Footnote 5
Ever since I became co-managing editor of Global Voices, I’ve had the honor of being asked to talk to people about the website. I love doing it and am really proud of everything we do. As a representative of the organization I sometimes get more credit than I feel comfortable with. In an exceptionally flattering article in Contribute Magazine (where I am profiled alongside Samantha Power), Global Voices bloggers are referred to as “Solana’s bloggers”. I wish this hadn’t happened. Over 100 people scattered all over the world come together to do something cool, creative and important in this project – and they did it before I arrived too. There are several other miscommunications in this piece including my age, nationality, profession, quotes, and nuances of how Global Voices works. But I am thankful to Contribute for recognizing our work and presenting it in such a positive light.
You look so pretty in that picture!!!!
BTW I know its not so much about your being beautiful as about your being a powerful, well-educated and highly motivated individual with a passion for social justice.
Just very cute, too.
LOL – If only I had TWO masters degrees from NYU like certain readers of my blog.
Solana: We were delighted to select you to be among our four profiles for the piece in Contribute Magazine and I’m glad you liked the piece. However, we must say, we work with factcheckers, and you were in communication with them. Writer Harriet Rubin refers to you as a “citizen journalist” which is her reference to what you and other bloggers do generically that is acceptable… and we felt that was fair as a generic term to describe what you do. At the time of the interview and when our fact-checker phoned and discussed the piece with you during her fact-check, you did not dispute your age as being 27 years old. You told us you were Puerto-Rican-Danish American and you walked us through “how global voices works”.
As for the reference to “solana’s bloggers” — as co-managing editor, you manage people who are blogging. Nobody intended to take credit away from all who work for you or with you. The piece was about 4 women, not about workplaces or profiles of institutions.
Anyway, glad you liked it! And yes, that photo is terrific. We’re delighted to have had the chance to interview you and shoot your photo in Berlin. Thanks for your time–and please contact us directly if any corrections are required in our next issue.
Contribute Editors
Hi Contribute Editors,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I don’t wish to dispute the article or the spirit it was written in – it’s an exceptionally positive and descriptive piece that captures a lot of what we do at Global Voices in very few words. I am thankful to Contribute for it, and also enjoyed reading about the other women. In adding a “Footnote” in my blog, I simply wished to make clear that I am not trying to steal the show from my colleagues around the world, who probably do not consider themselves “solana’s bloggers”.
As for the factual details. I am Danish-Puerto Rican and not American (members of the Danish-Puerto Rican Society will confirm). I was born in 1979, but I am not 27. I don’t consider myself a citizen journalist, although I accept that others might put me in that category given the work I do. I did speak to the fact checker over Xmas and indicated there were problems. I offered to review the final piece, but understand you have a policy against this. Fair enough – these are minor details, which are only really relevant to people who bother to read my blog. And for the second round of fact checking I was unavailable on the phone, which is no fault of yours.
In the interests of openness, here is a direct transcript of an email I sent to Harriet Rubin in response to her question asking me my age:
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From: solana.larsen@###.com
Subject: Re: interview for Contribute Magazine
Date: December 7, 2007 9:45:58 AM EST
To: hrubin@###.com
I am 28.
NB: I don’t consider myself a citizen journalist… I am an online activist who is also a journalist. I frequently do professional journalism for Denmark’s national public radio and other freelance gigs. I don’t think my own blog quite qualifies as citizen journalism. As an activist I help manage a network of bloggers who report on citizen journalism initiatives around the world. Sorry to get all technical, I’m sure you’ll find an elegant way to put it :-)
In terms of the ambition question you asked: I want to help activists and citizens find new and better ways to express themselves – and journalists and mainstream media to find new and better ways to use that information. As a global citizen I think it’s really important to create bridges across countries and cultures. Bringing voices and views from around the world to power centers in the West is key. The internet challenges traditional ways of distributing and processing information so encouraging new standards and behavior is exciting, particularly because mainstream media is growing more receptive to the idea.
[continues]
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