Global Voices » Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices: Donate Today

Georgia Popplewell — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:23:12 +0000

2011 has been an extraordinary year for online content. Global Voices has been there as revolutions happened, dictatorships fell, and network effects rippled through the cities and neighborhoods of our contributors reporting from around the world.

To celebrate what’s been an extremely exciting year for us, we, along with our friends at Morningside Analytics, have created a limited-edition poster that visualizes “attentive clusters” of bloggers who link to Global Voices and cite similar online content. The resulting image portrays the scope of the Global Voices community, and turns it into a work of art that commemorates an important year in the history and impact of citizen media. The poster is available to anyone who donates US$25 or more. Reserve yours today through this link. We’ll be mailing out posters in January 2012.

Even if you don’t want a poster, we’d love your support. Regular donations are tax-deductible in the U.S, and can be made through our Donate page. And please also be sure to share this post with your networks!

Global Voices is a volunteer community of over 500 writers, translators, and digital media activists who bring you underreported stories and conversations from around the world. Watch our new video highlighting images and quotations from some of our supporters:

Global Voices is at the centre of a truly global conversation, and your support helps keep us there. Thank you!

Haiti: The Entertainer, or The Professor?

Georgia Popplewell — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:49:18 +0000

Ballot paper. Image by @2012writer: "My vote easy. Don Bosco school in PV was smooth at 11am and had opened at 6am. No lines."

According to the reports on Twitter about today's presidential election runoff in Haiti, the lines at polling stations are long, and voters at the Lycée Petion and the Lycée Croix des Bouquets were unable to find their names on voter lists, a problem that had also plagued the original election last November. But many are also speculating on the outcome. Opinion polls conducted in the weeks before have tended to show entertainer Michel Martelly leading his rival Mirlande Manigat, an academic and former first lady.

@sdarguin1906: "Who shall it be?"

“Voters coming into cast ballots Cite Soleil Lycee greeted by #tetkale screams,” tweeted Miami Herald journalist Jacqueline Charles (”tetkale” is one of Martelly's nicknames, referring to the candidate's bald head), and images posted on Twitter showed the candidate being received enthusiastically by voters:

@MRSandell: "Outside polling station as Martèlly comes to vote"

@Telenoticiasrd: "Martelly saliendo de votar. Multitud en las afueras." [Martelly exits after voting. Crowd outside.

@MRSandell: "'Sweet Micky' supporters stand to catch a glimpse of their man"

@mhsaintluc, however, was unequivocal in his support for Manigat, posting the following:

@mhsaintluc: "J'ai pu finalement voter la personne la plus apte apporter le changement qu'attend Haiti!" [I've finally been able to vote for the person most qualified to carry out the changes Haiti's been waiting for."

The candidate herself is pictured here, arriving at her polling station.

@jacquiecharles: "#Manigat arriving to vote."

One question likely to be on the minds of many is which candidate has the support of controversial former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who returned to the country on Friday, six years after being ousted in a coup d'état and forced into exile. This photo by @cliffchevalier suggests it may well be Manigat.

@cliffchevalier: "Flyers being circulated in Haiti showing Aristide calling for a Manigat vote. "Kay" means Manigat?" The text on the flyer says: "Aristide asks all Haitians to transform the heart of Haitian Chamber (of Deputies) into a "Kay" Chamber." The slogan of Manigat's party is "Ti Kay La, Kay Pep La".

Which might make sense, in light of this banner reportedly posted in Cité Soleil, the massive slum many of whose residents remain loyal to Aristide. The text on the banner says: “Mama is already here. Welcome, Papa!”

@etiennecp: "#Manigat trying to please #Aristide supporters in Cité Soleil w/ welcome banners."

Haiti: Election Morning in Pictures

Georgia Popplewell — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 14:32:16 +0000

Today, March 20, Haitians go to the polls to decide who will be the Caribbean nation's next president. This runoff election is being contested by Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly, the two candidates deemed to have received the highest number of votes in the controversial general election held last November. Reports posted this morning by Twitter users on the ground in Haiti pointed to delays in the opening of polling stations, while many outside the country fixated on an incident in which Haiti-born rap star Wyclef Jean, a Martelly supporter, was shot in the hand. Here's a selection of photos posted on Twitter of the scenes in Haiti as the polls opened—or tried to—this morning.

@melindayiti: "Small crowd at Cite Soleil voting bureau, already open". The vast Cité Soleil slum is as one of the poorest and most dangerous areas in Haiti.

