Rising Voices is pleased to announce the launch of its Rising Voices Amazonia Microgrants [1]!
Are you a community working for, from, or in the Amazon and have an idea of how participatory media can help tell your story? Do you need funding and support for it to become a reality? Do you want to be part of a network that helps bridge the digital participation gap in the Amazon?
If you answer “yes” to all three questions, then we invite you to take part in the 2014 Rising Voices Amazonia Project.
We will be awarding up to six micro-grants up to USD $3,500 to projects with a strong and clear idea for how to utilize participatory media tools to tell the story of issues important to them.
To apply, please visit the “Submit a Proposal” page in Spanish [2] or Portugese [3], where you will find short questions that will help you outline your project plan.
FROM THE BLOG
Crowdsourcing Helps Bangladeshi Students Read With Their Fingertips [4] – Banglabraille is a new project using Unicode and crowdsourcing techniques to create textbooks for tens of thousands of visually impaired students in Bangladesh.
Off to Burkina Faso! The Niger Team OpenStreetMaps their way to Ouagadougou [5] – The 2013 Rising Voices’ micrograntee Mapping for Niger is continuing on with their work, traveling around their region to meet with other OpenStreetMap teams and learn new skills.
Building the Handheld Revolution in Closed Communities: Mycitizen.net [6] – A guest post by the creator of Mycitizen.net, a free and open-source platform that facilitates social networking in local communities. Designed for Burma, it can be used where the safety of civil society actors requires special privacy protection.
Senior Citizens Write Wikipedia [7] – Breaking down barriers to technology is the first step to involve society's most experienced members. This Czech Wikimedia Foundation project will involve seniors in the online Wikipedia community.
FUNDING
The US African Development Fund – connecting community enterprises in Africa with capital and technical support – is now accepting applications from the underserved communities in conflict affected, post-conflict affected countries and communities left behind. More info HERE [8]
OPPORTUNITIES – JOBS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Global Voices is seeking a part-time Contributing Editor to support our coverage of Russian citizen media, as part of our RuNet Echo project. More info HERE [9]
An infographic from Visualizing Palestine – check out our blog post for more.
U.S.-based journalists can apply for a US$24,000 fellowship to conduct a reporting project abroad – the Above the Fray Fellowship is designed to give a promising journalist the opportunity to cover underreported stories from abroad, and will spend three months filing on-air and online stories for NPR. Deadline is July 1. More info HERE [10]
The Knight-Mozilla Fellowship is now open, offering developers and technologists in newsrooms worldwide US$60,000 to spend 10 months writing code in collaboration with reporters, designers and newsroom developers. More info HERE
Atlas Corps fellowships are open – a 12-18 month professional fellowship offered three times a year for nonprofit leaders from around the world, developing leadership skills. More info HERE [11]
TRAININGS
The Guardian will host a digital news course in Australia on July 25. More info HERE [12]
Free online course in western journalism standards directed towards Central Asian journalists who wish to improve their professional skills and abilities. Course begins June 23. More info HERE [13]
Entrepreneurship course for women to be offered in Spanish starting Jun 23. More info HERE [14]
AWARDS
The Imperial War Museums’ Short Film Festival is taking submissions for films that explore the causes of war and conflict and their impact on people’s lives. Prizes include GBP 10,000 worth of production time and a paid, 12-month internship. Submission deadline July 31. More info HERE [15]
Mapping for Niger team travels to Burkina Faso for an OpenStreetMap meetup and is awarded a computer – more on the blog.
Grassroots Women Leaders generating positive changes in their community are invited to submit three written journal entries to World Pulse’s 2014 Women Weave the Web Campaign. The competition, open to women around the globe, will award $20,000 Lynn Syms Prize along with other prizes. More info HERE [16]
TOOLS
The Rory Peck Trust has recently published several useful resources for freelance journalists, including information in insurance, safety & security, funding, and professional development. More info HERE [17]
Mashable gives a rundown on 5 ways to text (for free) from your laptop when you're having signal problems with mobile phones. More info HERE [18]
From IJNET: Top Android apps for citizen journalists and mobile reporters in tough environments. More info HERE [19]
Edraak, is a massive open online course (MOOC) platform, is launching, offering original Arabic courses. Browse upcoming courses HERE [20] (in Arabic)