coffeefactory

Participate in the first Summer Media School in Lisbon from September 21-30

Spock — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:09:00 +02:00

Youth Press Portugal invites cafebabel.com journalists to participate in the Summer Media School in Lisbon from September 21-30 2008.

During eight days 40 young Media makers will work in one of four workshops: television, radio, photography or printed media. You’ll indulge in a rich learning environment and a fun experience, all run by young people for young people.

Enjoy the exchange of knowledge and cultures, while relaying on team work. On your four last days, you will be working online on your final project, which will call for your creativity. Don’t worry, there is still time for party!

Send your application until the 2nd of August to sms_portugal2008@sapo.pt When? 21-30 of September 2008 Where? Lisbon, Portugal

Requirements:

18-25 years
Active in Media:
Students of Journalism or Communication Freelancers or already working in the field in part- ore full-time
Already have participated in an international event
Countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Romania, Germany, France, UK, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Hungary, Malta and Bulgaria (*)

Participation fee is 250 € Travel costs, accommodation, meals and working material are covered by the organizers

(*) If you are coming from another country and are willing to participate, send us an e-mail: sms_portugal2008@sapo.pt

In partnership with:

cafebabel.com journalist nominated for the first European Parliament Prize for Journalism

Spock — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:54:00 +02:00

The European Parliament is debuting a Prize for Journalism in 2008. It will be given to journalists who have dealt with major issues at a European level or have promoted a better understanding of the EU institutions and/ or EU policies.

There will be four different categories for the prize: written press, radio, TV and internet. Irish journalist Angela Steen has been nominated for her article ‘Åland - a land neither Finnish nor Swedish’ published on cafebabel.com.

Please click here to read her article!

We wish her good luck!

From Strasbourg to Lisbon: what happened to the European public opinion?

Alberti — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:19:00 +02:00

These are the questions asked by the activists working everyday to build through this magazine a genuine European public opinion. We decided to share these concerns with all the readers of cafebabel.com. We launch today a consultation on the future of cafebabel.com and on the future of the association Babel International. Speak your mind! For Europe, Strasbourg is a symbol. A symbol of both hatred and friendship between France and Germany, a symbol of the European movement, a symbol of the money wasted by the European Union as the most extravagant of its three parliamentary locations. Since 2001, Strasbourg has also become the symbol of another Europe born from the ideas, energy and the work of a handful of Erasmus students who gave birth to the magazine you are reading: cafebabel.com.

Though there are issues seemingly imbedded in the lives of all Europeans – the Euro, Maastricht and the European Council but to name a few examples – the ability to look at the phenomenon-Europe without the distorted lens of national perspectives remains an obtainable goal. No "European media" could balance the growing European political power, no effective pan-European political party was active in European institutions and the social movements of Europe were denied access to a legal status of "European association".

Cafebabel.com seeks to break the barriers to achieve these goals down as they are not mere intellectual speculations but tools to achieve political goals. Europe is seen as the solution, to better solve our problems, to enlarge the space for the rule of law, for democratic and economic freedom. All against the limitations imposed by feeble national spaces.

This vision presents us with ambitious political projects when compared to the conformism and breathlessness of today's Europe. After the belated and disappointing compromise of Nice, the Convention of Giscard d'Estaing and the so-called "Constitution" defeats in France and Holland there was an interminable period of "reflection". The ability to move on from this deadlock was presented in the form of the Treaty of Lisbon but yet again the answer was no thank you.

That is why we wonder if there is still room for us in Europe. Is there consensus to build a European public opinion? Is there opportunity in today's Europe for European associations? Is there desire for a European media that can hold EU democracy accountable? Is it possible today to build a political alternative to challenge the Eurosceptics cries of the EU’s democratic deficit and the fatigue of the European "bureaucracy"?

These are the questions asked by the activists working everyday to build through this magazine a genuine European public opinion. We decided to share these concerns with all the readers of cafebabel.com. We launch today a consultation on the future of cafebabel.com and on the future of the association Babel International. Speak your mind!

