Global Voices on BBC News

Global voices speak through blogs (BBC News):

But the blogosphere is a noisy place. There are more than eight and half million bloggers, writing about everything from what happened in Kyrgyzstan to what they had for breakfast.

So the Global Voices website is picking and choosing. It is highlighting what blogger Hossein Derakhshan calls "bridge bloggers." They are bloggers who, according to Mr Derakhshan: "can make a bridge between two languages, or two cultures."

Mr Derakhshan is originally from Iran, but he now lives in Canada and blogs under the name "Hoder" in both English and Persian. He has a large following in both languages.

He says bridge bloggers can serve as cultural interpreters. "These are the people we need to start with to have a more and deeper understanding of what's going on in that other culture," he says.