Seeking “Bridge Bloggers”

Global Voices Online is looking for “bridge-bloggers.”

What is a bridge-blogger? Somebody who acts as a “bridge” between their blogging community and the rest of the world. Lots of blogospheres are springing up around the world, in lots of languages, but many of them don't communicate with each other. That's unfortunate, as there is much potential for dialogue across these communities.

We hope you will help us change that. For examples of bridge-blogging, here's a post I did summarizing Chinese blogger reaction to the registration deadline and internet censorship. Here's one on Mexican blogs by David Sasaki, bridging between Spanish and English. And here is some bridge-blogging by Ory Okolloh and Ndesanjo Macha about the Kenyan and Kiswahili blogospheres. Ethan Zuckerman has done some great bridge blogging about African bloggers’ views of the G8, which has helped bring media attention to actual African perspectives.

If you're interested in doing this kind of bridge-blogging between your country's or region's blogosphere and the rest of the world, please let us know. The best way to start is by doing some bridge-blogging on your own blog. For example: write a post in English (with links to the original posts) about what the Arabic blogosphere is buzzing about this week, or tell us what the Russian bloggers are concerned about, what the Chinese blogs are discussing lately, or what the Francophone blogosphere is currently reacting to. Once you've done this, please email us with the link at: globalvoices DOT dailylinks AT gmail DOT com, and we'll be sure to point to it.

If you're already doing this and we don't know about it, by all means please let us know. We are also trying to build an index of bridge blogs on this wiki. So if you know of blogs not listed there please add them.

Then, after doing this a few times, if you like the response to your work and feel that this is something you have the time and energy to do regularly on the Global Voices site, please let us know at globalvoices DOT online AT gmail DOT com.

17 comments

  • […] uienes quieren incorporar sus bitácoras a una red de bridge-blogging. La idea es servir de puente entre diversas comunidades y países separados por […]

  • […] Start up as a bridge blogger As global voice called for the bridge blogger I would like to participate in this program by telling the world w […]

  • i have a sister that almost got killed in london and family that are under constant threat of injury and death in baghdad each day…if i’m not bridge blogging, then i dont know who is.

  • It seems like what you’re asking for is more of a bridge between one blogosphere and another blogosphere, rather than an interface between a blogosphere and the world.

    By the way, I think this is very cool. Besides yourself, I can’t think of a good example of a weblog that does this for the English language blogosphere and the Chinese language blogosphere _on a consistent basis_. Wang Jianshuo is probably the closest one, and he’s not exactly a good fit.

  • […] What is Bridge Blogging, anyways? As defined by Rebecca MacKinnon on behalf of Global Voices Online, a bridge blogger is “somebody who acts as a “bridge” between their blogging community and the rest of the world. Lots of blogospheres are springing up around the world, in lots of languages, but many of them don’t communicate with each other. That’s unfortunate, as there is much potential for dialogue across these communities”. [Link] […]

  • […] There is also a lengthy analysis in Marisa Duma’s journal where she considers the differing viewpoints between Unspun and Jennie S. Bev, a good friend who disagrees with me on what bridge Blogging should do. She also quotes Rebecca McKinon of Global Voices whom Unspun thinks might have oined the word in the first place. What is Bridge Blogging, anyways? As defined by Rebecca MacKinnon on behalf of Global Voices Online, a bridge blogger is “somebody who acts as a “bridge” between their blogging community and the rest of the world. Lots of blogospheres are springing up around the world, in lots of languages, but many of them don’t communicate with each other. That’s unfortunate, as there is much potential for dialogue across these communities”. [Link] […]

  • […] Pak Ong’s blog. It’s interesting to read about what Pak Ong, Jakartass, Jennie, Marisa, Rebecca, Pak Fatih and some other guy debating about a bridge (and also about ‘mutual masturbation […]

  • […] into streamlined summaries of many people’s information. Once such example is ‘bridge blogging‘ which enables one bilingual individual to aggregate locally-generated ‘news’ in […]

  • Does interviewing ‘Regular Zhou’ Chinese and writing their profiles as a way of introducing regular Mainlanders to the English speaking world count as bridge-blogging? Here’s an example: The Olympics and the Earthquake: a Regular Zhou’s perspective

  • […] and Ethan wanted to bring some of these bridge-builders (later dubbed “bridge bloggers“) together to discuss, debate, and shape a shared vision for an inclusive, unmediated, […]

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