@vivehaiti: "Urne vid pa idantifye donk poko gen vot nan lise danyel la." [Unidentified empty ballot box at the Lycee Daniel

@samaxyalaat: "Just taping up the electoral lists, lycee petion downtown. Already an hour behind."

New York Times bureau chief Randol Archibold (@rcaNYT): "Voting materials finally arrive at #Martelly polling place, 2 hrs late, calming crowd."

@Vladguerre: "Members voting center at Lycee de Petion Ville counting the ballots before start the voting process."

@Vladguerre: "A voter outside the Lycee de Petion Ville asking for opening the voting center,people wants to vote."

@melindayiti: "More security and observers than ppl on voter list in Corail".

New York Times bureau chief Randol Archibold: "Other voting sites in #Haiti were calm while opening late and ballots were being cast."

@mhsaintluc: "Anbyans tansyon devan sant vot Ernts Desir." [Tense atmosphere outside the Ernst Desir voting centre

@esfaceblack: "HNP (Haitian Nat'l Police) proudly voting."

Haiti: As the polls open

Georgia Popplewell — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 11:38:42 +0000

Miami Herald journalist Jacqueline Charles, covering the Haiti elections runoff today, notes the lack of a police presence outside candidate Michel Martelly's house, expresses skepticism that the vote will be able to proceed uninterrupted, in spite of what the officials say, and reports that the opening of at least one polling station has been delayed because of missing ballots.

Bahrain: The second martyr falls

Georgia Popplewell — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:23:28 +0000

Saudi Twitter user @Al Ahlawy29 posts a series of photos (WARNING: graphic images) showing the second protester to die in Bahrain, prefaced with the text (ar): “And the second martyr falls. The martyr is Fadhel Salman Al Matrook, 32 years old. He was martyred while taking part in the funeral of [first] martyr Ali Abdul Hadi Mushaima, near the Salmaniya Medical Complex, after he was shot by a bird shot gun at close range.” The images were taken from Al Wattani, an online forum that is blocked in Bahrain.

Internet Security Savvy Critical as Egypt Government Blocks Websites, Arrests Activists

Georgia Popplewell — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:53:29 +0000

This guest blog entry by Eva Galperin, EFF International Activist, was originally published on Global Voices Advocacy. This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

As we've seen in Iran and Tunisia, social networking tools have given activists in authoritarian regimes a powerful voice, which can be heard well beyond their own country. But the use of social networking tools has also given their governments ways to identify and retaliate against them. This week we are watching the same dynamic play out in Egypt. This is why it is critical that all activists —in Egypt and elsewhere—take precautions to protect their anonymity and freedom of expression. The protests in Egypt this week also highlight another important point: authoritarian governments can block access to social media websites, but determined, tech-savvy activists are likely to find ways to circumvent censorship to communicate with the rest of the world.

In an attempt to clamp down on Egyptian protesters, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government is intermittently blocking websites and arresting bloggers, journalists, and dissidents. Like the Tunisians, Egyptian protesters have made heavy use of social media websites to share information about the protests with the outside world and with each other. In spite of the Egyptian government’s blocking of Twitter, tweets from the Egyptian protests in Suez and Cairo provided up-to-the-minute reports about protest activity, the movements of police, deaths and injuries, links to photos on Twitpic, and videos on YouTube. Cooperation amongst protesting citizens has kept communications resilient so far. When protestors in Cario's Tahir Square experienced an outage in cell phone data service, nearby residents reportedly opened their home Wi-Fii networks to allow protesters to get online.

On the first day of protests, the Egyptian government blocked several websites, including Twitter and Bambuser, a Swedish website which allows users to stream live video from their cell phones. By the second day, the government's blocking of Twitter was sparse and intermittent, but there were reports of blocking Facebook and YouTube. It is unclear whether or not the Egyptian government will continue to expand its list of blocked sites in the coming days. Even the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was conspicuously silent during the protests leading up to the Tunisian revolution, has called on the Mubarak government to respect freedom of expression and urged them “not to…block communications, including on social media sites.”

The other dangerous aspect of the Mubarak government’s shameful campaign of silence and censorship has been the arrest and detention of bloggers, journalists, and activists. The Committee to Protect Journalists has reported that the Egyptian government has shut down at least two independent news websites: Al-Dustour and El-Badil. Police beat Al-Jazeera correspondent Mustafa Kafifi and Guardian reporter Jack Shenker, who posted an audio recording of the incident. Policemen have attacked and arrested cameramen covering the protests and onlookers recording the protests with cell phones.

