Global Voices » Announcements

Global Voices Seeks Contributing Editor for RuNet Echo Project

Ivan Sigal — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:06:43 +0000

Global Voices is seeking a part-time Contributing Editor to support our coverage of Russian citizen media, as part of our RuNet Echo project.

The project provides comprehensive and deep reporting on and analyses of the Russian-language online community. The purpose of the initiative is to deepen our coverage and analysis of Russian-language blogospheres, online speech and social networks.

Produce original analysis, research, and reporting based on our coverage of the Russian-language Internet.
Selectively follow up stories with in-depth research into compelling topics.
Monitor target civil society initiatives, websites, and movements.

The primary focus of our coverage and analysis is Russian-language online writing from and about the Russian Federation. Secondary content may also include Russian-language content from the former Soviet Union, as it relates to the Russian Federation.

The Contributing Editor will assist in producing and editing content for the project, including regular output of stories, translation, and networking. The editor will produce and/or edit several in-depth stories per week, as well as shorter posts linking and pointing to important topics, events, and writing as it occurs. The work will involve extensive translation, analysis, and further original research and reporting when appropriate, in order to elucidate and identify trends, ideas, and social and political currents within RuNet. Analysis will also examine how content in the Russian language space relates to other online communities, languages, and cultures, and offline Russian conversation, journalism, and social and political movements.

The Project Editor will also:

Help manage an ongoing Special Coverage section to consolidate and organize content from the RuNet project.
Work closely with Global Voices' existing Russian-focused editorial editors and authors.
Cultivate relationships with Russian bloggers and writers, toward the same end.
Present at conferences and events pertaining to the Russian online world, as needed

Successful applicants will have the following qualifications:

Fluency in English and Russian. Articles will be published in English, with minimal editing. Writing samples will be required as part of the application.
Familiarity with the Russian blogosphere, Russian social networks, and Russian political, social, economic, and cultural trends.
Ability to report on, analyze, and explain the Russian online world, in English and Russian.
Have the ability to work independently, in an unstructured work environment, and to work with a virtual community.
Be computer literate, comfortable working with programmers and technical language. Programming/HTML knowledge not required but strong familiarity with the use of online social media tools (blogging platforms, aggregators, use of RSS feeds, and tagging) is important.

We will be seeking the right mix of skills and experience for these two positions. We will also have opportunities for more occasional research and analysis by other contributors The final make-up of the editorial team will depend on the interests and availability of applicants.

Interested candidates please send CV and Letter of Interest explaining why you'd be a good candidate for the job to: admin AT globalvoicesonline DOT org

Interpreting RuNet is funded by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.

Global Voices Helps Judge CNN's iReport Awards

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:18:53 +0000

You can now vote for your favorite of CNN's audience submitted videos from 2011 at iReport in their annual iReport Awards. Alongside the community vote, a panel of judges, including Global Voices managing editor Solana Larsen, will select winners in six categories.

Global Voices Seeks New Japanese Editor

Solana Larsen — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:08:28 +0000

Global Voices is seeking a part-time Editor to oversee our ongoing coverage of Japanese-language citizen media.

The Editor will direct the Japanese-language coverage on Global Voices in English and recruit and coordinate volunteer contributions.

The Editor will produce and/or edit several in-depth stories per week, as well as shorter posts linking and pointing to important topics, events, and writing as it occurs. The work will involve translation, analysis, and editing, to elucidate and identify trends, ideas, and social and political currents within East Asian citizen media.

The Editor will be chiefly responsible for providing as broad and complete coverage as possible of citizen media of Japanese-language media, as follows:

Recruiting: recruiting authors to cover the countries in their region; for managing authors’ output and editing and publishing posts; and maintaining a regional Google Group.

Posting to the Global Voices web site:

• 4-6 posts per week. These can either be written by volunteer authors or the Editor, in recognition of the fact that some posts (especially those which need to be translated) require substantial editing.

• 5-10 “updates” per week. These posts can also either be written by volunteer authors or the Editor. They are short and typically include only one link.
Special coverage: In times of emergency, posting as much as possible, as soon as possible, as needed.

Our Japanese team also sometimes works with translators of the Global Voices in Japanese website to exchange ideas and collaborate on stories.

Interested candidates please send CV and Letter of Interest explaining why you'd be a good candidate for the job to: adminjob AT globalvoicesonline DOT org

We will be accepting applications through May 28, 2012.

See our vacancies page for other current opportunities with Global Voices.

Global Voices Partners with International Relations and Security Network (ISN)

Solana Larsen — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:11:14 +0000

Global Voices and the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) in Switzerland have launched a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide.

