Keep the World Talking - Support Global Voices

Global Voices is the leading participatory media room for voices from developing countries around the globe.   They've just launched their online fundraising campaign to keep the world talking.  I'm a donor and let me tell you why.

I've had the honor of being involved with the Global Voices community on and off for a couple of years.  I remember first coming across it back in 2005 when it was just a simple blog hosted at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.  I was thrilled to discover it because I had just started my "Cambodia For Kids" blog and thought it might help me connect with bloggers from Cambodia. It did.

In 2005, I also discovered the Berkman Center Thursday evening bloggers meetings and started attending.  (I did a session on nonprofits and blogging with Marnie Webb)  It was at one of these meetings that I met Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacKinnon.   I offered to do some volunteer outreach work for global voices to connect with Cambodia bloggers and served as a volunteer editor for the Cambodia section for a short time before Tharum (in the photo below) took over the job.

Since those early years, Global Voices has grown into a vibrant global community of more than 150 active volunteer authors and translators and more than 20 freelance part- time regional and language editors.

That's a photo of me and Tharum, who started blogging in 2004.   He was the first person to leave a comment on my Cambodia4Kids Blog.  In December 2005, I got to meet Tharum in London at the Global Voices Summit, its annual face-to-face gathering of the Global Voices Community.

I've been a long time advocate and supporter of the work that is being done over at Global Voices and have seen the impact first hand in Cambodia where there is a vibrant local community of bloggers.   That's why when Ethan Zuckerman invited to serve on the board of Friends of Global Voices, the us nonprofit that will serve as a fundraising entity for Global Voices, I said yes. I'm honored to be serving with David Weinberger, Isaac Mao, and Xeni Jardin.

So, that's why I'm hoping you'll join me and support Global Voices.

Comments

[Ari Herzog]

Isn't GVO great? I was recruited into their Voices without Votes project - http://www.voiceswithoutvotes.org - earlier this fall, helping to edit global blog articles in the chaos of a pre-election world. It's up in the air where VwV will go, but Reuters is sponsoring it and they are impressed with the attention, so we'll see.