BRIDGE BLOGGING

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BRIDGE BLOGGING Onnik Krikorian Caucasus
Regional Editor, Global Voices http//www.globalv
oicesonline.orghttp//peace.oneworld.amonewmphot
o_at_gmail.comhttp//twitter.com/onewmphoto
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What is Global Voices?
Global Voices is a community of more than 300
bloggers and translators around the world who
work together to bring readers reports from blogs
and citizen media everywhere, with an emphasis on
voices that are not ordinarily heard in the
mainstream media. Global Voices is translated
into more than 30 languages by volunteer
translators, who have formed the Lingua project.
Additionally, Global Voices has an Advocacy
website and network to help people speak out
online in places where their voices are censored.
We also have an outreach project called Rising
Voices to help marginalized communities use
citizen media to be heard. Technology for
Transparency examines the use of online tools in
increasing transparency and accountability
globally.
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Global Voices Impact
Four websites most consistently account for links
between countries YouTube, Wikipedia, the BBC
and, a distant fourth, Global Voices Online. The
last of these, launched at Harvard University in
2005 works to create links between bloggers
in different countries, and to find what it calls
bridge bloggers The Economist, 2 September
2010 Working relationships with BBC, Reuters,
Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, La Stampa
and many others. Frequently quoted by CNN, BBC,
New York Times, The Economist etc.
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Bridge Blogging
... The world we live in is so complicated and
interconnected that many problems, both big and
small, require openness, understanding and the
ability to communicate with people from different
cultures. Imagine trying to solve climate change
without talking with Indian and Chinese citizens
or living a full life in an urban neighborhood
without connecting with your neighbors who speak
different languages. By bridge figure, I mean
someone who acts as an interpreter between
cultures, introducing people who look at the
world in one way to another way of looking at the
world. ... Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices
co-founder, Bridgeblogger and Xenophile, a tale
of two bloggers http//www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog
/2008/12/05/bridgeblogger-and-xenophile-a-tale-of-
two-bloggers/
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Caucasus 2.0
Twitter_at_gvcaucasus
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Global Voices Oxfam project
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Russia-Georgia War
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New Social Media in Conflict
Anyone who believes that all citizen media are
objective and impartial is either mad or hasn't
actually read any citizen media. What's
become very difficult is using citizen media to
understand what's actually happening on the
ground. As we all know, some of the reports from
both camps in the South Ossetian conflict were
likely manufactured and inaccurate. This sort of
situation can get even more complicated when
there aren't impartial journalists on the
ground. Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices
co-founderhttp//www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/
13149/
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Nagorno Karabakh

• 1994 ceasefire
• Approx 25,000 dead
• Approx 1 million refugees and IDPs
• 14-16 percent of Azerbaijan controlled by
  Armenian and Nagorno Karabakh forces
• Border skirmishes and clashes, increase in sniper
  incidents
• New generations living without contact with the
  other side
• Peace deal still elusive
• Threat of new war

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Media Civil Society

• Media practices self-censorship
• Subjective and/or selective reporting,
  misinformation and propaganda
• Nationalist narratives and terminology over
  objectivity and neutrality
• Rumor and speculation becomes accepted as 'fact'
• Political forces manipulate conflict for domestic
  political gain
• Communication and/or contact with the 'enemy'
  discouraged

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Media Perpetuating Conflict?
A negative context is set in the public
consciousness, which hinders dialogue and mutual
understanding Without more accurate and
unbiased information free of negative
rhetoric and stereotypes, Armenians and
Azerbaijanis will continue to see themselves as
enemies without any common ground. Armenian and
Azerbaijani International News Coverage
Empirical Findings and Recommendations for
Improvement, Caucasus Resource Research Centers
(CRRC)http//epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finali
zed_edited_12.27.2008.doc
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Media Perpetuating Conflict?
... people are often inclined to consider their
existing attitudes and beliefs to be true and
filter the news through this lens. Thus, they
accept messages in order to maintain their
original perceptions. bias in the local media
... serves as a means to fuel and perpetuate
hatred. This is a role the media has and
continues to play with regards to the conflict
over Nagorno Karabakh. Armenian and Azerbaijani
International News Coverage Empirical Findings
and Recommendations for Improvement, Caucasus
Resource Research Centers (CRRC)http//epfound.am
/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.do
c
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Another Alternative?
Throughout history, war has affected media, with
conflict often creating an information void. In
the 21st century, media has begun to affect war
more than ever before. Digital media technologies
... have increased communication and
information dissemination in conflict settings
.... These new tools can be used to foment
violence or to foster peace, and it is possible
to build communication systems that encourage
dialogue and nonviolent political solutions.
Ivan Sigal, Global Voices Executive Director,
Digital media in conflict-prone societies, Center
for International Media Assistance
(CIMA)http//cima.ned.org/publications/research-r
eports/digital-media-conflict-prone-societies
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Social Media Crossing Borders
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Social Media Crossing Borders