Nicola Dell'Arciprete is the president of Babel International, a pan-European association which publishes the magazine cafebabel.com

Shruti Dudhia is the head of the youngest cafebabel.com team, in London

Fernando Navarro Sordo is the political editor of cafebabel.com

cafebabel.com is hiring!

natalia — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:35:00 +02:00

In line with the development of our website cafebabel.com, we are looking for a:

Community editor, based in Paris and a
Polish editor, based in Warsaw

Please click on each link in order to download the job offers.

Call for applications to the Euro-mediterranean Summer School of Peyresq!

Spock — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:58:00 +02:00

The first Euro-mediterranean Summer School of Peyresq "Peace, Citizenship, Multiculturality in Europe and in the Mediterranean" will be held from 16 to 24 August 2008 in the village of Peyresq (Southern Alps, France).

The Rencontres de Peyresq are set up by the Bernheim Chair Peace & Citizenship (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) and the ULB Alumni Association (UAE), in partnership with the Ecole de la Paix (Grenoble, France), the Fondation Bernheim (Belgique), the Connect Program (ONG Soliya, United States), the Euro-mediterranean Academics Network (Réseau euro-méditerranéen des universités - REMU) and Rives d’Europe.

Students from European and Mediterranean universities in a wider sense are invited to share their experience and to dialog together in order to build a common project around the key words of peace, citizenship and multiculturality in Europe and in the Mediterranean!

Please download the program and the registration form of the ‘Rencontres euro-méditerranéennes de Peyresq 2008’ here.

Contact Isabelle Maras for further information: isabelle.maras@yahoo.fr

Call for young journalists for European workshop in Potsdam!

Spock — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:36:00 +02:00

The M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, the largest gathering of European journalists, together with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation invites young journalists from all over Europe to Potsdam to debate the future of European journalism and journalism training. From 21st to 25th August 2008 young media professionals have the opportunity to engage in discussions about training of journalists and their role in the future vis-à-vis the internet, blogs and mobile phone reporting during the M100 Youth Media Workshop.

Conditions of participation: Applications are welcome from young journalists between 18 and 26 from the whole of Europe. Please submit a brief text (max. 3 pages) or a video (max. 3 mins.) about the following topic: “What does it mean to be a journalist in my country.”

Please add your CV and your journalistic preference: Print, Online, TV, Radio or Photography.

The workshop language is English.

The organisers of the Youth Media Workshop will bear the costs of accommodation and meals during the workshop. In addition there is a travel allowance of up to 250 Euro.

Please submit your application by 30 June 2008 by email to: s.sasse@m100potsdam.org

or by post to: M100 Office Sabine Sasse Am Alten Markt 9 D-14467 Potsdam

In collaboration with: www.m100potsdam.org

NECE-conference “Networking for the European Parliament Elections 09” in Strasbourg

Spock — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:24:00 +02:00

The NECE-conference “Networking for the European Parliament Elections 09” from 11–13 June (2008) was organised by the Federal Agency for Civic Education to give more than 120 EU multipliers in the field of citizenship education access to information and opportunities for exchange in the areas of existing and planned models, measures and projects for mobilising voters in 2009.

The event will provide a platform for participants interested in pursuing common projects to meet and discuss plans in more detail. It’s primary goal is to increase transparency for existing and planned models, and to promote European cooperative projects. The conference should therefore not only act as a catalyst for European networking and the Europeanisation of citizenship education, but also provide a stage for the work being done in the field.

Documentation under: www.bpb.de/nece.

In collaboration with:

General Assembly 2008 in Paris: Check out the pictures!

Spock — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:36:00 +02:00

This year’s General Assembly gathered people from all our local teams in Europe together in order to exchange experiences, introduce some exciting new projects within cafebabel.com and to debate about the future of cafebabel.com

This has been a unique occasion between the permanent staff in Paris and our network to meet and to brainstorm about new projects, like our new sports section. - Watch for it when the Euro 2008 will start, it will show you a new and very babelian way to talk about sports

Check out Katha, our German editor, Giovanni, from our team in Tallinn, Pedro, our Spanish editor and head of the Sports section, and Juliette, from the Paris team (left to right).

