openDemocracy is 5 years old!

Open Democracy, the leading independent website on human rights and democracy, celebrates its 5th Birthday this week. As a pioneer of global web based analysis, comment and participation, openDemocracy has grown from a start up in a garage in North London to now attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every month. To mark our 5th birthday Todd Gitlin, Lisa Appignanesi, Tariq Modood, David Held and many others wish us many happy returns and reflect on our contribution to global debate and understanding.

(PRWEB) May 15, 2006 -- Open Democracy1, the leading independent website on human rights and democracy, celebrates its 5th Birthday this week. As a pioneer of global web based analysis, comment and participation, openDemocracy has grown from a start up in a garage in North London to now attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every month.

“When we started, we knew that the Internet revolution would impact the way information and knowledge would be disseminated. We saw that the web offered an opportunity to create democratic space and decided to establish a new kind of publication based on openness to global debate and exchange” said Anthony Barnett, the founder of openDemocracy.

When we started, we knew that the Internet revolution would impact the way information and knowledge would be disseminated. We saw that the web offered an opportunity to create democratic space and decided to establish a new kind of publication based on openness to global debate and exchange

With visitors, participants and authors from across the globe openDemocracy tackles the biggest questions. Recent debates look at the 5th Anniversary of UN Resolution 1325 on women in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, Iran: a history of the current impasse and the consequences of nuclear proliferation, and Francis Fukuyama: the “end of history” revisited.

Isabel Hilton elaborates, “We aim to offer a unique combination of range and depth of coverage of global issues and our reward is the high level of response and participation from our readers and contributors. To act and to be engaged demands both that we are informed and that our ideas be tested. As editor, I am privileged to be able to explore issues that conventional media often neglect. News events are the visible tip of the iceberg. On openDemocracy, we map what lies beneath the surface."

With growing reliance on the web for information and global networking, openDemocracy sees its future as a powerful international hub for the thoughtful, the critical and the analytical. “We were ahead of the curve when we established oD. We believe the recent explosion in new media has put us in an excellent position to further extend our global reach and establish oD as a must visit,” said Laura Sandys, Chair of openDemocracy.

To mark our 5th birthday Todd Gitlin, Lisa Appignanesi, Tariq Modood, David Held and many others wish us many happy returns and reflect on our contribution to global debate and understanding.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-vision_reflections/birthday_3534.jsp

1 openDemocracy is pioneering a new type of independent media based on exchange and participation. Our readers and writers span all continents. We cover the key questions of our time with contributions from renowned authors and marginalised voices.

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