While news about Iraq has a vast media presence, the sources from which it comes are arguably rather limited. We almost never, for example, see or hear stories from ordinary civilians about ordinary life in a war zone. But one place those stories can be found is at AliveInBaghdad.org, a video blog "formed to counter the sound-bite driven, 'Live From' news model."

Alive in Baghdad is empowering Iraqis to share their stories with the world, and provides a place of education and interaction for global citizens interested in the real life political, military, economic and social situation in Iraq.

To this end, Alive In Baghdad seeks to:

• Generate and publish at least one short (3-7 minute) video from Iraq, made by an Iraqi civilian, each week, and make this video easily accessible to the world via the internet.

• Keep all previously published videos easily accessible to the public.

• Publish ongoing and up-to-date written blogs and videoblogs from Iraqi citizen journalists on www.AliveinBaghdad.org.

• Provide a user-friendly, encouraging and supportive environment for public interaction and education concerning Iraqi issues through on-site discussion boards, chat rooms and message threads.

Above all, Alive in Baghdad is devoted to empowering Iraqi citizen journalists to share their stories with the world in a personal, candid and non-bureaucratic way. We endeavor to cut through the red tape and politics of corporate news and deliver the real stories, from real people, everyday.

The same crew has a similar citizen journalism project in Mexico, published in Spanish and English.