Egypt is no stranger to the arrest of bloggers. Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison for “disparaging religion” and “defaming the president” in 2007. In 2009, web forum founder Karim Al-Bukheiri was arrested, tortured, and subject to constant government surveillance. Just last year, the Islamic Human Rights Foundation reported that Egyptian Security Forces arrested “at least 29 activists, including bloggers, lawyers, and human rights activists.” The concern here is clear—if the street protests subside, the Mubarak government could initiate a campaign of retaliation and oppression, arresting and harassing the very bloggers and activists who have been chronicling the protests online. Some countries have gone even further. In Iran two opposition activists were hanged this week for taking pictures and video of the Green Revolution protests and posting them online.

Given the potential dangers, it is absolutely critical that Egyptian protesters take precautions when communicating online. To reiterate, social networking tools have given activists a powerful voice, which can be heard well beyond Egypt, but activists should also remember that the Egyptian government could use these same tools to identify and retaliate against them. We recommend that political activists look at our Surveillance Self Defense International report for information on how to use technology defensively to better protect their anonymity and freedom of expression in Egypt and other authoritarian regimes.

4 ways you can support Global Voices (and a Happy New Year!)

Georgia Popplewell — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:42:58 +0000

If you’re reading this, you’re more than likely already a friend of Global Voices who believes in our mission of amplifying voices not normally heard in the mainstream media, of making it possible for global citizens to use online tools to participate fully in the lives of their communities, and of protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online. If that's indeed the case, we’d like to take some time out on this last day of 2010 to thank you for your support, and, if we may, suggest other ways you can help us do the work we do:

Make a donation: At Global Voices we’re fortunate to have the support of some really great institutional donors who believe strongly in what we do. Like all nonprofits, however, we’re always seeking ways to ensure we keep going and growing and to support innovation and independent projects that foundation funding might not cover. Our year-end fundraising campaign is a major part of that effort, so financial donations from our friends and readers are extremely important to us, not to mention very much appreciated! Donations are tax-deductible for US taxpayers, and if you make yours today (December 31), you’ll be bringing us even closer to our target for this year.

Share our content: This one is somewhat obvious—our goal of amplifying the voices coming out of global citizen media can only be fulfilled if they’re heard by as many people as possible, and we count on our friends and readers to share our content far and wide. “Share” links below each post allow you to e-mail or send links to our stories to Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites with the push of a button, and we’re in the process of repositioning these for even easier access. We're even more thrilled if, after reading our articles, you let us know what you think by leaving a comment here on the site, on our Facebook page, or on Twitter (we're @globalvoices - our other sections and most of our language sites have Twitter accounts as well).

Partner with us: Media outlets, did you know that our content can be republished on your Web site/newspaper/video channel free of charge? All we ask is that you credit us in accordance with our attribution policy. We’re also interested in other kinds of collaborations, such as the one we launched this year with The Economist, or the one our Italian translation team has forged with the Italian daily La Stampa. If you're interested in working with us, please send an e-mail to our Managing Editor, Solana Larsen.

Join us: Are you a blogger or translator who’d like to help us improve the coverage of your region or language? If so, welcome to Global Voices! Please contact the appropriate editor using our contact page, and she'll send you details on contributing articles summarizing the activity from your country's blogosphere or translating content into your language.

Your support has helped make 2010, our sixth year in existence, yet another great one for Global Voices, and we're very grateful for that. Here's wishing you all a peaceful, joyful, globally connected 2011!

Support the many voices of Global Voices - donate today!

Georgia Popplewell — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:43:55 +0000

As we wind down this busy year and take stock of the last twelve months, we're able to confirm something we've suspected all along: 2010 has been a tremendous year for Global Voices! Our organization—which celebrates its sixth anniversary on December 11—has taken some surprising and creative turns these past 12 months: we've acquired some very interesting new media partnerships, sharpened our research skills, and made some key changes to the way we approach multilingual content. And when they haven't been creating content for the site, our indefatigable community members have been hard at work in their own regions, making their mark on the world by spearheading innovative and meaningful citizen media projects.

2010 was also a Summit year for us. Here's a fraction of the Global Voices community in front of the Public Library in Santiago, Chile, which hosted this year's meeting.