The stories written by selected Global Voices authors on different continents will be published on the ISN blog and on Global Voices the second week of every month for the next year. Additionally, ISN has commissioned Global Voices Lingua translations in Spanish, French and Arabic of each post.

The ISN, a project of the Center for Security Studies (ETH), is one of the world’s leading open access information services for international relations and security professionals.

On our part we are thrilled to be reaching a specialist audience of international security professionals with online citizen voices on issues that often go unreported in international media.

Another new ISN blog partner is Project Syndicate, who will be supplying commentary from high level international scholars and analysts, also according to a monthly calendar.

For more information about the ISN, click here.

All articles published for this partnership will be collected on our new special coverage page: International Relations and Security.

Global Voices in Bulgarian Lauded on World Press Freedom Day

Solana Larsen — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:39:07 +0000

Global Voices in Bulgarian was lauded by the Bulgarian section of the Association of European Journalists as the April 2012 winners of “Excellence in Citizen Journalism” for bringing unheard international news to Bulgaria, and proving that citizen journalism also exists at a highly professional level. The announcement (in Bulgarian) was made on World Press Freedom Day, on May 3.

A Global Voices Guide to re:publica Berlin 2012

Filip Stojanovski — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:58:04 +0000

This week (May 2-4, 2012) thousands of minds will join in Berlin, Germany at the annual gathering aimed at exchanging knowledge and ideas called re:publica (#rp12). Those physically present will be able to attend lectures, debates and nightly parties. Last year the re:publica conference had over 3,000 attendees, and almost a hundred thousand viewers of the webcast. Even more are expected this year.

The motto for “Germany’s largest and most prominent conference on the future of our society and all things digital” this year is ACT!ON.

A number of Global Voices (GV) community members will participate in over 200 hours of scheduled program, on 8 separate stages in 14 tracks.

Solana Larsen, GV managing editor, who presented Global Voices at re:publica 2011 “in an auditorium that holds more than 1000 people!” reckons:

In Germany, it's a conference that really speaks for the Internet scene and has a clear influence on the political discourse here.

Claire Ulrich, editor of Global Voices in French and a member of GV Board of Directors, explains:

For us European netizens, Berlin is the center and driving force of hackers' culture, the “free” culture, in short, our European “innovation hub”. re:publica in Berlin is a showcase of international trends, but also of this hacker culture that will be essential in the recession and political crisis we are in, and a great opportunity to meet those future movers and shakers.

When can you hear Global Voices people speak?

Ivan Sigal, GV executive director, will speak together with Solana on May 2 (13:30 CET) in a session called “Joining Forces” about the driving forces behind the rise of citizen media, and if individual acts of online activism in countries that are far from each other together can be considered a “global movement”. Ivan will also speak with Bjarke Myrthu of Storyplanet.com on May 3 (11:15 CET) about “New directions in visual storytelling”.

Ivan thinks that re:publica is important because…

…It seems to be expanding beyond Germany and even Europe in terms of its reach and influence. I also like that it has an open-ended and democratic feeling.

Jillian York, GV author, member of GV Board of Directors, and EFF director of international freedom of expression, will speak on May 3 (13:45) about Threats to Free Expression in the Middle East and North Africa. A re:publica veteran, she said:

re:publica was one of the best conferences I attended last year - the unique mix of participants, as well as the pertinent topics.

The panel “From Dissent to Disillusionment?” hosted in cooperation with Deutsche Welle, will focus on Syria, Egypt, Tunisia in “A Critical Assessment of the Media Landscape After the Arab Spring” on May 3 (15:00 CET) and will feature 3 GV'ers: Leila Nachawati of Spain/Syria, Claire Ulrich, and Tarek Amr of Egypt. They will speak on a panel with international journalist Zulfikar Abbany.

Claire Ulrich and Tarek Amr are also participating in the jury of this year's the Best of Blogs Awards. Tarek says:

I am part of the jury this year, and I used to follow the competition since its beginning. I love how despite it covers about 11 languages, it doesn't only stick to that but there are also verticals, topics, ranging from video blogs, to blogs for human rights to the use of technology for social change, which shows how they aren't limiting themselves to blogs only and how also the are creating competition within certain languages as well as worldwide between blogs from different languages.

On May 4 (11:15 CET) Markos Lemma will speak about Blogging in Ethiopia. He considers the conference “a big scale meet-up for people who are engaging on citizen media and create a physical nexus point for connections,” and adds:

It is my first time to re:publica and Berlin. I am excited to represent the Ethiopian bloggers and talk a little bit about them.

