The Sweet Blue Bird of Immediacy / Rebeca Monzo

Sprinkled with enthusiasm and soaked in technology, from early this morning, despite the inclement weather, bloggers, alternative journalists, twitterers, as well as the usual comrades from State Security who don’t come inside but who watch over us from the sidewalk in front and both corners, we arrived at the familiar site of Estado de Sats. This three-day festival is sponsored by Estado de Sats, the Blogger Academy, and EBE of Spain.

With wide coverage by the international press: the BBC from London, Reuters and AP, the main room and the surrounding areas were packed with an audience that came from different provinces, despite the well-known transportation problems made worse by the weather. Starting at 9:00 in the morning, the presentation and detailing of the program: Background on similar events in Cuba and other countries, as well as the multimedia presentation by Mr. José Luis Antúnez (EBE).

Then, with a brief presentation by each of the members of the first panel, Yoani Sánchez, Eliécer Avila, Pastor Mario Barroso and myself, where each of us told of our experiences using Twitter, the challenges of brevity and the immediacy of the message, and how the use of this tool has influenced our lives.

At 1:30 in the middle of the day there was a break to raid the fridge, take group photos and have a short rest.

Right now the discussion is about a future bill of rights for Cuban internauts and the panel includes lawyers and the blogger Regina Coyula. They are also addressing the theme of digital publications in Cuba today, with regards to scope and limits.

Tomorrow, June 22, at the same time, the Festival will continue, and at 8:30 in the evening the BBC documentary “How Did Facebook Change the Arab World?” will be shown.

June 21 2012