Our friends at Global Voices and their outreach unit Rising Voices launched a call for project proposals for the first round of microgrant funding of up to $5,000 for new media outreach projects:

As the internet becomes more accessible to more people, as computers become cheaper, and as software applications move from the desktop to the web, the so-called digital divide seems to be narrowing. In its place, however, we see a participation gap in which the vast majority of blogs, podcasts, and online video are being produced in middle-class neighborhoods in major cities around the world.

Examples of potential projects include:

* Purchasing an affordable digital video camera and teaching a group of rural students how to produce an ongoing video-blog documentary about the lives of their grandparents.
* Organizing a regular workshop on blogging and photography at a local orphanage. Portions of the budget could be used on cheap digital cameras and internet cafe costs so that participants could describe their local neighborhoods to a global audience with text and photos.
* Working with a local NGO or social entrepreneur so that their challenges, successes, and stories are told to a global audience.
* Translating our new media curriculum to an indigenous language, like Quechua or Wolof, that is currently not represented in the blogosphere or “podosphere.” Then use the learning modules to encourage bloggers to write in those languages.

This could be a good opportunity for Central Asian communities that are underrepresented in the online sphere, so please do not hesitate to spread the information further. For the original announcement, where you can download the applications, go to Global Voices site. You can also read the announcement in Russian on Russian-language pages of GV.