Besides the speakers, other members of the GV network attending re:publica include Berlin residents Kasia Odrozek and Débora Medeiros, as well as outlanders Paula Goes, Emma Brewin, Katrin Zinoun, Suzanne Lehn, Bernardo Parrella , Janet Gunter, and Rayna St., who echoed a wider sentiment when she wrote:

This year's edition will be held in the middle of quite a battle: we had SOPA/PIPA in the US that saw massive protest again and the same happened to ACTA which, I hope, will not be ratified. In the meantime, numerous countries impose various restrictive regulations on their own. re:publica 2012 will gather speakers with wide range of experience, backgrounds and standpoints which will definitely help (me) to make better sense of what is happening and what is to come.

Also attending will be Adil Nurmakov and Filip Stojanovski, who are participating in the Blogger Tour 2012, a public diplomacy initiative at the invitation of the German Federal Foreign Office.

Global Voices Speakers at re:publica

May 2

(13:30) - “Joining Forces” (Ivan Sigal, Solana Larsen)

May 3

(11:15) - “New directions in visual storytelling” (Ivan Sigal, Bjarke Myrthu)

(13:45) - “Threats to Free Expression in the Middle East and North Africa” (Jillian York)

(15:00) - “From Dissent to Disillusionment?” (Leila Nachawati, Claire Ulrich, Tarek Amr)

May 4

(11:15) - Blogging in Ethiopia (Markos Lemma)

Nigeria: New Media and Governance Conference

Nwachukwu Egbunike — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:44:32 +0000

Enough is Enough(EIE) together with other partners wish to expound on the rising profile of new media and governance in Nigeria in a conference slated for 14-15 May, 2012 in Abuja, Nigeria. “New Media and Governance: Tools and Trends”. The aim of this intellectual gathering of “government policy makers, civil society, academic institutions, private sector and youth” is to analyse “the use of new media for improved governance, accountability and civic engagement.”

Global Voices Podcast Wins Top Ranking in European Podcast Award

Solana Larsen — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:00:50 +0000

The Global Voices Podcast produced by Jamillah Knowles in London was named the United Kingdom winner in the non-profit category of the 2011 European Podcast Awards. Hundreds of podcasts from 11 countries in four categories were nominated.

Global Voices ‘Europe in Crisis' Coverage Shortlisted for Award

Solana Larsen — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:29:18 +0000

Thanks to the work of dedicated volunteers, Global Voices special coverage of “Europe in Crisis” has been named a national winner for the European Charlemagne Youth Prize. The final winners for all of Europe will be announced in Aachen, Germany in May 2012. The award aims to encourage a European consciousness among young people.

Announcing the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in Nairobi, Kenya

Georgia Popplewell — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:22:22 +0000

We're delighted to announce the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2012! Our gathering takes place this year in Nairobi, Kenya on July 2-3, 2012, in partnership with Nairobi's iHub.

Visit the Summit web site for background information on the goals of the meeting - we'll be adding registration details very soon.

Over the next days and weeks we'll be fleshing out the program, adding speaker bios, a list of attendees and more — and do keep checking in at the site for blog posts and commentary from Summit participants and others, as well as to join in the conversation.

The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2012 has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Google, Hivos, MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, Adessium Foundation, Knight Foundation, Omidyar Network, and Yahoo!.

Current major sponsors include MacArthur Foundation, Google, Open Society Institute, Knight Foundation and Yahoo!

Arab World: Arabisk Best Blog Competition Begins

Mohamed Adel — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:41:48 +0000

Algerian blogger Maamar Ameur, an organiser of the annual Arabisk competition to select the best Arabic blogs, announced the launch of the competition. This is the third year the event is held. To submit your blog, click here. You can also follow the competition on Twitter and read a full announcement here [Ar].

A Global Voices Guide to SXSW

Gina Cardenas — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:25:45 +0000

SXSW night scene. Credit: Biyani Photography (2011)

This week in Austin, Texas geeks, musicians, film-makers, creative types and ordinary party-goers will be mingling over cutting-edge ideas and free drinks. South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival and conference, now in its 25th year, begins on Friday, March 9, 2012 and runs through March 18. The conference consists of three main events that focus on music, film and interactive technology. SXSW Music is one of the largest music festivals in the United States attended by nearly 20,000 people.

Panels addressing citizen media, independent media and the intersections between technology and social change will be featured at the Interactive Conference from March 9-13. Several Global Voices friends and contributors will be participating at the interactive panels at SXSW.

