Global Voices, American Voices
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Today I attended a session at Harvard’s Berkman Center on Global Voices a project by Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacKinnon. I’ve been fascinated by the project since it started. It attempts to give a voice to citizens around the world who normally wouldn’t be heard either because the English speaking media is not interested in their country. In American media this means any country that isn’t America, Iraq or Afghanistan.
It is a great resource if you want to connect to communities abroad and hear what they have to say about the events occuring in their country. They have setup a Blog Index Wiki that has a list of informative bloggers around the world. It is the concept of Bridge bloggers that I am fascinated most by.
Bridges are more interactive spaces. Bridge bloggers write for an audience outside their everyday reality - for instance, when Ory Okolloh (http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ory) writes about corruption in Kenya, reaching family at home and readers at Harvard, she is bridge blogging. (And when people comment on her blog from outside Kenya, they’re bridging back.
I want to create a similar project in America. One that “bridges” ethnic and communities in America to a wider American audience. We neglect the voices of Americans just as much as we neglect the voices of communities outside of America. In both cases technology can help bridge this gap. I wonder if their are already similar projects running now?
Bridge blogging sounds like an interesting concept. I left my email with this form. I would like to help, if you want my help just write me an email.