Monday, June 11, 2007

Global Voices Online Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, is taking from the rich to give to the poor -- in microgrants.

What's the world blog aggregator Global Voices Online going to do with its $244,000 Knight News Challenge grant? Chop it up and give it away -- at least, a big chunk of it.

David Sasaki, director of outreach, told Tidbits that $60,000 of the grant will be used to fund "Rising Voices" microgrants of $1,000 to $5,000 over the next two years. These will support citizen media outreach projects based in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and across Asia. The application deadline for the first round of funding is June 15, 2007.

Sasaki recently wrote: "As the Internet becomes more accessible to more people... the so-called digital divide seems to be narrowing. In its place, however, we see a participation gap in which the vast majority of blogs, podcasts, and online video are being produced in middle-class neighborhoods in major cities around the world. Rising Voices aims to... [provide] resources and funding to local groups reaching out to underrepresented communities."

What kind of difference can this make? Potentially, this program will not just foster a new crop of bloggers. It could yield creative approaches to providing news and information from far-flung corners of the globe.

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For instance, Sasaki noted: "Before Sami Ben Gharbia became our director of advocacy, he put together an incredible Google Maps mashup called the Tunisian Prison Map. It highlights the case of Tunisia's political prisoners using text, video, and Flash animations."

Is your news organization is getting tired of rerunning AP and Reuters world news? You might want to check out Global Voices Online for fresh perspective and even leads. One thing the site is especially good for, says Sasaki, is showing "how compelling a personal narrative can be when it comes to telling the news of a foreign country. Few [U.S. news] organizations have really made the effort to reach out to individuals who are volunteering personal perspectives of world news stories."

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