Global Voices is a large international network of bloggers who translate and report daily on what's being said by citizens in online media around the world. The project was co-founded in 2005 by Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard School of Law. Today, Global Voices is an independent organization incorporated in the Netherlands. There are more than 300 active contributors to Global Voices around the world.

... See moreThe organization now states its goals as to:
> Call attention to the most interesting conversations and perspectives emerging from citizens’ media around the world by linking to text, photos, podcasts, video and other forms of grassroots citizens’ media.

> Facilitate the emergence of new citizens’ voices through training, online tutorials, and publicizing the ways in which open-source and free tools can be used safely by people around the world.

> Advocate for freedom of expression ... and protect the rights of citizen journalists.

The organizations has a team of regional editors that aggregates and selects conversations from a variety of blogospheres, with a particular focus on non-Western and underrepresented voices.

What they do
Report: Their trusted team of editors and writers reports on 167 countries in their completely virtual non-profit newsroom.

Translate: Their international team of translators renders their stories into more than 35 languages.

Defend: Their Advox project defends online rights and freedoms and fights censorship.

Empower: Their Rising Voices project empowers isolated and marginalized communities with tools, skills and support.

Connect: They organize summits for their global contributors and the public to meet face-to-face. Hundreds have met in 8 different countries in the past 10 years.

Projects
Global Voices Advocacy
Global Voices Advocacy seeks to build a global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists throughout the developing world that is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online. By collaborating with software developers, activists, and bloggers, the network hopes to design new and more appropriate tools to protect the rights on the Internet.

Rising Voices
Launched in May 2007 thanks to the support of a Knight News Challenge Award, Rising Voices seeks to empower under-represented communities to make their voices heard online by providing micro-grants to new projects; developing a series of participatory media tutorials; and cultivating a network of passionate citizen media activists. Eddie Avila is the Director.

Lingua
Inspired by a workshop on Global Voices and language the Summit in Delhi in 2006, India, a group of francophone bloggers started Global Voices in French inspired by Portnoy's pioneering Global Voices in Chinese. Nearly 500 active volunteer translators form the global Lingua community, making Global Voices available in more than 35 languages on as many independent websites.

RuNet Echo
RuNet Echo is a project of Global Voices, funded by the Open Society Institute. The project’s main purpose is to expand and deepen understanding of the Russian Internet (RuNet) and related online communities. The goal is to become a leading source of objective, comprehensive and valuable information on the Russian Internet.