G20: online voices and inspiration

The G20 summit will be discussed, followed and reported on around the world. Mainstream media will play its part but new media methods online will bring the event to new audiences.

Some people have been inspired by the G20 summit to start their own blogs and are gearing up to report on the event.

Here some of those bloggers who are hoping to look at G20 with fresh eyes talk about their plans.

KARINA BRISBY, G20VOICE

Karina Brisby is leading the G20Voice project

I'm leading a project called G20Voice. It means that 50 of the most interesting bloggers from around the world are allowed inside the summit with the same media accreditation as traditional journalists.

There are so many amazing bloggers and we couldn't possibly decide for the world who should be allowed inside this event, so 15 - 20 spaces were decided by public nomination via various networks.

We used the public nomination system as well as a few people who we tapped on the shoulder because we know they are amazing.

G20 and G20Voice: A blogging call to action

We wanted people who have some interest in the subject. We know that traditional journalism will focus on the economics and the big news stories, but what is often missed are the smaller stories that are just as affected by the financial crisis as much as the banks and the financial sector. For example, poverty reduction targets and the decisions likely to be made at the Copenhagen meeting on climate change later in the year.

So we got bloggers who were interested in these topics and have an audience that is engaged with the issues. We really made an effort to have bloggers from different countries, so we have four bloggers coming from Africa and people from Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Many will be blogging in their own languages, so we will have a diverse and interesting reportage back. One is a photographer who will report back in images and another is more of a podcaster.

ALFIE DENEN, MOBLOG

Alfie Dennan runs the mobile blogging community Moblog

Moblog has a history of working with NGOs because what we do is provide a really easy way to get content from a mobile phone to the web. We're always looking for interesting things to do and the G20 allows us to use social media and Moblog to support the bloggers that will be there.

We are working with our partners Spinvox. Historically there has been no real way to get your questions framed to a world leader. So we set up telephone numbers around the world so people can call a local number and put their question to a world leader. The question is added to the Moblog via a text conversion done by Spinvox. Converting the audio to text means it is an instantly accessible piece of content.

CAROLE EDRICH, G20 OFFICIAL BLOGGER

Carole Edrich is an official G20Voices photoblogger

I became interested in photography through Moblog. I started using it to communicate with close friends and family and I got dragged into the online community. My photography has improved to such an extent that I'm actually selling photos, I had an exhibition and won a competition so I decided to go for G20Voice in the hope that no one else would think of only blogging photos.

I'm aiming for a visual representation that makes people think and gives them a balance.

G20: A slide show from one of the official bloggers

I'd like to show the way people move their hands or the look in their eyes or the aides behind a president, or the kind of shoes a leader is wearing, something that allows people to make their own judgement. It's fine reading about things and seeing what people present on television and to listen to their voice but the one thing that really helps everyone understand a leaders personality is what they look like and that's what I'm going to give them.

I hope to give perspective on the answers that are given to other people's questions for example someone twitches while giving an answer and I can catch that or if they are playing with their pencil under the desk, although it might be a bit ambitious because I think they are very well trained. Hopefully I can give people that tiny clue to make them think for themselves and ask "Is this person being completely up front?"

The absolute basics that I will be taking are a mobile phone and a digital camera, they've stood me well up until now. I owe it to the people who will be looking at my blog to get as much as I can out of this.

PAUL MASSEY, WE20

Paul Massey started the network We20

We20 is an initiative set up in the last couple of months by volunteers in London who really wanted to get together to help people get through the recession and use the web in an interesting way to get people to come up with recovery plans. So we built we20.org from nothing, essentially to allow people to organise their own G20 online and come up with action plans for their own local area, national or global scale.

We decided to build awareness through Facebook and Twitter. We've had a diverse range of people involved, from the NHS, students, people in Australia having their own meetings. We've invited people from charities and the banking sector to really try to be diverse and create innovative ways out of this recession.

You've only got to look at some of the groups on Facebook and sites like Linked-In are doing really well as people turn to online networks to find solutions, to find new jobs and find answers to their own situation. We hope this way the recession may not have as deeper impact as it possibly could do. You can either join a group already online or you can start your own meeting within your location, prompting discussion and inviting people to vote on your ideas.

The full interviews from this piece can be heard as part of the Pods and Blogs podcast from BBC Radio Five Live.