Aid Workers Network

Aid Workers Network is a portal through which one can communicate with aid workers in a variety of ways.  There's an active forum and blog index--both allow the international aid community to exchange ideas, information, even job openings.  The site also features an extensive library of articles dubbed "Advice Pages" that include user-generated tips on topics including the distribution standards of non-food items during crisis and international telecommunications.  The site is run by a non-profit of the same name that's based in the United Kingdom.

UN Dispatch

In trying to appease my interest in international relations, I try to follow news out of the United Nations as much as possible.  But instead of reading vague wire stories and boring reports, I keep up with the UN by following UN Dispatch, a blog funded by the UN Foundation.  UND writers offer their thoughts on UN-related news/actions and, in doing so, provide me with a place to get both UN news and UN commentary.  The blog features a powerful search engine, archives dating back to 2005, regular features, and a long list of tags to use to sort the archive's stories.  Some recent highlights:  the antics of Evo Morales, Ban's visit to Washington, and more arguing over the ICC.

FP Passport

In endeavoring to further expand upon the number of different topics that can totally consume my thinking for days on end, I subscribed to FP Passport about six months ago.  The blog is published by the editors of Foreign Policy Magazine, a bi-monthly publication that proclaims itself to be "the premier, award-winning magazine of global politics, economics, and ideas."  FPM's stated mission is "to explain how the world works—in particular, how the process of globalization is reshaping nations, institutions, cultures, and, more fundamentally, our daily lives."

The FP Passport, then, is a part of the FP website, which itself is more than just an online archive of print articles.  While the full website features unprinted long-form articles and academic papers, the FP Passport blog acts as a clearinghouse for all things foreign policy, an eclectic mix the editors describe as "our arguments hashed out at the coffee machine, insights on the news, story tips buried on our desks, things we hear from our friends abroad, and interesting links that circulated through our inboxes."  Some recent highlights:  breaking news, insider information, gossip, and, one of my favorite segments, What We're Reading, which, of course, leads me to spending even more time reading about foreign policy.  Also of note: my contribution to FP.  Note the attribution in the nut graph (back story here).  And yes, I actually do monitor the Getty image wire, because I am a huge nerd.

Overseas Development Institute

The London-based Overseas Development Institute is among the world's leading international development think tanks. It's mission, to "inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering, and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries," is accomplished through a three-part approach: conducting research, making practical policy recommendations, and spreading news and ideas. The methods of the third part have evolved over the years, from monthly publications in newspapers and industry journals to what is now a daily link to the general public through a weblog. While there is much to discuss regarding the ODI homepage, I'd like to focus on the ODI blog.

The blog is unique in that it does not require a subscription to an expensive industry journal (the Journal of International Development, for example); everyone with internet access can read that which the men and women at ODI have to say. As such, the writers have been forced to tailor their pieces to a new audience--an audience that may not be formally educated in relevant areas and an audience that may have an interest in the topics different from the professional interest that most journal-subscribers and industry workers possess. The blog also allows for other changes, like the inclusion of a blogroll (which introduces readers to blogs from groups like the Center for Global Development, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Alertnet from Reuters), access to RSS feeds and podcasts, and the ability to book a spot at upcoming events. The blog does, however, feature some dead links--an unfortunate bit that would never happen in ODI's journal articles of old.