures, find people I haven’t seen in 40 years and make drawings on my computer for a project. God if that is not having anything to do and my depression is so bad that I have to fill my free time with a blog and spend 24 hours in front of the PC without an objective, then it is a waste of time, but if it helps me get out of my supposed depression and help my old age because I don’t have to take ativan, or bon sleep, or valeriana to fall asleep, I help [others] with my suggestions and commentaries…So it is NOT a waste of time.
[16]

Citizen Journalism workshop, Medellín.

And Entre nosotras… ¿para qué sirve la red? [es] [17] (Between us…What is the Web Good For?) is the question with a double meaning that Sonia.Ro asks in her blog Hazlo poco pero bueno (Do it a little bit but do it well). She not only takes on the Internet, but also talks about society to reveal the “supposed advances” of women in modern times. But despite the criticism she has towards the position of women in society, she thinks the Internet is good for something that is very important to women: communicate.

Contándonos historias tejemos nuevas redes, de confidencias, de afectos, de ayudas, de intercambios, de generosidades. Y entre las historias que nos contamos, vemos que vivimos lo mismo, en nuestros hogares, nuestras escuelas, nuestro barrio, nuestras ciudades. Y que los problemas que tenemos no son sólo de nuestra comunidad, no es el profesor del colegio, o el pastor de nuestra iglesia, o el alcalde de nuestra ciudad. Porque del otro lado del mundo sucede igual, y nos llegan las mismas historias. Y si sucede igual allá, entonces el problema debe ser más grande, su raíz más profunda… Por eso creo en la red que conecta.

Telling each other stories we weave new webs, of confidences, of affection, of help, of exchanges and generosity. And among the stories we tell each other, we see that we have lived through the same, in our homes, our schools, our neighborhoods, our cities. And that the problems that we have are not only from our community, it’s not the school teacher, or the priest from our church, or the mayor of our city. Because on the other side of the world the same thing happens, and we get the same stories. And if the same thing happens there, then the problem must be bigger, its root cause deeper…That is why I think the web connects.

Andrea Juliana Enciso who blogs in Anotaciones para solitarios profesionales :escritos (Annotations for lonely professionals: writings) is also critical in her post with a long title, No me compres una olla a presión cuando sea grande: los susurros femeninos en los blogs en la democracia del simulacro de internet [es] [18], (Don’t Buy Me a Pressure Cooker When I’m Older: the Feminine Whispers in Blogs in the Democracy of the Simulation of the Internet) she thinks about female readers, as well as writers, wondering what has changed and whether new technologies are being used to stall progress, but at the end shows some hope:

No me quejo de internet, creo que la mayor parte de mi tiempo estoy conectada, pero creo que el asunto no es solo el espacio abierto de lo otro, es también, pensar como esos otros que no están en la vitrina de la buena simulación, son válidos como lecturas posibles más allá de lo freak o lo especial, en que irónicamente lo común- los trece kilos de sobrepeso, el hombre que no supera los 1.70, la mujer que pelea todos los días con su armario- puede ser un lugar seductor en estás épocas de tantos disfraces y exceso de representación.

I’m not complaining about the Internet, I think that I spend most of my time online, but I think that the issue is not only the space it opens about other people, but also, thinking about how those who are not in the spotlight, are valid as readings that go beyond what is weird or special, where ironically the ordinary –the thirteen kilos of extra weight, the man that is not taller that 1.70 [m], the woman that fights every day with her closet—can be a seductive place in this era of so much disguising and excessive presentation.

Representations and stereotypes is precisely what Johanna writes about on her blog Licuc in the post La princesa rosada que olía a fresas [es] [19] (The Pink Princess that Smelled like Strawberries) where she appeals to sarcasm to describe a certain type of woman that, “accesses technology because it’s fashionable, not because of necessity”:

No le interesa tener un blog, ni cuenta en Twitter. El tiempo que gastaría averiguándolo preferiría invertirlo depilándose o en cualquier otro tratamiento de belleza. En su mundo la etiqueta multitarea se aplica a leer una revista de farándula mientras le arreglan las uñas, no a recibir correos electrónicos al tiempo que habla por teléfono.

She doesn’t care about having a blog, or a Twitter account. The time she would spend finding out about it she would rather spend waxing or getting any other beauty treatment. In her world the multitasking label applies to reading a gossip magazine while she does her nails, not to receiving emails and talking on the phone at the same time.

