internet - ESWN: Blogging for social transformation

Rebecca MacKinnon met Roland Soong, the author of the famous ESWN-blog, at the Fourth Annual Chinese Internet Conference in Singapore (but was not very present at the internet till now).

He points out that Western coverage of China - even at its best - is spotty and driven by the interests and attention spans of far-away editors. Thanks to an un-demanding job which leaves him with a decent income and plenty of free time, Roland has dedicated himself to serving a very important cause: helping the English-speaking world understand the Chinese world better by filling in the gaping information gaps not filled by professional media organizations. Every day Roland translates huge amounts of material from Chinese-language news websites, BBS chatrooms, blogs, and other sources.

Social transformation is the goal Roland wants to achieve by translating all this material. Is that working out? Rebecca says ESWN gave the inspiration for Global Voices Online.

I hope that his well-documented success in influencing the media will inspire even more people to wield the power of online citizens media.

Update: Here is ESWN's own presentation in Singapore.