About five years ago, when I was doing fieldwork in Bolivia, there were only a handful Bolivian bloggers. That number has since expanded to include hundreds, and is rapidly expanding today.
Today, Bolivians blog in Spanish, English, Aymara, and a number of other languages (depending on where they live). And Bolivian bloggers aren’t only from the “upper class” (a common misconception). Few Bolivians have home internet access. But many thousands log onto the internet regularly from “cyber cafés”—from the crowded urban centers to rural, out of the way places.
In August 2007, Eddie Ávila (of Barrio Flores, one of the pioneer Bolivian bloggers) launched a small grass roots project tied to the Harvard-based Global Voices project. The goal: Train a new generation of Bolivian bloggers, focusing on marginalized sectors. Currently, there are three group blogs (in addition to the hundreds of individual blogs): El Alto I, El Alto II, and Santa Cruz (in the Plan Tres Mil neighborhood). Check out their YouTube channel.
Now, Voces Bolivianas is expanding w/ the project: Voces Bolivianas en Tu Comunidad. The new goal is to reach every corner of Bolivia, w/ its “internet literacy” program. It’s going to be an exciting year!
