Grassroots organising

Blogs are probably the most simple and flexible way to incorporate “citizen journalism” into your organisation’s toolbox of tactics. It aids in the general work of documenting and sharing information amongst a constituency. It can also be used as a focused strategy for changing perceptions and myths about countries, people, cultures, and issues.

For example:

• a blog campaigning to end Female Gentile Mutilation (FGM) in Somalia could include myths and facts about the role of religion and culture in perpetuating the practice. 
• a blog on land rights in South Africa could include historical perspectives on why land rights are an issue as well as updated news on local government polices, legislation and actions by the land rights groups in the country.

Blogs enable basically anyone to write their own stories, to report local news, to conduct a local campaign in a global space. They take the phrase “think locally, act globally” to its possible conclusion — this is because blogs allow you to build visible relationships with other organisations throughout the world that are working on similar issues.

In this way, blogging enables the margins to move to the centre. It enables any organisation or movement to globalise its work or cause. You are then able to meet other organisations and people from across the world with similar perspectives, and together change the shape of the global conversation.

Flexible usage & collaboration

A blog can be maintained by just one person, or it can be run in a collaborative manner by as many people as you wish. It can even be contributed to by different members of a network or coalition.

This means that everyone in your organisation can contribute, and the blog itself can help to strengthen organisational cohesion and working relationships. This is true even if your organisation has a wide geographical reach. Because a blog can be updated remotely, and even simultaneously from different locations, you can be very creative with using it strategically. With a little planning ahead, your organisation can take the technology “on the road.”

Building a community through blogging

In many countries the 'blogosphere' serves as a space where independent journalists and activists are creating an alternative form of media and using this as a way to organise and build communities. This is particularly important in countries where there is a lot of censorship.

In Egypt the blogging community acts as key space for the opposition movement to organise and to tackle political and human rights issues that mainstream media do not cover. The Omraneya site serves as a central hub for the Egyptian blogosphere and citizen journalism community.

The Mzalendo blog in Kenya was cofounded by the blogger Ory Okolloh. Its' mission is to “keep an eye on the Kenyan Parliament.”

In the Malaysian blogosphere recently developments have shown how influential bloggers be in the political sphere. Jeff Ooi, is a Malaysian IT consultant and activist who writes a popular blog known as Screenshots. Jeff was recently elected to parliament.