In this similar mood we find the post Reinas como hormigas [es] [20] (Queens like Ants) that Maria Paz Ruiz published on her blog Compota de historias (Story Composte) and that she submitted for the blog carnival. Overall, the subject of gender has been a popular focus for the carnival. For example Juliana Rincón fron the blog MedeaMaterial offers the post Mujer en la Red: ¿género? [es] [21] (Woman on the Web: Gender?) where she tells us how gender is something that can’t be ignored on the web, but that it is not the only thing that defines us as a person:

Porque de la misma manera como nos define ser mujer, también nos define nuestra edad, dónde vivimos, cómo nos vemos, cómo nos expresamos, el vocabulario que usamos, nuestros referentes culturales. Ésas son las cosas que van armando el avatar que nos representa en la red, esa idea nebulosa que quienes me leen se hacen a través de la distancia, de donde agarran pedacitos de cada post o de frases y arman una imagen de cómo debo ser según lo que escribo.

Because in the same way we are defined by being a woman, we are also defined by our age, where we live, how we look, how we express ourselves, the vocabulary we use, our cultural references. Those are the things that make up the avatar that represents us on the web, that nebulous idea that those who read what I write do so through the distance, where they can grab small pieces of each post or phrase to construct an image of who I must be depending on what I write.

Catalina Urquijo from Medellín [22]provides a similar approach to the issue, and from her blog $ujetate (Unknown II) [es] [23] publishes the post Mujeres en la red ¿Un espejo de nuestra realidad? [es] [24] (Women on the Web: A Mirror of our Reality?) where, among other things, she tells us:

esta red no es más que un pequeño reflejo de las muchas cosas que ocurren en nuestra realidad, acá también hay machismo, prostitución [25],anorexia, bulimia [26]… Pero, afortunadamente, esto es solo una parte de la realidad, pues en esta red colombiana existen muchas mujeres que con un buen uso de estas herramientas ayudan a eliminar muchos estereotipos, y ejemplos de ellas (que) hay por todos lados … nos permiten afirmar sin temor a equivocarnos que esta red, desde el lado del prisma en que se le mire/use, ha permitido mostrar también esa otra cara de la realidad, esa dónde la mujer también busca sus oportunidades, un mejor futuro, igualdad, defender sus derechos, eliminar estereotipos ó simplemente interactuar y compartir con otros sus ideas, como el ser pensante que es.

The web is no more than a small reflection of what happens in our reality, here [ìn the web] there is also sexism, prostitution [es] [25], anorexia [es] [26], bulimia [es] [26]…But, fortunately, this is only part of reality, because on the Colombian web there are a lot of women who with the good use of these tools can get rid of a lot of stereotypes, and examples of these women are everywhere…they let us affirm without the fear of being wrong that this web, from either the side of the prism that it is looked at, has allowed us to show another face of reality, where women also seek for opportunities, a better future, equality, defending their rights, eliminating stereotypes or simply interacting and sharing with others their ideas, like the intelligent being that she is.

Cristina Parra Lozano also shows optimism and hope in the post MUJER COLOMBIANA: La red es nuestra [es] [27] (COLOMBIAN WOMAN: The Web is Ours) from her blog Pensando sin Efectos Secundarios (Thinking Without Side Effects). She explains what being a Colombian woman on the web should mean, but above all she thinks that:

No es simplemente el que participemos mayor número de mujeres en muchos espacios. Es que legitimemos el estar en estos espacios nombrándonos y autoreconociéndonos en nuestras diferencias. Vá más allá de espacios dedicados a nosotras,o exclusivos para hablar de temas femeninos. Reconocernos pasa por saber cómo nos estamos involucrando en los procesos y qué tanta visibilidad le estamos dando a los temas donde somos las mujeres las más vulneradas como en el caso de las víctimas de la guerra, o donde somos las mujeres quienes damos ejemplo, o quienes mostramos nuevas formas de colaborar, de ayudar, de trabajar… de construir.

[The issue] is not simply that a greater number of women participate in a lot of spaces. It is that we legitimize being in those spaces naming ourselves and getting to know ourselves in our differences. It goes beyond the spaces dedicated to us, or exclusively made to discuss female issues. To recognize who we are means knowing how we are getting involved in the process and how much visibility we are giving to the issues where women are the most vulnerable like in the case of war victims, or where we are the ones who give the example, or who show new ways of collaborating, helping, working…or creating.
[28]

During a workshop for young women in Medellín.