In 2010, several groups of “GVers” launched projects combining volunteerism with information access. Members of our Brazil team set up Eleitor 2010 to track incidents affecting their general election in October 2010. Awab Alvi, Sana Saleem, Salman Latif and others from our Pakistani team ventured out into the flood-affected areas of their country to assist with the relief efforts, and also set up Pakreport.org to map and track relief needs and responses. Onnik Krikorian launched the special coverage section Caucasus Conflict Voices and creating the environment, established several training sessions and lectures on the use of digital media to advance peace in the region. Alexey Sidorenko and Gregory Asmolov of our RuNet Echo project created russian-fires.ru to map and coordinate citizen relief for Russia’s devastating summer forest fires - and won a prestigious award for their efforts.

Eleitor 2010, spearheaded by our Brazil team, tracked incidents related to Brazil's general election

GV’s Technology for Transparency Network, a new research project we launched this year, has been documenting citizen-led projects that use information technology to monitor transparency and accountability. New media partnerships with The Economist, Italian daily La Stampa, Russian radio station Echo Moskvy, and a pilot project with BBC Online in May introduced our work to new audiences. In 2010 we also completed a structural revision of our website to permit publication of original material in many languages, rather than only in English.

Changes to our site architecture allow for articles to originate in any of the languages represented in our translation community.

In 2010 Global Voices' founders Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman offered further proof of why they're among the world's leading authorities on the global Internet. Ethan gave a TED talk that perfectly expressed the effects of networked global media and the growing influence of citizen media. After numerous public appearances and columns in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Rebecca began work this year on her book Consent of the Networked, a “concerned citizen's guide to the future of freedom in the Internet age”.

Despite the successes in our community and elsewhere, citizen media remains under threat around the world, and 2010 saw its share of attacks on online freedom of expression. Azerbaijani bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade may have been freed and Egyptian Kareem Amer finally released from after spending 1,470 days in prison, but among those persecuted this year for expressing their views online were our friend and GV contributor Ali Abdulemam of Bahrain, and our Iranian former colleague Hossein Derakhshan, both of whom remain in prison.

The plight of Kareem, Emin, Adnan, Hossein, and others, as seen in our Threatened Voices project, is a reminder that free expression continues to be hazardous in many parts of the world. The response to Wikileaks shows that online speech freedoms is now a matter for serious debate in every country in the world.

So this month, as 2010 draws to a close, we’re launching a special appeal for support in continuing and building upon the work we've done this year. Our editors, authors and translators spend hundreds of hours a month combing citizen media from their countries and regions, selecting and contextualizing the most compelling voices, stories and ideas, helping make the picture of the world we live in more complete.

If you believe that what we do enriches the world, please make a donation. Or simply guide your friends and families to our site and help us out by sharing and commenting on our content. And most of all, please join us in making 2011 as memorable and exciting as 2010!

- Ivan Sigal and Georgia Popplewell

Liveblog: Citizen Media on Haiti Elections 2010

Georgia Popplewell — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:47:39 +0000

Today (November 28, 2010), Haiti goes to the polls in an election that has been fraught with controversy and affected by the ongoing cholera epidemic. We're curating tweets and other citizen media about the events.

Haiti Elections 2010

—
6:20pm EST
GlobalVoices: Signing off our Haitian Elections liveblog - keep watching these pages for further coverage. Thanks for following us today!

6:15pm EST
GlobalVoices: From Twitter, two views on presidential candidate—and popular singer—Micky Martelly, who earlier this evening led a march along with fellow candidate Charles-Henri Baker and Wyclef Jean: @carelpedre: “We never liked Preval. The last president we liked was Aristide. Now the people choose Martelly.”; @melindayiti: “People saying Martelly is president, as though #Haiti was just a crowd in the streets of Port-au-Prince. What about the rest of the country?”.

5:54pm EST
GlobalVoices: From Twitter: @metropolishaiti (FR) reports that a “monster” demonstration in favour of Micky Martelly is taking place in the northern city of Cap Haitien; @tanou80 “Huge crowd in front of Epi Dor [fast food joint in Pétion-ville], Micky walking inside the crowd! People are cheering! OMG never seen this!”.

5:42pm EST
GlobalVoices: What we're hearing on Twitter: @jacquiecharles - “Protests in cap-haitien, grand rievere and Gonaives”; @ViveHaiti: A lot of agitation at the CEP, people gathering, police preparing tear gas, MINUSTAH multiplying (translated by @melindayiti); @metropolishaiti (Haitian radio station) reports (FR) that there's a demonstration taking place in front of the National Palace and the situation is becoming increasingly volatile.