Here you have Nicola, President of Babel International, Nils, President of Babel Deutschland and Adriano, our Executive Manager enjoying lunch in front of the Canal St. Martin.

We also tried to find new ways of improving our internal communication – therefore we organized a Speed dating to stimulate truly European partnerships between local teams. Let's watch out for this couples in the future!

Check out more pictures about it here: Silvias pictures and Simonas pictures!

This year’s General Assembly has been quite a success – follow the development of it on coffeefactory!

Credit Photos: Silvia Cravotta and Simona Strimaityte

Here you have crazy RCE faces and from the network: Can you guess who is who?

Call for Reporters for the Cluny Summer universities!

Spock — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:05:00 +02:00

The “Institut Européen de Cluny” is organising a European Summer University from 10-20 July in Cluny Abbey, Burgundy, France.

This year’s summer university gathers people together under the working field of ‘European Identity - Who I am? Who are we?’ and is looking for a cafebabel.com correspondent to follow this event.

Selected journalists from cafebabel.com will be invited to the summer university and get the opportunity to publish their articles in daily newspapers like "Le Journal de Saône-et-Loire and "Le Progrès" de Lyon. cafebabel.com journalists will be integrated in the team and participate in team meetings during the summer university in Cluny.

Candidats should send their CV to Monika Oelz by email as soon as possible! Please contact her in order to get more information!

Click here to see the programme.

Participate in the European Science Parliament

Spock — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:34:00 +02:00

The European Science Parliament (ESP) takes place for the first time between 9 - 10 October 2008 in Aachen. 120 participants all over Europe will debate about the theme ‘Europe energised – Will lights go out in 2050?’

People from different age groups and professions will meet during the ESP. You can apply by participating in the online-forums on www.science-parliament.eu. The ESP-community will select the candidates for the parliament. First round will be in June!

A statement of the outcome will be drafted after the ESP-conference, which will be handed to EU-representatives. Everyone who wants to participate should register on the website.

More information on www.science-parliament.eu or mail@science-parliament.eu

In collaboration with:

European Young Journalist Award for two cafebabel.com journalists !

Spock — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:09:00 +02:00

We are proud to announce that two cafebabel.com journalists have been selected as national winners for the UK and for France for the European Young Journalist Award 2008.

Nabeelah Shabbir, editor-in-chief of the English version of cafebabel.com, was awarded UK winner for her ‘Prishtinali: urban faces in a raw capital’ article, published on 2 January 2008 on cafebabel.com.

Jean-Sébastien Lefebvre, e-community editor and journalist for cafebabel.com, was awarded France winner for his article ‘Kosovo : quelle nationalité ?’, published on 18 March 2008 on cafebabel.com.

The competition aimed to encourage young Europeans to reflect on and share their views about enlargement in the EU and to showcase their talent as writers. It attracted over 400 participants and was open to journalists in all EU member states and accession countries. Click here to see the winners of the competition in Europe.

In July, Nabeelah and Jean-Sébastien will join the 34 other national winners from across Europe on a trip through the Balkan nations. The trip ends in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where the winners will attend a conference with political and media representatives to discuss Enlargement issues in Europe.

The European Young Journalist Award was organised jointly by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Enlargement and the European Youth Press.

Cafebabel.com, the European magazine has launched a brand new version of its website!

Spock — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:53:00 +02:00

Spankier, extra interactive and resolutely multilingual, check out the making of the new face of cafebabel.com on coffeefactory, the editoral blog!

Discover the ‘babelmix’ feature

Why stick to a translation when you can read an article in its original language version? As well as the six language versions available, the new cafebabel.com website has also enabled its audience to read in ‘babelmix’ - a technical innovation allowing all registered users (registration is free), to compose their own language cocktail and read cafebabel.com in the language they speak.

