The aim of the 5-day closed meeting was to enable face-to-face exchange, and to coach bloggers on how to leave their imprint on the international blogging sphere, make their voices heard, and to organize online and offline campaigns to pressure governments to stop censorship and restricting freedom of expression. It also aimed at encouraging them to champion the political and cul tural r ight s of women, marginal ized
communities and ‘other’ minorities (the LGBT community in particular). Finally, the aim of the meeting was to give the bloggers a chance to form
solidarity networks.

To make the event truly participatory and instill a sense of common ownership, the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation and Global Voices eschewed the
traditional workshop set-up and instead opted for a barcamp-style-event where apart from a number of fixed presentations, participants chose the topics they wanted to focus on, and were trained by other participants who were experts in that particular field. The result was five days of intense and energetic exchange of expertise and knowledge, and the creation of many linkages and networks. The ultimate result, in the words of blogger "saudijeans" was an ‘unconference’.

For further details and information see the full Bloggers' meeting report 2009 or contact for more information: lama.hourani@ps.boell.org