Micro-grants for blogging

Recently, at NetSquared, I got the opportunity to meet David Sasaki, who manages Rising Voices, a project of Global Voices. Rising Voices recently released a request-for-proposals for micro-grants up to $5,000 for blogging work. The project is the result of a recent Knight Foundation News Challenge grant.

The grant guidelines identify this notion of the "participation gap" in the world of blogging. This idea identifies that tools and technology are becoming more and more accessible, but much of the content produced still originates from a small minority of the world's population. I see similarities between blogging and digital storytelling, where there are two important elements: the process and the content. Effective uses of technology require that both are present - a process that people can easily understand and implement as well as content that is compelling and maximizes the technology (assuming basic access is present).

Please forward to folks, particularly those working outside of the US and feel free to respond to the blog post with any questions. Both individuals and organizations can apply. Deadline is June 15th.