Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

Despite all the talk that globalization has made the world smaller, keeping in contact with loved ones who live in another country can still be challenging.

That is especially true when your family lives in a developing country, such as Ecuador, where Internet use isn’t as prevalent as it is in the US.

According to Supertel, a telecom supervisory body, only 12.3 percent of Ecuadorians had Internet at home at the end of 2008. This means most people don’t have access to video chat programs such as Skype, where they could see their families face-to-face.

Alicia Craven, 26, of Oregon taught English in Cuenca, Ecuador in 2007-2008. She said she noticed that Internet ownership “was very low” in Ecuadorian homes. Internet cafes, instead, were the norm.

“Though most places had Skype, the video cameras weren’t as prevalent,” she said. Also, Internet cafes present privacy issues if you try to have a meaningful conversation.

“There’s a certain degree of awkwardness since you are surrounded by other strangers, and you’re not in a booth,” Craven pointed out.

Visits back to the homeland are often not a possibility for those immigrants who are in the US illegally or for those waiting to get their paperwork in order, as the US imposes travel restrictions on green card applicants. In addition, the cost of travel is another problem. Due to these reasons many families must go for a decade or longer without seeing each other.

This is where video conferencing comes into play, such as the service offered by Austro Financial Services in Jackson Heights in Queens. Manager Diego Pinto said some 200-250 families and individuals now use the six-year-old technology service per month. Out of South Americans, the service is so far available only for Ecuadorians.

Many people like video conferencing because of its obvious benefits: it is fast, easy and more personal than a phone call. The recipients don’t have to own a computer –they just need to go to one of Banco del Austro’s operating locations in Ecuador. Unlike with Skype, you can see the whole conference room at the same time, and can squeeze even 10-20 people in the room.

Pinto said that Mother’s Day is an especially popular day for conference calls, one that sometimes includes even mariachi bands playing in the rooms.

The calls aren’t cheap at $1.25 per minute on weekdays, and $1.50 on Sundays, but neither is the technology that makes them happen. According to Pinto, the camera costs about $5,000-6,000, and the plasma TV another $1,000-2,000.

The usage costs are also pricey for the company, as the system needs to function in two countries.  “You have to pay the system here and there,” Pinto said. The customers, though, only pay in the New York end.

Despite the price of the calls, the service keeps getting more popular among Ecuadorian families, many of whom return every month.

“It’s a very beautiful experience,” said Ecuadorian immigrant Jose Flores, whose family recently used the service for the first time to talk to their relatives back in Cañar, Ecuador.

“It’s especially beautiful for the family that’s in Ecuador,” he said.

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Alana Rigal contributed to the reporting of the article. Video by Alana Rigal and Mirva Lempiäinen.

Here is a radio piece I did about detention centers. They are jail-like places were people are put when they come to the US and announce that they want to apply for asylum. One can also end up there if you are an undocumented immigrant, or a green card holder who has been convicted of a crime. They are essentially deportation centers, and in many of those detention centers the detainees are treated worse than inmates in jails are. A total of 68 people have died in detention since 2004.

One such case is that of HIV-positive 23-year-old Victor Arellano, who died last year when he was held in detention and was denied proper medical treatment.

Hiu Lui Ng is another person that died in detention, earlier this year. He complained about backpain for months but didn’t get to see a doctor until his spine had fractured and he couldn’t walk anymore. He died of cancer at the age of 34.

Listen to the piece to find out more about detention centers. You can also go to the Detention Watch Network website or watch the movie The Visitor. It’s a great movie, I really recommend it.

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This article from the Times last week, about European immigrants in Williamsburg reminded me of when I lived there last summer. I had just moved from California and was fascinated by the changing demographics, especially what appeared to be a hipster tidal wave. One personal experience helped me understand things.

As I jumped into a cab, a neighbor yelled, “Why are you so WHITE?”  While he was probably referring to my bright white Nike shirt—I had just come back from a run—he was also dropping an overt hint about the new Williamsburg immigrants—the youth, the white, the Hipsters.  Surely I didn’t fit the hillbilly hip dress (I had my iPod strapped to the bicep and was rocking New Balances) but I did share a skin pigment and a sub-30 age with many of the other new residents.  An old-timer, a vestige of Italian Williamsburg, this guy managed to say with a smile what I have felt since I had moved to this part of the City–The young and hip don’t always blend well with existing residents.

My assignment was to go to strip clubs and ask the dancers what they thought about the presidential election. Seriously.

Turns out that most of the clubs on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens (my beat) are actually bailarina bars–Latino clubs where women dance with you for cash. Only a couple are strip joints, so I shifted my focus.

Many of the men at these bars are immigrants who moved to New York without their wives or girlfriends. They’re lonely, looking for attention.

Once a good song comes on, a guy will ask a woman to dance. The girl keeps track of how many they dance together and when he decides to stop she’ll charge him $2 per song. Its a modern version of taxi dancing.

New York Magazine must have heard about my story and they decided to write a long piece on bailarina bars in this week’s issue. So, I won’t write too much more.

You might enjoy reading my notes from the night (even though their quality indicates why I didn’t land the New York gig). I was typing them on my Blackberry–it blended in more than some guy writing on a note pad. Here’s what I saw (unedited):

La escuelita-bar on Roosevelt
Five girls in one corner of the dance floor.
Like a high school dance.  Or cotillion with thumping music.
Ladies selling long stem roses, bucket of Coronas.
Fast twirling on dance floor La cumbia, regeton
One girl leg up on table.
Shifts to guys grinding, can’t dance.
One guy has bought a full bouquet of roses.
Bent over.
Drunk stumbles into table.
Classical guitars.
Everyone breaks out on the floor.
Transaction atmosphere, girls using cell phones like they’re bored, waiting for someone to ask them to dance.
$2 per song, she keeps track.
Autoparts shirt and work boots.
Woman in fishnet shirt, butt hanging out.
La machata – what I danced
[I later figured out this is la bachata, although I definitely couldn't do it like these guys]