One World

Meedan.net homepage

 I recently visited a site I heard about during a piece on language translation on NPR's On The Media podcast.

The website is called Meedan.net and it's self described as a "digital town square where you can share conversation and links about world events with speakers outside your language community." Specifically, it's an event / topic driven forum that is addresses issues of interest to the arabic community - and translates the discussions to and from English to make the dialog accessible to a wider audience.

HOW IT WORKS.
Each "Event" is a topic. Meedan members comment in either Arabic or English. Those comments are first translated by a computer and then nuanced by one of the many translators who volunteer their time.

The original comment appears on a white background, the translated content appears of a gray background.

Meedan.com event page
WHAT I LOVE
First and foremost, I love the mission of the site. The ability to engage in conversations that had previously been closed due to language barriers delivers the promise of the internet. It gives all of us a larger world.

CLEAN, INVITING SITE DESIGN
From an aesthetic point of view - home run! The clean, open design of the homepage feels inviting. The topics / events are easy to scan. Graphics are small, but engaging. The typography is really top notch.