My last post on Emergent Democracy posited a lot of questions and very few answers. It got some terrific feedback, for which I’m very grateful. But I’m concerned that a session that just offers critique will be received badly. I’d like to be able to point to some of the great work being done out there to ensure that new Emergent Democracy communities are open to the entire world. And I’d love help from folks reading my and Joi’s blog on identifying projects worth celebrating.
I’m looking for projects that do one of three things:
– help address media attention gaps by reporting on underreported parts of the globe, or work explicitly on increasing people’s understanding/caring about these parts of the globe
(for example: BlogAfrica, Open Knowledge Network, Blogalization, etc.)
– help include people from developing nations in online deliberations, or work on removing barrier to participation (translation, support for local languages, etc.)
(for example: TakingITGlobal, Kabissa
– bring online/distributed decisionmaking into real-world action, including activism, fundraising, elections, etc.
(for example, the use of cellphone-enabled smart mobs to organize protests in Kenya or to monitor elections in Ghana)
Please, help me find projects I haven’t stumbled upon yet – I’d like to share as much good news as possible with the folks at the Digital Democracy Teach-in.