Quinn Norton files a report from the Global Voices Online conference in New Delhi, India, where about 100 bloggers from more than 25 countries gathered last weekend:
Exciting things happen when dedicated bloggers from around the world meet for the first time. For Briton Rachel Rawlins, being introduced to Tunisian exile Sami Ben Gharbia was the chance to meet a personal hero.
Gharbia is the creator of the Tunisian Prison Map — an idea inspired by a New York Times interactive map charting murder locations in New York City. Gharbia turned the concept on its head: Instead of showing government figures on crime, he'd display where his former government was behaving criminally, imprisoning political dissidents for daring to speak out.
When you click on a place-mark on Gharbia's Google Maps mashup, a pop-up reveals details, stories and videos of prisoners and their families. The map is compelling and provocative, and it's one more reason Gharbia, who now lives in the Hague, says he can't go home.
The site is "the best advocacy tool I've ever seen anywhere," gushes Rawlins, managing editor of Global Voices Online, an international citizens' media group that held its second annual summit in India's bustling capital last weekend.
