See: www.whitebandaction.org/g20voice
A coalition of NGOs – Oxfam, Comic Relief, Save the Children, ONE and Blue State Digital – devised G20Voice. The initiative was the first of its kind, giving 50 bloggers from around the world unprecedented access to world leaders attending the London Summit. It received backing from UK government departments who helped to organise press accreditation and provided contacts on the day.
The bloggers were either experts in their field, invited to take part by the host organizations, or were nominated by their readers (700 recommendations were received in 12 days). Most came from one of the G20 countries – many from the developing world – and had knowledge either about geographical areas or about particular issues. The bloggers attended a briefing day ahead of the London Summit. Given that this was the first initiative of its kind, many of the participating bloggers did not know what to expect:
- Some feared that they would be overwhelmed with information: in the event, they needed to be proactive in seeking out stories.
- Others worried that they would be dominated by traditional journalists: support from the sponsors and UK government ensured that this was not so, providing conduits between the bloggers and representatives.
- Bloggers used the opportunity in a variety of ways. Some attended press conferences, asking specialist questions, and raising the profile of their concerns; others interviewed representatives and world leaders in less formal contexts. Many left the media centre and reported on the events and protests occurring around the city, following activists’ Twitter leads to hunt out the stories they wanted to cover. All provided their visitors with an opportunity to feel personally involved, either by acting as intermediaries – asking questions on their behalf – or by providing a textual/photographic/video narrative of their experience of being at the Summit.
With a central website hosting this diverse range of blogs, it should have been possible for visitors to move easily between them. In the event, around 53% of visitors relied on the individual blogger they had followed prior to the event: many viewed the streaming video feed from the London Summit. Over 40% of those visiting the G20Voice initiative were alerted to it through Twitter; 11% found out about it through the sponsors’ websites. The initiative served the bloggers more than it served its sponsors, with the former receiving between a 10-200% increase in traffic: only 30% of those visiting the site were aware who was backing G20Voice, with Oxfam and Save the Children receiving the best brand-recognition.
For authoritative coverage of the G20 communiqué, blog visitors relied on coverage in the mainstream media: the G20Voice initiative was seen to supplement rather than replace traditional sources of news. The blogs were well received; visitors’ feedback suggested that bloggers provided credible and personal accounts, offering views from the ground instantly. While the G20Voice initiative did not make visitors feel more ‘involved’ with international politics, it made the processes feel more transparent and accessible and therefore made it seem more likely that ordinary citizens could engage.
A large amount of planning went into the G20Voice initiative. Bloggers were unanimous in their appreciation, but suggested that it could have been improved by ensuring better regional representation and longer lead-in times (reflecting the fact that permissions from the British government to access people/events were often given last-minute). Suggested improvements include:
- more web-based communications with succinct updates from organisers;
- development of the main website as aggregator, and creative commons agreements with bloggers re. content;
- some build up to the event so that the coordination and networking did not all take place the day before (perhaps online); and
- better focus on the talking points for the G20 summit ahead of the day.
Readers suggested that there could be more round-table discussions with politicians on the live-feed, and recommended in the future that such initiatives involve a broader range of bloggers from disparate backgrounds, reflecting the ideological, geographical and socio-economic nature of global politics. Nearly all of the bloggers said that they would happily take part in similar initiatives (such as the G8 and Copenhagen Summit); 87% said that they’d recommend them to others.