Our Interactive Panel Recommendations

* Global Voices author and board member, Jillian York from EFF.
Sunday, March 11 12:30pm – 1:30pm
How to Run a Social Site and Not Get Users Killed
This panel focuses on social media and safety, particularly in countries where freedom of expression is limited and where voicing your online comments may be asking for a death sentence.

* Global Voices friend Mary Joyce from Meta-Activism.
Sunday, March 11 11am – 12pm
Internet Power: After Cyber-Optimism and Pessimism.
Panel topic focuses on the contradictory effects of digital technology on power. It can be a double-edged sword that strikes at both the oppressed and the oppressor.

* Global Voices Israel author Gilad Lotan from Socialflow.
Tuesday, March 13 12:30pm – 1:30pm
The Math That Matters in the Real Time Web
Gilad will share his insights regarding the influence of social micro-networks to spread information.

A SXSW self-portrait by Rob de la Cretaz on Flickr on March 8, 2012 (CC-BY-NC-SA)

More suggestions

Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide
Friday March 9, 2012 2:00 pm – 3:00pm
Panel examines how rural netizens cope and compensate with issues of digital divide in their communities.

Social Change, Social Media and Social Filmmaking
Friday March 9 2:00pm – 3:00pm
This panel will share tips, tools & tactics for activists, non-profit pros, volunteers & creative people to promote social change through documentary-style online video.

How 21^st Century Tools Are Disrupting Global Power
Friday, March 9 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Panel about the impact that technology and social media are playing in transferring power from governments and large institutions to individuals and small institutions.

Tweeting Osama’s Death: From Citizen to Journalist
Saturday, March 10 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Sohaib Athar, who live-tweeted Osama bin Laden’s raid without knowing it, speaks about his experience in his first trip to the U.S. since bin Laden’s death.

Occupying Media: 24 Hour Protest People
Sunday March 11 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Provides a glimpse into the architecture of the Occupy Wall Street media efforts on the protest encampment grounds and the tools/strategies they used to bypass mainstream media filters.

An Unusual Arsenal: Tech Tools to Topple a Tyrant
Monday, March 12 12:30 – 1:30pm
A panel describing how the social media tools of facebook, Youtube and Twitter fomented the Egyptian uprising that brought down President Hosni Mubarak.

We Are Legion: Digital (R) Evolution
Tuesday, March 13 11:00am – 12:00pm
Writer/director Brian Knappenberger speaks about the challenges of making the film, WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists.

“Unofficial” and Free Events

While the SXSW Conference is geared for paid conference badge holders, several online curators have compiled lists of free events for the non-badge holders to attend. The Unofficial SXSW Guide has a user friendly calendar with free SXSW events. Sanfranfreesco, the San Francisco-based directory of free and fun events in the California Bay Area has taken up the SXSW cause. Their listings can be filtered by a number of search queries such as the availability of free drinks, music and swag. They can also be found on Twitter @FreeSXSW. Twitter user @SXSWPartylist also champions the virtues of SXSW gratis.

The official SXSW conference also has a couple of free events lined-up, including a weekend concert at the Auditorium Shores featuring The Shins, Counting Crows and The Cult. For three days from March 9-11, ScreenBurn Arcade offers gaming geeks the latest in video game releases. Cinephiles can participate in a nostalgic trip to early 90s Austin subculture by attending Slacker 2011 as reimagined by 24 Austin filmmakers 20 years after Richard Linklater’s film Slacker tapped into the city's original quirky mindset.

Global Voices Seeks Deputy Editor

Georgia Popplewell — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:48:58 +0000

Global Voices seeks a Deputy Editor to help manage daily content flow in English. Global Voices in English is a central focal point for more than 500 bloggers and translators around the world who work together to report on blogs and citizen media everywhere, with emphasis on voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media. We are a global, virtual organization led by a team of part-time editors who work with volunteer authors around the world across multiple time zones, communicating primarily by email and regional mailing lists.

The Deputy Editor must possess professional and personal skills to help the site maintain and expand its role as the leading website for translating, contextualizing, and amplifying international citizen media.

The Deputy Editor will be responsible for the following:

- Working with the Managing Editor to oversee the content on the website on a daily basis
- Working closely with the Regional and Language Editors to provide support for volunteer authors
- Managing the sub-editor volunteer team, and sub-editing articles as needed, reviewing all articles for style, copyright errors and other detail work
- Ensuring that content meets editorial standards prior to publication
- Moderating comments on the site
- Overseeing and updating the style guide and other editorial procedures
- Managing internal mailing lists
- Working closely with the Technical Director to manage and maintain meta data, tagging, linking, and information work flow on the site
- Tracking visitor traffic statistics for the site
- Scheduling and running regular editorial meetings in IRC chat room

The Deputy Editor will report to the Managing Editor.

