Participants of the Gathering of Indigenous Language Digital Activism held in Bogotá, Colombia, 18-19 June. Colombia's cultural diversity is reflected in its rich linguistic heritage, represented by more than 60 indigenous languages. While some languages are critically endangered, many others are alive and well. Spoken by approximately 1 million people across the country, these languages can be found in classrooms, markets, public transport, and on the Internet. Societal pressures and the historic relegation of native languages — not only in Colombia, but throughout Latin America — have discouraged many from maintaining their mother tongues, but young people are leading a revival of sorts, advocating their language and culture through the use of easy-to-use digital tools and web platforms. These “digital activists” are at the center of this movement whose mission is to ensure that the next generation can find their language and culture reflected on the web. Over the course of two days on June 18-19, 15 participants from across Colombia gathered in the country's capital Bogotá for the First Gathering of Indigenous Language Digital Activists. Following the success of a similar gathering held in Oaxaca, Mexico in October, this event provided an interactive space where young indigenous Internet users actively revitalizing their native languages could meet to learn from one another. The gathering was co-organized by Global Voices through its Rising Voices initiative, as well as the research group Muysccubun and the Caro and Cuervo Institute, which served as the event's hospitable hosts. Wikimedia Colombia, Mozilla Colombia, and Ubuntu Colombia were also on hand as local partners, leading workshops and providing mentoring to the participants wishing to start new projects or improve on existing initiatives. The gathering was also made possible in part through the support of Hivos. In mid-May, we published an open call for participation seeking interested individuals already working to revitalize their native languages through Internet-based tools. Participants were selected with geographic and linguistic diversity in mind, as well their commitment to sharing what they would learn with their own communities. Ever Kuiru (right) shows Deiver Edisson Canticus and Yeraldin Domico the website to his digital project. Applications arrived from throughout the country showing an impressive background in community-based projects, including online radio broadcasting, blogging, social media promotion, online dictionaries, and online children's games. Following a review, the organizing team selected 15 people to take part. A complete list of participants and their respective communities and languages can be found here. Selected participants were invited to lead workshops or discussions, with the idea that each session be more conversation-like in nature. During the plenary sessions, facilitators introduced a topic including some broad general questions for the group to spark a conversation among everyone based on their local perspectives and personal experiences. These sessions included discussion of technical hurdles when using native languages on the web, such as lack of keyboards to type necessary characters. The ongoing lack of connectivity in many communities is also a major obstacle for communities to become more active in this work. Another challenge discussed was the lack of consensus on writing methods within participants’ communities and methods of building a uniform alphabet. Participants also shared their views on whether to borrow words from Spanish when their language lacks a word for technology-related terminology. Some were adamant that neologisms should be created to accommodate these needs demonstrating that the language can be fully functional on its own. Another discussion centered on community rights to the content that is uploaded to the Web — whether digital activists need to ask permission from elders or leaders and in what circumstances, and how open licenses might figure into the equation. The final discussion focused on ways to build alliances among different stakeholders that would ensure more successful language revitalization projects. Many participants requested a greater presence from governmental authorities at the workshop, so they could directly advocate their communities’ language preservation and revitalization needs. Based off feedback collected after the Mexico workshop, participants had additional time allotted to formally present their digital project to the entire group. Jhon Alexander Delgado shares his digital project with the group. Hands-on workshops led by participants and local partners were another major component of the gathering.