Personalise your profile and react immediately to our articles!

New homepage design values professional citizen journalism: Thanks to a new ‘tag’ (keyword) system, the ergonomy of the new website has dramatically increased. You can now access all contents of cafebabel.com – be it magazine, the blogs, the forums or its comments - in one click!

Discover the new home page of cafebabel.com

Read the magazine in the left column, participate live in the e-community (blogs and forums) on the right column!

Debate with us on Europe Day in Paris

Spock — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:45:00 +02:00

On 9 and 10 May, the Paris town hall and the Maison de l’Europe come together to organise a European village with many events. On the programme: the art of living, progress, international solidarity and citizenship.

Come and live Europe by taking part in festive, cultural and spiritual events. Meet a Europe dotted with debated with numerous European personalities.

Cafebabel.com will moderate two debates :

a debate on European mobility on Saturday 10 May between 12 -1pm and
a debate about the Slovenian, French and Czech presidencies of the EU, the same Saturday between 15.30 – 16.30

Clickhere to check out the two-day programme.

Behind the scenes of the making of: check out the new face of cafebabel.com, the European magazine

Spock — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:34:00 +02:00

Cafebabel.com, the European magazine published in no less than six languages, launches a brand new version of its website on Europe Day, marked on 9 May 2008. Spankier, extra interactive and resolutely multilingual, check out the new face of cafebabel.com and dive into an authentic web 2.0 European experience.

Multilingualism on demand at the ‘café babel’: discover the ‘babelmix’ feature

Personalise your profile

The ‘babelmix’ is the gateway to the web 2.0. universe of cafebabel.com. Become a ‘babelian’ by subscribing to the e-community, with its 4000 contributor profiles already online. Thanks to a state-of-the-art web 2.0 website, you can personalise your magazine, update your profile, comment on all articles and blogs, debate on the ‘babelforums’ with other Europeans and even open your own ‘babelblog’ to express yourself. In a few simple steps you can go from being a simple cafebabel.com reader to becoming a translator - and why not even a writer?

Open discussion provided to all articles

React immediately to our articles and leave your comments! Resolutely multilingual, provided to subscribed users (and all free!), babelians can leave comments on all articles published on cafebabel.com and get the debate rolling

New homepage design values professional citizen journalism

Thanks to a new ‘tag’ (keyword) system, the ergonomy of the new website has dramatically increased. You can now access all contents of cafebabel.com – be it magazine, the blogs, the forums or its comments - in one click!

Discover the new home page of cafebabel.com: read the magazine in the left column, participate live in the e-community (blogs and forums) on the right column:

The Top 10 countdown in March 2008

Jean-Séb 2.0 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:15:00 +02:00

What were the news from the Babelblogs in March? If you want to know everything, have a look to the blogs reviews, published on cafebabel.com every two weeks.

But what about the countdown???

1 – It’s now like a tradition: Paris is on the top of the Babel Universe. Since February, you can also read theirs articles in Spanish: http://paris.cafebabel.com/es With five languages versions, the Paris blog is one of the most translated Babelblog.

2- In the countdown since a while, but for the first time at this place, Istanbul is the new number 2 : the newbie in the fight for the first place. With the new german version, they rock the debate between Turkey and Germany.

3- The Culture Touch! Poetry, the blog for all the beautiful words’ lovers! Is it proving that European people have some cultural points in common?

4- The blog which is talking about us…Eurogeneration! Since two weeks, you can find an Erasmus City Guide on Budapest and Portsmouth.

5- Is it a French city or an European City? Anyway, the problem is not there: Strasbourg is number 5, and gives to us some news from our Parliament. Love it!

6- Eurotik.

7- Bruxelles.

8- Berlin.

9- Sevilla

10- Budapest

Celebrating café babel womanhood in 2008

Vané — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:43:00 +01:00

Cafebabel.com is proud to celebrate womanhood in 2008 via the making of a special flickr profile www.flickr.com created by Erika Lastovskyte, from our Vilnius team, dedicated to all the wonderful Babelian women who contribute and belong to the cafebabel.com community.

