María Álvarez Malvido, member of REDES A.C. and Colmena’s Methodologies Coordinator, and Santiago García Gago, Project Manager at DW Akademie and Colmena’s Technologies Coordinator, participated in the session. In a journey through the beginnings of Colmena, both presented the possibilities of the tool, the steps in the accompaniment of the media and the co-creation process behind the software.

“We made a diagnosis with several community media, and they all told us that the greatest difficulty in the context of the pandemic was that they needed many tools to communicate. The request then was to simplify this process and achieve a secure, private space in which everything could be done, such as recording, editing, and writing, and in contexts of low connectivity,”

said García, referring to the beginnings of Colmena.

The potential of the application, such as the fact that it works without a regular Internet connection and that it can be easily translated into other languages, makes it easier for more media to create content for their regions without depending on external factors such as accessibility and connectivity.

Community communication plays an important role in the development of the most vulnerable social groups without access to large media outlets. Colmena free software is changing the current digital environment and makes community communication easier and more inclusive.

“We are already seeing Colmena, as a collaborative place, from different territories that have put their hearts, minds and all their commitment to think about this space for meeting and content exchange”,

commented Álvarez, when explaining the participative and collaborative process carried out by the media to develop Colmena.

Regarding the media’s topics of interest, “they are very varied, such as gender issues in community contexts, issues of territorial defense, climate change (…) But, in the end, there is something in common, which is the excitement generated by this process as a space for meeting and sharing among collaborators,” added the Methodologies Coordinator.

This cycle of talks is an initiative of the Colombian project Trayectorias 2022 – Radio Expansiva, run by the Audiovisual, Film and Interactive Media Department of the Colombian Ministry of Culture, in alliance with the film promotion fund Proimágenes and operated by Vokaribe radio station. Along with Colmena, nine other experiences in Latin America will be presented during October and November.

More information on the series of conferences can be found here (only in Spanish).