Every year, the good people at Rising Voices issue a call for applications for projects that will help underrepresented communities take advantage of participatory media tools to amplify their voices and join the “global conversation” online.
This year, after receiving 1,178 applications from 122 countries, the Rising Voices team had the unenviable task of choosing just 6 projects as their 2012 grantees. Last week, RV director Eddie Avila announced the new grantees, including a project from Nablus that includes creating a cooking school. According to their application, which included a video talking about the project, at Bayt Karama, women will learn “to document and record personal and family stories about the origins and the traditions of local cuisine” using digital tools and deliver cooking classes as a part their 2012 Rising Voices grant.

A common theme of the projects—the other five of which come from Burma, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, and the United States—is to honor and preserve language and culture. We like the message: participatory media isn’t only about creating political revolution. It’s also a window onto personal and professional ones, too.
Reading about all Rising Voices grantees since 2007 and application process might help you come up with an idea of your own. There’s always next year.