5:24pm EST
GlobalVoices: What we're hearing on Twitter: @melindayiti: “In Jacmel [city on the south coast] tires are burning in the streets. An angry mob is now marching to the police station.”

5:17pm EST
GlobalVoices: What we're hearing on Twitter: UN security helicopter circling over the demonstrations. Image by @melindayiti

4:54pm EST
GlobalVoices: After a break, another quick summary of what we're hearing on Twitter: Official close of the polls in Haiti was 4pm EST (about 50 mins ago now); demonstrations taking place in front of CEP's (electoral commission) headquarters, with heavy UN security; growing protests in Gonaives; candidates Michel Martelly and Charles-Henri Baker, along with Wyclef Jean, at the centre of large gathering in Delmas.

3:28pm EST
GlobalVoices: A quick summary of what we're hearing on Twitter: Polling station in Saint Raphael (in north of country between Cap Haitien and Hinche) possibly burned; Wyclef Jean has joined fellow performing artist and presidential candidate Mickey Martelly at demonstration in the streets on Pétion-ville.

3:06pm EST
GlobalVoices: Another quick summary of what we're hearing on Twitter about the Haiti election: Haitians are mobilising for a demonstration; @melindayiti reports that “more UN troop carriers than we could count, guns out, headed to demo” in Pétion-ville.

2:53pm EST
GlobalVoices: So, to summarise a bit: 12 candidates called for the elections to be cancelled on account of allegations of widespread fraud; the CEP, Haiti's election commission, has refused to comply; another press conference to announce the international community's position on the cancellation question soon to take place.

The thumbnail image used in this post is by Rozanna Fang, from the photoset Cap Haitien anti-MINUSTAH movement, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. Visit mediahacker's flickr photostream.

Haiti: A life-saving video

Georgia Popplewell — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:00:00 +0000

San Francisco-based physician and blogger Dr. Jan Gurley has visited Haiti twice since the January 12 earthquake to volunteer her services. Her second visit coincided with the cholera outbreak that has claimed hundreds of lives and caused thousands more to be hospitalised since the first case appeared on October 19, 2010. “Cholera is a lethal infection of hurricane proportions,” writes Doc Gurley (as she's known in the blogosphere):

You can die in as little as 3 hours, with your entire body’s amount of fluid coming out as stool. Socially, in Haiti, I found in February that there was already tremendous stigma attached to diarrhea. Not that surprising, really, if you think about the realities of living in a parking lot without a toilet while surrounded by hundreds of other people. And now there are concerns that cholera may have been brought to Haiti by the very international workers who came to help. Besides the devastating toll on lives (with reports ranging from 200 to Russian reports of 500 dead from cholera), how much current, and potential, good-will could such an event destroy?

Doc Gurley looked around online for an instructional video on oral rehydration therapy (ORT) that she could leave with her Haitian colleagues and patients. A knowledge of ORT basics could save lives, as most deaths from cholera are in fact caused by dehydration. Doc Gurley reminds her readers that even in Haiti, video can be an effective tool for spreading information: “People there have cell phones and texts, and everyone has an email address. Aid workers have smart phones that can show videos, and people there, just like here, love to gather ’round and watch the tiny screen.”

When her online searches yielded nothing but a single Hausa-language video and a handful of others covertly advertising Gatorade-style electrolyte drinks, Doc Gurley got a few friends together and made the video below. It's mostly wordless, making it suitable for use in any country, and depicts how to make oral rehydration salts “using only things that a person living in a sheet city would have”, including PET water bottles and bottle caps:

4 caps sugar, 1 cap salt, 500ml clean water = life

Global Voices seeks a Deputy Editor

Georgia Popplewell — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:09:01 +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 400 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 “editor AT globalvoicesonline DOT org”. The deadline for applications is November 8 , 2010.

Jamaica: Mapping the state of emergency

Georgia Popplewell — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:29:58 +0000

Citiizen media initiative On The Ground News Reports creates a Google maps-based “situation map” to record incidents related to the state of emergency in Jamaica.

Global Voices Summit 2010: Countdown to Santiago

Georgia Popplewell — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:45:25 +0000

Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Liberia, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen.

Those, in case you were wondering, are the 60-plus countries—and counting—that will be represented at this year's Global Voices Citizen Media Summit.

