We’re looking for the right blogger to help Global Voices move forward on a very important axis – our ability to help expand blogging on a global scale. We’re powerfully aware of the fact that many of the people blogging today are elites – people who’ve got an unusually high level of education, income and access to technology. It makes sense that these are the people who’d pick up the tools of citizen journalism first, but we want to make sure that everyone with a story to tell gets to tell it online.
That’s the idea behind our new outreach program at Global Voices – we’re looking to hire someone who will oversee a project dedicated towards bringing new groups of people into the world of citizen media: students, people in rural areas and in inner cities. The Outreach director is going to have a limited grantmaking capacity – the ability to give microgrants to interesting proposals that come up in the GV community. And she’ll be responsible for running a virtual speaker’s bureau, sending GV speakers to conferences and trainings around the world, and building curiculum to spread blogging around.
We’ve just put up this job announcement on the GV site, but I wanted to put it here as well, as the sort of folks who read this blog are the sort of folks we’re looking for. The job description follows below.
Global Voices is seeking a full-time Outreach Director. The outreach director will coordinate Global Voices’s efforts in promoting blogging, podcasting, videocasting, photoblogging and other forms of citizen media throughout the world. This will include responsibility for managing a grants program that will support innovative outreach efforts with microgrants, compilation of curiculum for blogging outreach and coordination of speaking and teaching engagements for Global Voices bloggers around the world. (For more on how Global Voices views outreach, see these notes from our December meeting in Delhi.)
Suitable candidates will have a strong understanding of the international blogosphere, journalism or technical writing experience, excellent management and leadership skills, and strong experience as a public speaker or technical trainer. Strong spoken and written English is a must – skill in other languages is a strong plus. We are very unlikely to consider candidates who are not active bloggers – links to the blogs you participate in are a key portion of a cover letter or resume for this position. Active involvement in the Global Voices community is a strong plus.
Global Voices expects that the Outreach Director will focus 40-50 hours per week on the position, with a great deal of schedule flexibility. Some international travel is required as part of the position, including attendance at the Global Voices annual meeting (travel funding will be provided.) The Outreach director reports to the acting managing director of Global Voices, and later to the executive director – she or he will be an active part of the Global Voices senior management team.
This position does not require relocation. All Global Voices jobs are virtual – people work from their home countries and connect with other Global Voices staff via the Internet. This job is open to residents of any nation. Salary will be based on experience.
To apply, please send a letter of interest along with CV or resume to ethan@globalvoicesonline.org