Inspired on an advertisement she heard on the radio, Cristina Mazo makes a short but interesting reflection on how women are being represented on the web in the post La mujer y sus dos caras en la web [es] [29] (Women and Their Two Sides on the Web) in her blog Pensando el Mundo (Thinking the World)

Las mujeres en la red son una ambivalencia, quienes sólo buscan lo superficial de ellas o las que sólo quieren mostrar su lado meramente sexual tienen su espacio y para aquellos y aquellas quienes se quieren instruir, conocer y vivir experiencias únicas donde sólo las mujeres son la principal fuente del conocimiento, la mayor inspiración para tan bellos poemas, cuadros y demás maravillas que se hacen en honor a la mujer, para todos ellos y ellas que buscan en la mujer la mayor fuente de deseo está la WEB.

Women on the web are an ambivalence, those only looking for the superficial in them or those who only want to show their sexual side have their space and for those looking to learn, get to know and live unique experiences where only women are the main source of knowledge, the greatest inspiration for such beautiful poems, paintings and other wonders that are made in honor of women, to all those who seek in women the greatest source of desire there is the WEB.

And Darío Gómez also explores the subject of ambivalence and of multiple functions with the poem Mujer, ¿Cuál es tu red? [es] [30] (Woman, What is Your Web?) in his blog Con la pata al suelo (With the Foot on the Ground) from which we select this small part:

Exhuberante mujer vestida con prenda de malla para atraer
Tímida mujer con el pelo recogido en redecilla para llorar
Mujer, ¿Cuál es tu red?

Exhuberant woman dressed with that net to attract
Shy woman with your hair in a net to cry
Woman, What is your web?

From multiple functions to multiple personalities there could only be one step. Manuela Londoño Hurtado, also known as “MALHU -y su parche” (MALHU –and her friends) offers a humurous post for the carnival, Monólogo a cuatro manos (no es que seamos mancas, es que solo tecleamos con una [es] [31]) (Monologue by four hands (not because we are one-armed, it’s just that we type with one [hand]) where she says:

Que no tenemos que saber de ingeniería avanzada para manejar un blog
Que somos tan buenas (y mas) manejando estos aparatos tecleados
que no consideramos esto una pérdida de tiempo
Que escribimos mejor de lo que cocinamos

That we don’t have to know advanced engineering to handle a blog
That we are as good (and better) handling those keyboards
That we don’t consider this to be a waste of time
That we write better than we cook.

And now moving on to more specific cases of women on the web, we have the parcicipation of Astrid Uribe who on the post La mujer y su conexión con el mundo a través de la web [es] [32] (Women and Their Connexion to the World Through the Web) from her blog astriduribe, sees libraries as important promoters of access to new technologies:

vemos que aún hay muchas personas, entre ellas, una considerable cantidad de mujeres que no tienen conocimiento frente a estas herramientas y se están perdiendo de grandes oportunidades que allí se ofrecen; y aunque hayan en el momento grandes esfuerzos por parte de algunas organizaciones, colectivos de mujeres, redes de personas, entidades gubernamentales, entre otras, para mejorar esta situación, se debe pensar en un trabajo más elaborado si bien por todas estas organizaciones, redes, entidades y demás, con las instituciones educativas, más específicamente con las bibliotecas.

We see that there are still a lot of people, among them, a considerable amount of women who don’t have the knowledge about these tools and that are losing great opportunities that are offered there, and even though at the time there are great efforts from some organizations, women groups, networks of people, government entities, among others, to improve this situation, they must think about a more elaborate effort by all these organizations, networks, entities etc., with educational intuitions, more specifically with libraries.

Yesenia Corrales in her blog Yeskenia shares the post Mujer rural: “Desafìo del herramientas de campo, un hecho que marca la historia en la tecnologìa” [es] [33] (Rural Women “The Challenge of Tools of the Countryside, a Fact that Marks the History of Technology”) where she tells us about Susana’s experience, from the “vereda ‘San José de la Montaña'” from the township of San Cristóbal (Medellín, Colombia), an active member of the Women’s group “Siempre vivas” (Always Alive):

La vida campesina cambia y el rol de la mujer en éstos escenarios se vuelve importante porque hay toma de decisiones propias … se vuelven negociadoras pues el choque de las actividades del campo, con la dinámica de ciudad exige que aprendan y que tengan conocimientos básicos en la áreas de: emprendimiento, administraciòn y contabilidad. Cuando la mujer rural enfrenta estos cambios, enfrenta también una realidad que es inherente a los ojos: “La tecnología”, ¿còmo entra la tecnologìa en la dinámica de ruralidad?