Biblioteca de Santiago, venue for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010. Photo courtesy Biblioteca de Santiago

In 25 days' time, on May 6, 2010, over 200 people from the four corners of planet earth will gather at the Bibiloteca de Santiago in Santiago, Chile, for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010. Moving this number of people across the globe takes some doing, and for us on the planning team, the past few months have been spent figuring out how to get people from cities like Lilongwe, Colombo, Port-au-Prince and Ulan Bator to Santiago, booking hotel rooms, sorting out visa applications, and, most of all, designing and refining the Summit format and program. Then refining it again.

This year's program will include plenary discussions, topic-based breakout groups, open “unconference”-style sessions and hands-on training workshops. Ten-minute showcases of outstanding citizen media projects will be interspersed throughout the event. We'll be facilitating online, real-time participation and will be capturing, translating, and publishing the knowledge and conversations coming out of the meeting as part of the process.

We're also excited about the announcement of the results of the inaugural Google/Global Voices Breaking Borders Award, which will take place on the evening of the first Summit day on May 6. The award recognises exceptional online initiatives promoting freedom of expression, and the winners will be flown to Santiago to attend both the Summit and the awards ceremony.

If you'd like to join us in Santiago, we've still got room. You can register via the Summit web site, which is also available in Spanish. The registration fee is $75, which covers attendance at the two days of the event, with a special fee of US$40 (CPL$22,500) for Chilean residents.

If you'd like to join us, but can't, we'll be streaming portions of the program live on May 6-7. Also check out blog posts by the Global Voices community and our speakers at the Summit web site and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

More news about the Summit very soon!

The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010 is made possible by Google, MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Institute, Knight Foundation, Hivos, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Yahoo, with support from Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente and the Observatorio de Comunicaciones Digitales.

Announcing the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010

Georgia Popplewell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:27:07 +0000

We're delighted to announce the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010! Our gathering takes place this year in Santiago, Chile on May 6-7, 2010.

Visit the Summit web site for background information on the goals of the meeting, the program of events, registration details and information about the vibrant city of Santiago. Among the highlights of the proceedings will be the announcement of the winners of the Breaking Borders award, a new prize created by Google and Global Voices to honor outstanding web projects initiated by individuals or groups demonstrating courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression.

Over the next few 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.

You can also help spread the word about the Global Voices Summit by flying one of our Summit badges or banners on your blog or web site.

The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010 has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the MacArthur Foundation, Google, Open Society Institute, Knight Foundation and Yahoo!.

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

Global Voices in Haiti: The Grand Rue Artists, After the Earthquake

Georgia Popplewell — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:57:14 +0000

Global Voices has sent a two-person team to Port-au-Prince in the wake of the Haiti earthquake, to help support citizen media activity. Georgia Popplewell and Alice Backer are also contributing firsthand reporting to our coverage of recovery efforts. Find out more about their assignment here.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI, 29 January, 2010

Grand Rue in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is one of the city's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but also home to a vibrant community of artists who create works of art out of the discarded materials they find in their environment. The area was host to the first Ghetto Biennale in December 2009.

This video highlights the impact of the January 12 earthquake on the artists' surroundings and their way of life. (A version with English subtitles is available at dotSUB.) It features an interview with Belle Williams, spokesperson for Ti Moun Rezistans, an arts programme for children of the Grand Rue area.

To offer direct support to the artists of Grand Rue, please donate to the Foundry Haiti Fund.

•••

Alice Backer has posted a video interview with Siméon Evans, another member of the Grand Rue creative community, in which he talks about a mural created for the 2009 Ghetto Biennale by British artist Bill Drummond. “Evans believes Bill Drummond's mural foresaw the earthquake. The mural contains the words ‘Imagine si demen pa gen mizik'. ('Imagine there is no music tomorrow'.)”

A number of international artists and journalists have posted texts, photographs, and video recording the Ghetto Biennale online. Photographer Emily Troutman shared video footage of a musical procession in the Grand Rue at YouTube. There are photosets posted at Flickr by PRI's The World and John T. Unger. Brooklyn-based writer Richard Fleming posted several reports at his blog, and wrote a piece for the Miami Herald. Artist Tracey Moberly's account of the Biennale appears at Dazed Digital.

A version of this report was originally posted at Caribbean Free Radio.

Global Voices' work in Haiti is supported by our general support donors and by a humanitarian information grant from Internews. Please visit the Global Voices Haiti Earthquake page for more coverage.

Nicholas Laughlin contributed to this post.