• Blogs
• Facebook
• Skype
• Twitter
• Collaboration with traditional media
• Cooperation with NGOs and international
  organizations

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http//peace.oneworld.amCaucasus Conflict Voices
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http//peace.oneworld.amCaucasus Conflict Voices
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Alternative Narratives
We hear far too little of what I call this third
narrative of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict,
a narrative of peace. It spins the idea that the
two peoples are capable of getting along fine,
have lived together in the past and, if
politicians are able to overcome differences on
the Karabakh conflict, can live together in the
future. International mediators are too timid to
speak this narrative or feel that it is not their
business. The media in both countries suppresses
it. Thomas de Waal, senior associate in the
Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie
Endowment and author of Black Garden Armenia and
Azerbaijan through Peace and Warhttp//peace.onew
orld.am/conflict_voices_may_2011.html
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Cyber Utopian or Skeptic?
The reason why the KGB wants you to join Facebook
is because it allows them to learn more about you
from afar. It allows them to identify certain
social graphs and social connections between
activists. Many of these relationships are now
self-disclosed by activists by joining various
groups. Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net
Delusion The Dark Side of Internet
Freedomhttp//www.rferl.org/content/interview_mor
ozov_internet_democracy_promotion/2284105.html
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Imaginary Cosmopolitanism
I study the ways new media shapes people's
perceptions of the world. It's my fond hope that
social networks such as Facebook will help users
broaden their perspectives by listening to a
different set of people than they encounter in
their daily life. But I fear services such as
Facebook may be turning us into imaginary
cosmopolitans. ... Is Facebook a space for
cross-cultural interaction? For fomenting
reactionary hatred? Or is it primarily a space
for online interaction with our local, offline
friends? Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices
co-founder, Does Facebook unite us or divide
us?http//edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/03/zuck
erman.facebook.global/index.html
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Imaginary Cosmopolitanism
... we could well see a big jump in citizen to
citizen diplomacy across this next year, as
universities and even high schools step up their
efforts to integrate international awareness into
their curriculum. We are seeing all sorts of
interesting uses of Skype, iChat, and other
online video platforms to connect students around
the world in meaningful international
experiences. ... Will we become the best
informed societies thanks to the information
available, or the most polarized societies as we
gravitate to the networks (media and social) that
share our biases? ... Sheldon Himelfarb,
Associate Vice-President at the United States
Institute of Peace (USIP)http//www.usip.org/publ
ications/media-and-peacebuilding-trends-in-2010-an
d-looking-ahead-2011
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Cyber Realism
I think you cant do it just with social media
tools, but as weve seen over the past 15 years,
you definitely cant do it by meeting in Tbilisi
for a weekend every summer.... However, I think
that both approaches combined could propel things
along. Micael Bogar, Projects Manager at the
American University's Center for Social
Mediahttp//globalvoicesonline.org/2009/08/01/cau
casus-an-interview-with-micael-bogar/
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Cyber Realism
Mary Joyce of the Meta Activism project has
warned that a key factor in successful online
activism appear to be novelty its hard to
articulate best practices because one of the
best practices is to be the first to try a
particular technique. ... Ethan Zuckerman,
Global Voices Co-founderhttp//www.ethanzuckerman
.com/blog/2011/05/27/who-freed-eynulla-fatullayev-
and-what-does-his-release-mean-for-twitter-activis
m/
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Food for thought
the internet is not magic it is a tool.
Anyone who wants to use it to bring nations
closer together has to show initiative, and be
ready to travel physically as well as virtually.
As with the telegraph before italso hailed as a
tool of peace the internet does nothing on its
own. The Economist, A cyber-house
dividedhttp//www.economist.com/node/16943885?sto
ry_id16943885