Often perceived as natural communicators, women are more and more involved in journalism as correspondents or media makers, reinforcing equality between women and men in the field of European Journalism.

At cafebabel.com, women have taken a leading role in providing citizens with a transeuropean vision of European news. Meet just a few of them on flickr by entering "women" and "cafebabel.com" in the search engine and discover why they have decided to get involved in cafebabel.com- if too lazy, simply click here.

From Rome, to Brussels, through Dubai and Sofia, these special and talented European women shape European media as we know it.

Ladies, this is your day- thank you for being you.

A new chapter in my Babel life

Vané — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:50:00 +01:00

Dear café babel friends,

It is with mix feelings of pleasure and sadness that I inform you of my recent decision to take on a new challenge as Secretary General of the European Youth Press, an umbrella organisation based in Brussels. My time as staff member of Babel International will be soon ending and my functions taken over by a new, gifted and passionate Community Coordinator.

Launching the e-community was a dream come true and an amazing opportunity to work with many of you at different levels. I was happy to see so many local teams embracing the community while others rightfully challenged it to make it theirs. It was also rewarding to welcome new movers and shakers in the babelblogosphere which is continuously growing in terms of traffic, input and interactivity. And last but not least, it was truly inspiring to work closely with the Editorial and Communications team in Paris, a mix of European crazy people who deserve so much credit for the magazine's success. Thank you Adri and Alex for all the brainstorming meetings and the fun times within and outside of café babel- there will be many more to come, I'm sure. A big thanks to Cédric for always being a click away from me and my technical questions. Thanks to Fernando and Prune for your colorful personalities which have already brought so much to this project. And thank you to the rest of you in Paris for always welcoming me with a smile and new ideas.

Coordinating cafebabel.com's blogosphere and babelforums was an opportunity for me to realize the needs of young European journalists. My new responsibilities are therefore a natural professional development which I hope cafebabel.com will also benefit from. I have already started working part time for the European Youth Press and strongly believe in its mission and vision to assist young media makers across Europe. I am especially looking forward to assist, with the support of an amazing network of volunteers across Europe, young journalists and initiatives similar to cafebabel.com develop their understanding of European journalism and what it takes today to be a journalist in a multilingual and multicultural environment.

I encourage you to sign up to the European Youth Press newsletter to learn more about how to participate in its trainings, awards or events. Stay tuned especially for this year's biggest and sequel event: the European Youth Media Days 2008, taking place in October, in Brussels.

Thank you all for your energy and creativity! And keep in touch, ce n'est qu'un aurevoir.

Best,

Vanessa aka Vané

(credit photo: Jorden van der Ven)

The Top 10 countdown in January 2008

Vané — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:02:00 +01:00

1. Paris is still number one! Translated into 5 languages ( French- obviously- Enligh, Spanish, Italian, and German), it challenges preconceptions Europeans might have on France's relations with Europe, particularly in terms of multicultural heritage and complex politics.

2. Poetry, also translated into 5 Latin languages (Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, Italian) closely follows the Paris blog. Will it succeed in taking over the number one spot? The team is working hard to make it happen giving the latest on poetry today.

3. Eurotik, translated into 4 languages (French, English, German and Portuguese), brings together readers, from across Europe and the world, curious of Europe's sexy dimension. Have you ever heard of the "Zizi Academy" in Madrid?

4. Eurogeneration, translated into 4 languages (Italian, French, German and Spanish), makes us think of our own "Europeaness" and how others live it.

5. Sevilla's success is refreshing. It is translated into 4 languages (Spanish, English, French and German) and dedicated to European cinematographic news, it also reports on the EU Enlargement or the Bologna process.

6. Vilnius
7. Islam in Europa
8. Istanbul
9. coffeefactory
10. Strasbourg

Personal remark: the more linguistic version a blog has, the wider readership it reaches, the more traffic it makes...