We are seeking a candidate with the following qualities:
- Experienced editor and writer, with native English capacity and appropriate educational background
- Strong leadership skills
- Experience managing a multilingual, multicultural team
- Strong technical skills and experience with citizen media, including blogging, podcasting, and digital video
- Basic ability to edit and source digital photos
- Ability to lead team in improving headline keyword and linking standards across the site
- Familiarity with open source software and open content communities
- Ability to work independently and to produce results in a timely manner

To work effectively with our community, we would prefer that candidates:
- Have experience living and working internationally, or have traveled extensively in the developing world
- Are active bloggers or creators of online media
- Are multilingual, with fluency in English and at least one other language
- Have experience working in diverse, multicultural environments
- Are strong communicators and facilitators
- Have experience in a professional newsroom setting targeting a global audience

The ideal candidate must have a passionate commitment to the values and goals of Global Voices. He or she will be joining a well established team of editors and authors who are dedicated to amplifying the voices of world. There is no geographic requirement associated with this position; Global Voices has no office or physical headquarters. Substantial travel is likely. Candidates must have access to broadband internet connectivity and be comfortable working in a wholly virtual environment. We strongly welcome candidates from outside North America and Europe, and encourage people currently working on the Global Voices project to apply.

The position is full-time, but should be treated as a freelance contract.

To express your interest, please send a cover letter and CV to “adminjob AT globalvoicesonline DOT org”.

The deadline for applications is March 23, 2012.

Global Voices seeks Chinese-language Editor

Ivan Sigal — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:55:42 +0000

Global Voices (GV) is seeking a part-time Editor to oversee our ongoing coverage of Chinese-language citizen media.

The Editor will direct the Chinese-language coverage and recruit and coordinate volunteer contributions. The Editor will produce and/or edit several in-depth stories per week, as well as shorter posts linking and pointing to important topics, events, and writing as it occurs. The work will involve translation, analysis, and editing, to elucidate and identify trends, ideas, and social and political currents within East Asian citizen media.

The Editor will be chiefly responsible for providing as broad and complete coverage as possible of citizen media of Chinese-language media, as follows:

Recruiting: recruiting authors to cover the countries in their region; for managing authors’ output and editing and publishing posts; and maintaining a regional Google Group.

Posting to the Global Voices web site:

4-6 posts per week. These can either be written by volunteer authors or the Editor, in recognition of the fact that some posts (especially those which need to be translated) require substantial editing.
5-10 “updates” per week. These posts can also either be written by volunteer authors or the Editor. They are short and typically include only one link.

Special coverage: In times of emergency, posting as much as possible, as soon as possible, as needed.

Interested candidates please send CV and Letter of Interest explaining why you'd be a good candidate for the job to: adminjob AT globalvoicesonline DOT org

We will be accepting applications through May 5, 2012.

See our vacancies page for other current opportunities with Global Voices.

Global Voices seeks Central Asia Editor

Ivan Sigal — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:11:05 +0000

Global Voices (GV) is seeking a part-time Editor to oversee our ongoing coverage of Central Asia.

The Editor will direct the Central Asian coverage and recruit and coordinate volunteer contributions. The Editor will produce and/or edit several in-depth stories per week, as well as shorter posts linking and pointing to important topics, events, and writing as it occurs. The work will involve translation, analysis, and editing, to elucidate and identify trends, ideas, and social and political currents within Central Asian citizen media.

The Editor will be chiefly responsible for providing as broad and complete coverage as possible of citizen media of the countries in the Central Asian region, as follows:

Recruiting: making good faith efforts to recruit authors to cover the countries in their region; for managing authors’ output and editing and publishing posts; and maintaining a regional Google Group.

Posting to the Global Voices web site:

3-4 posts per week. These can either be written by volunteer authors or the Editor, in recognition of the fact that some posts (especially those which need to be translated) require substantial editing.
3-6 “updates” per week. These posts can also either be written by volunteer authors or the Editor. They are short and typically include only one link.

Special coverage: In times of emergency, posting as much as possible, as soon as possible, as needed.

Interested candidates please send CV and Letter of Interest explaining why you'd be a good candidate for the job to: adminjob AT globalvoicesonline DOT org

We will be accepting applications through March 21, 2012.

See our vacancies page for other opportunities with Global Voices.