Citizen journalism site gives voice to underreported countries

I was intrigued to discover All Voices, a relatively new "citizen media" newswire service (started in 2008) looking to expand into 30 countries that it believes aren't getting enough coverage from traditional media.

According to Mathew Ingram's article, "Citizen Journalism Startup Plans Global Expansion," the Web site has grown by over 400 percent in the past year and now has 337,000 contributors in 180 countries generating 4 million unique visits per month.

What a wonderful way to put citizen journalism to use. In the United States, we suffer from information overload on a multitude of topics ranging from Tiger Woods to Michael Jackson. How nice to put these information-gathering resources to use in a more positive way so people in other countries--such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt and China--can be informed on topics that affect their lives.

As an unedited and unfiltered open-media reporting form, Allvoices has established a "Report Credibility Rating System" indicating the trustworthiness of the story, which readers find useful when sorting through uncensored media reports.

Upon analyzing the design of the Web site, I think the site should move its "Images of the Day" up to the top of the home page, since they are larger. I guess the 4 million people who look at the site each month aren't too put off by the design, however.