News from the Babelblogosphere

Tava — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +01:00

Here is the latest on the cafebabel.com babelblogosphere:

Local offices: The Amsterdam team is relaunching its blog! Welcome back guys and a big thanks to Thamar for making this happen. Their first post is about US Elections also translated into Dutch (don't forget to post the links in between the translations). The Berlin team is seriously activating its blog. Babelians in Berlin had initially launched the blog for its Babel Academy which was a very successful event bringing together lots of journalists from all over Europe. The team is now reporting on the Berlinale Film Festival . The newly established Lyon team is running its blog like champs as well, in both English and French. Stay tuned for the soon-to-be launched Warsaw blog.

Many thanks to all the teams who have contributed to the 7th cafebabel.com Birthday video!

NGOs: The Ceres blog was launched by the NGO CERES. Stay tuned for more info on Cornwall, on the Coast of the UK, and its amazing scenery.

Individual blogs: welcome the new French blog Futurs européens à contre temps, a personal initiative, and Sotech, a blog on social technologies seen through European eyes, translated in English and Lithuanian.

New linguistic version: Football Province finally launched its English versions for all the football fans who didn't speak Lithuanian. GOOAAAAAAL!!

Most interactive post of the week: Turkey, the EU's safety belg for Clash of Civilizations on the Istanbul blog with more than 8 comments.

Most talked about: US elections have been a recurring theme with posts on ilike, Amsterdam and Kaczynski. You can also contribute to the forum discussion on "Who would you vote for?"

That's all for now. Remember to check out coffeefactory for news from the Community as well as http://wiki.cafebabel.com for useful tips. And don't hesitate using the bloggers@cafebabel.com (restricted email to babelbloggers only) to send out more news about your babelblogging activities.

Cafebabel.com’s 7th birthday on Second Life!

Spock — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:50:00 +01:00

Last Friday we celebrated our 7th birthday with the inauguration of our Vol de Langage, Eurogeneration photo exhibition on Second Life. Have a look at impressions of the exhibition and us being in Second Life!

This is a screen shot of Second Life during the cafebabel.com event. Each user chooses an avator who represents him in Second Life. Here we are standing in front of the presented photographs of our Second Life art gallery, featuring young Europeans. Donato di Bello, a renowned Italian artist working for Gucci, Pirelli and Ferrari, has shot a series of unique photographs. His artwork Vol de language illustrates the mobility and freedom of this new generation of Europeans: the Eurogeneration.

Here you see Adriano and Alex during the event: cafebabel.com and the photographs have been presented to our guests in Second Life.

Another impression of Second Life.

The avators can communicate with each other, even speeches can be hold in Second Life. But we won’t stop here: With the inauguration on 1 February, we are starting an imaginary re-travel of the European construction and enlargement. We presented the first 6 photos as everything started with 6 States in 1957. It is a way to say that this brand new generation of Babelians at the same time assumes and reinvent the history of the EU.

This is the schedule of our next presentations:

On 7th Feb we will present 3 more pictures (standing for the enlargement in 1973 - Danemark, UK and Ireland)
On 11th Feb - 1 more (1981 - Greece),
On 15th Feb - 2 more (1986 - Spain, Portugal),
On 18th Feb - 3 more (1995 - Sweden, Austria, Finland),
On 22nd Feb - 10 more (2004 - Poland, Czech rep, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus),
On 28th Feb - (2007 - Bulgaria, Romania), the last 2.

Here is Monika during the Second Life event. At the same time during this timeline we will present, here on Coffee Factory the exposed pictures + an interview to Donato Di Bello and exclusive backstage pictures. So have a look very soon on coffeefactory!

Here you see Francesca, our Italian editor, attending the Second Life event.

Come to Second Life and join this unique photo exhibition on Avalon Island.

Participation is free and the exhibition is open for visitors until the end of February. Click here to download the computer program 'Second Life'.

Many thanks to Ana Alves, who is hosting the event on behalf of the Babel Project.