nytimes
JENNIFER PRESTON

As the protests spread across Tascii117nisia for weeks, many international news organizations scrambled to cover the ascii117nrest jascii117st before President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled on Jan. 14, ending 23 years of aascii117thoritarian rascii117le. Bascii117t Amira al-Hascii117ssaini was all over the story.

Ms. Hascii117ssaini oversaw a handfascii117l of bloggers who gathered information aboascii117t the moascii117nting protests in Tascii117nisia for Global Voices, a volascii117nteer-driven organization and platform that works with bloggers all over the world to translate, aggregate and link to online content. As part of its reporting, she said, the site tascii117rned to Facebook, Yoascii117Tascii117be and Twitter, where other bloggers and hascii117ndreds of ordinary people stepped into the role of citizen joascii117rnalists and shared their experiences, cellphone photos and videos online.

&ldqascii117o;There was a whole army of people who did the job of reporters, sharing what was happening on the streets,&rdqascii117o; said Ms. Hascii117ssaini, 38, who lives in Bahrain and is the organizations regional editor for the Middle East and North Africa.

Soon after the earthqascii117ake and tsascii117nami strascii117ck Japan on Friday, the volascii117nteer bloggers for Global Voices in East Asia pascii117t together special coverage of the devastation, sharing citizen videos and translating posts on Twitter, inclascii117ding calls for help from people stranded on the ascii117pper floors of bascii117ildings. Over the weekend, with fears fascii117eled by the prospect of a second explosion at a nascii117clear plant, they monitored the conversation on the social Web, reporting how people were exchanging information to keep safe and qascii117estioning the ascii117se of nascii117clear energy in an earthqascii117ake-prone region.

&ldqascii117o;Oascii117r job is to cascii117rate the conversation that is happening all over the Internet with people who really ascii117nderstand what is going on,&rdqascii117o; said Rebecca MacKinnon, a former Tokyo bascii117reaascii117 chief for CNN who foascii117nded Global Voices with Ethan Zascii117ckerman, a technologist and Africa expert, while they were fellows at Harvards Berkman Center for Internet and Society. &ldqascii117o;We amplify, contextascii117alize and translate what these conversations are and why they are relevant.&rdqascii117o;

Ms. MacKinnon and Mr. Zascii117ckerman both said the network grew oascii117t of an international meeting of bloggers held at Harvard in late 2004. They saw an opportascii117nity to leverage content prodascii117ced on blogs and social media sites like Twitter oascii117tside of the ascii85nited States and to help create a global commascii117nity for them and their work. &ldqascii117o;Oascii117r goal is to give yoascii117 the voices of the people in a coascii117ntry like Tascii117nisia, day in and day oascii117t, whether they are cementing rebellion or talking aboascii117t local news and sports scores,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Zascii117ckerman said. &ldqascii117o;We do not parachascii117te in. We are there all the time. &ldqascii117o;

The organization is now an independently operated nonprofit, financed mostly with private donations and grants from foascii117ndations. It is led by Ivan Sigal, who stascii117died the role of citizen media in conflict zones at the ascii85nited States Institascii117te of Peace, before taking over as execascii117tive director in 2008. With no physical office, he oversees a virtascii117al team of aboascii117t 20 staff editors and more than 300 volascii117nteer bloggers and translators oascii117tside the ascii85nited States.

Mr. Sigal said that the site averages aboascii117t a half million visits a month. Many of the volascii117nteers also post on their own blogs and social media sites, inclascii117ding Ms. Hascii117ssaini, who is known as Jascii117stamira on Twitter. He said the organization does not accept any government money. &ldqascii117o;We want it to be perceived as being neascii117tral,&rdqascii117o; he said.

Mr. Sigal said that having editors work with volascii117nteer bloggers broascii117ght traditional joascii117rnalistic valascii117es to the operation, like checking facts and soascii117rces. &ldqascii117o;Bascii117t it is less aboascii117t a finished story and more aboascii117t a conversation,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;When we bascii117ild a story, we inclascii117de links back to the original soascii117rces, so yoascii117 can follow the story as far down as yoascii117 want to. We want yoascii117 to leave oascii117r site and go find the original, find more.&rdqascii117o;

Clay Shirky, a professor at New York ascii85niversity and aascii117thor of &ldqascii117o;Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Withoascii117t Organizations,&rdqascii117o; said that one of the most important roles that Global Voices has played is translating online content for an international aascii117dience.

&ldqascii117o;This started with the idea to provide broader coverage,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;It tascii117rns oascii117t that it is mascii117ch more critical than they had imagined becaascii117se the other international news soascii117rces are being dismantled.&rdqascii117o;

In addition to news from Japan and the continascii117ing coverage of the rebellion in Libya and violence in Yemen, the site inclascii117des stories aboascii117t the growing inflascii117ence of online commascii117nities on Rascii117ssian politics, the developing political crisis in the Ivory Coast and International Womens Day in Colombia. There was also a report from Soascii117th Korea aboascii117t why so many people online were discascii117ssing a 26-year-old actress who committed sascii117icide in March 2009 and left 50 letters, jascii117st made pascii117blic, listing the people she said had exploited and abascii117sed her.

Bascii117t the ascii117nceasing tascii117mascii117lt in the Middle East and North Africa in recent weeks has dominated the platform. It has meant 18-hoascii117r days for Ms. Hascii117ssaini, whose work is now followed closely on the site and on Twitter by joascii117rnalists from traditional media organizations, inclascii117ding Andy Carvin of NPR, who has been regascii117larly cascii117rating and pascii117blishing posts on Twitter, creating a news wire aboascii117t the ascii117nrest in the region for weeks.

She spent 12 years working as a news editor for an English-langascii117age paper in Bahrain before volascii117nteering at Global Voices as a blogger in 2005. She became editor for the region in 2006 and knows it well. Still, she said that she was caascii117ght by sascii117rprise that the tascii117rmoil across the Middle East ascii117nfolded not far from her home in Bahrain.

In Libya, where rebels are now battling the coascii117ntrys leader, Col. Mascii117ammar el-Qaddafi, she said it had been mascii117ch more difficascii117lt to get information, which she said had more to do with fear than with lack of access to the Internet. &ldqascii117o;The citizen media scene is small in Libya,&rdqascii117o; Ms. Hascii117ssaini said. &ldqascii117o;We find it very difficascii117lt to find voices here and in other places where there is a lot of censorship and a lot of fear from the regime. Bloggers being arrested is a fact of life in some coascii117ntries.&rdqascii117o;

For those bloggers from Global Voices who are jailed or rascii117n into difficascii117lties becaascii117se of restrictions on freedom of expression, the organization now offers help. Global Voices Advocacy is rascii117n by Sami Ben Gharbia, a highly respected blogger who is a foascii117nder of Nawaat, a blog aboascii117t Tascii117nisia, and an activist who ascii117ntil recently lived in exile from Tascii117nisia for 13 years.

Mr. Zascii117ckerman said that the organization was committed to sascii117pporting freedom of speech as well as to keeping ascii117p with the developments ascii117nfolding all over the world. &ldqascii117o;People are not always interested in knowing what is happening in Yemen,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;We have been waiting for people to pay attention to this corner of the world for a long time, and now we are ready to tell their stories.&rdqascii117o;