Life in the countryside changes and the role of women in these scenarios becomes important because they involve women making decisions… they become negotiators because the crash between countryside activities, with the dynamic of the city requires that they learn and have basic knowledge in the areas of: entrepreneurship, management and accounting. When the rural woman faces these changes, she also faces a reality that is visually inherent: “technology” , how does technology enter into the dynamic of a rural life?

But we also received first-hand testimonies, like one from Johanna Reyes from Red Mujeres Ciudadanas (Network of Citizen Women) and WiKiCiudadanía, who on the post Mujeres hiperconectadas y visibles [es] [34] (Hyper-connected and Visible Women) summarizes the projects she works on:

Durante 2008 y 2009 creamos dos proyectos importantes en la Web que visibilizan el rol y los proyectos liderados por mujeres, aprovechando el potencial de las redes sociales, creando recursos, aportando ideas y opiniones, haciendo valer el ingenio y creatividad en temas sobre comunicación participativa, e-democracia, periodismo digital y uso de la tecnología para la transparencia de lo público: 1. La iniciativa -Yo Cuido mi Voto- [35] y 2. WIkiCiudanía [36], el proyecto bandera de la Red Mujeres Ciudadanas.

During 2008 and 2009 we created two important projects on the web which visualize the role and the projects led by women, taking advantage of the potential of social networks, creating resources, contributing ideas and opinions, asserting ingenuity and creativity in subjects about participative communication, e-democracy, digial journalism and the use of technology for transparency: 1. The inciative Yo Cuido mi Voto (I Take Care of My Vote) [es]- [35] and 2. WIkiCiudanía [es] [36], the main project from the Network of Citizen Women

We could call the blog Mi Bypass Gástrico (My Gastric Bypass) by  María Fernanda Quintero a personal crusade, where she tells “my story, of a person with morbid obisity in Colombia, to make it simpler, it is the story of a human being rejected by society because of her weight. I know it sounds dramatic, but only those who have gone through these trials with excesive weight know what I’m talking about.” For our carnival, María Fernanda wrote the post Un testimonio, un beneficio para todos [es] [37] (A testimony, a benefit for everyone):

En dos años y medio de compartir este espacio, no solo se han abierto lazos de amistad, sino que he logrado interactuar con pacientes que ya cuentan con mas de 5 años de experiencia … me he dado cuenta que el 85 % de mis lectores son mujeres, que encuentran en el blog la manera mas sencilla de expresar sus temores y complejos … No tengo el numero exacto de a cuantas personas o de a cuantas mujeres les ha sido nfo la nformación del blog, las estadísticas solo sirven para medir el trafico, no para medir el impacto de mi testimonio en la comunidad … de las mujeres colombianas que gracias a este humilde espacio tomaron la decisión de seguir adelante en su lucha por una vida digna llena de sueños.

In two years and a half sharing this space, I have not only created bonds of friendship, but I’ve also managed to interact with patients that have more than 5 years of experience… I have noticed that 85% of my readers are women, who find in the blog a simple way to express their fears and complexes… I don’t have the exact number of how many people or how many women have benefited from the information of the blog, statistics are only good for measuring traffic, not measuring the impact a testimony has on a community… of the Colombian women who thanks to this humble space made decisions to move forward in their fight for a worthy life full of dreams.

I will finish the journey through these blogs with the post G [es] [38] from the blog loquera. It is about a man and technology isn’t mentioned, but it is a daughter writing about her father in a blog. Reading what she says and the way she says it touched me. It is an excellent example of how a woman can express herself on the web.

[39]

Young women in a digital photography workshop in Medellín.

The images from this post come from Flickr account Mujeres e Inclusión Digital [es] [40] (Women and Digital Inclusion), as part of a project [es] [41] with the same name that our GV author [42]Cati Restrepo [es] [43], is working on in Medellín, Colombia, with the support from the Mayor's office from that city. Cati won the competition Mujer Talento [es] [44] (Women and Talent) last year, and she has been a great help with this blog carnival.

And finally, we are very thankful to all those who participated, maybe taking time off from other activities to do so; also to those who supported us in spreading the carnival, of whom I especially remember Equinoxio [es] [45]CCeN [es] [46] and La Verdadera Vida de Un Gerente [es] [47] and the Twitter users who re-Tweeted [es] [48] our call. Thank you all! But I also thank in advance all those who have the time to read this post and enjoy a series of very diverse but high-quality blogs.  I encourage a trip through all of them, a great sample of the Colombian blogosphere that might be going unnoticed by many. See you in the next carnival in August!

This post translated by Silvia Viñas