09 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 3

At this point more than 60 bloggers in or from 23 countries have participated in the global mom-meme that Catherine Connors launched last week. That's more than 25 percent of the goal in a very short time. We've also had one dad ask if he could join.

I'll leave the commentary on motherhood to Catherine, at least for now. I do have some observations about how this has grown so far.

First, all but one of the participating posts I've seen to date are in English. That's the language in which this started, but I'm hoping it will travel across linguistic barriers as much as geographic ones. I know the folks at Global Voices Online will be chiming in soon so maybe that will change.

Second, a lot of the participating bloggers are expats, and that is raising a number of interesting questions. For the purposes of getting 80 bloggers in 80 countries, do you consider an American expat in Germany a "German" blogger? What about an Indian mom in Switzerland? Or a Brit in Bosnia? Or a Nigerian in the USA? At first I thought I'd call them whatever gets us to 80 countries fastest, but now I'm going with the self-identification of the blogger. I'd love to know people's opinions here. Still, its interesting that this meme is "traveling" on the backs of people who do a lot of traveling themselves.

Third, I'm a bit surprised that we haven't yet seen bloggers from some of the more wired countries like Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, Korea, Japan, or Italy. I guess that means we've already gotten some of the "harder" countries.

Finally, this idea is starting to get some attention - it was highlighted on blogs.com.

I'm sending occasional updates on Twitter and the delicious page. More updates here as events warrant.

Here are the additions since the last update:

Bolivia: Capsula Del Tiempo (bilingual!)
USA: Daily Dwelling (in Germany, but identifies as US), Bethany Actually, Deliajude, life is good, And I'll Raise You 5, Whiskey In My Sippy Cup, And I Sing To Myself What a Wonderful World
Egypt: Heissatopia
France: Whale Ears and Other Wonderings, Momster
Canada: Hey, Mrs. Wilson!, Canadian Mom
Oman: Daily Dose of Me
China: Bloomin' Marvelous, Email From The Embassy
Trinidad and Tobago: Things I've Found In Pockets
India: Boo's Baby Talk, Mamma of Twins
UK: A Modern Mother
Bosnia: Brits in Bosnia (here's where I run into that self-identification issue)
Guatemala: Expat Mom

Remember, if you're participating and don't see your post included here or the delicious page, just let us know by leaving a comment and/or an email.

9 comments:

Mamati @ Daily dose of me said...

HI David
I am from Oman and I am Omani lol so i represnt my country :D

I think this is great and hope we get to hear mums from all over the world

Anonymous said...

I just posted mine and I got tagged twice. I'm an American in Morocco, I write in English (except for the occasional French phrase), and I got tagged from Israel and Trinidad.

Rebecca said...

Great idea, I was tagged and happily participated. You can read my post here: http://alittlebitofmomsense.blogspot.com/2009/04/world-according-to-mom-my-version.html

I'm from Canada. Good luck!

Mandira said...

Thanks for coming by...will post (even though am not tagged) and tag others...it is such a fantastic idea!

Ree said...

Hi! I posted - http://hotfessional.com/2009/04/04/do-i-get-an-upgrade/

from the U.S. - I also thought you should know that Whiskey in my sippy cup (I tagged her) is in Canada, not the U.S.

Thanks!

And I loved participating. thanks to you and Catherine.

Dorset Dispatches said...

Sorry to cause you so much trouble. I'm on the look out for a Bosnian Mummy to participate - in Bosnian. I'll let you know if I have any success.

I loved writing the post, and I'm enjoying reading others. Great idea!

Stephanie Meade Gresham said...

Here's my contribution! I'm searching for international tags and included my Sis-In-Law (American).
I'm really enjoying reading the posts!

http://unicornbutterflies.blogspot.com/2009/04/motherhood-post.html

artyfeminist said...

Hi I am an American living in Ireland and was tagged by Irish Mammy on the Run

www.artyfeminist.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Expat Mom said...

Well, I consider myself to be Canadian originally, Guatemalan by transplant, since I`ve lived here for 7 years now. :) However, I don`t know that you could count people who are just passing through a country . . . interesting question.