Interview about Raporto in Libera Folio

On the first of June a new website was founded, in which its creator, the Panamanian Roberto Perez-Franco, sets out to gather news from around the world. In his view, the new site does not compete directly with Ĝangalo, because its aim is above all to enable every Esperantist to report for themselves on the subjects they consider important. "I think that the combined use of the Internet and Esperanto lets people communicate with each other more freely and effectively than ever before," he says.

When and why did you found the website?

Raporto.info was announced on the night of 1 June; I had started preparing it a week earlier. I founded it because I felt that Esperantujo lacked a news site devoted to general news, where any Esperantist could go not only to read but also to report directly to the world the events that matter to them. For more than a year I have been publishing, through www.RadioArkivo.org, radio broadcasts called Panama Raporto, about news from my country. That is how I understood that many people around the world are interested in such news, even if they had never heard anything about that country. That is the friendly and informative power of Esperanto and the Internet.

What are the goals of Raporto.info?

Its main goal is to present news reported directly by Esperantists for Esperantists, on all the subjects they deem important. Nobody will tell you what matters and what does not. I think that the combined use of the Internet and Esperanto lets people communicate with each other more freely and effectively than ever before, and I hope that Raporto.info will become the online information center Esperantists prefer for learning about and sharing everything that happens in the world. When something important happens in their region, any Esperantist can send in a report! If a report is not entirely right, another Esperantist can post a comment, because a falsehood is countered more effectively with the truth than with silence or censorship.

Does your website compete with any existing Esperanto websites?

Not directly. Raporto.info fills a niche that until today was almost empty: presenting reports on all subjects (especially non-movement news), reported every day directly by readers for other readers. Other sites concentrate on news from a single country only, or on movement news only, or on international news only; often on those sites few people report and many read. Raporto.info covers all subjects and lets every reader be a reporter too. So Raporto is a new proposal and does not compete directly with any other site's niche. There is a small zone where Raporto and Ĝangalo will indeed compete somewhat: international news. But even so, it is good for Esperantujo to have a little friendly, good-natured competition, isn't it? Even there, Raporto's proposal is new: that an Esperantist from the region where the news happened report it directly, if possible from personal knowledge.

How do your website and its goals differ from Ĝangalo?

As I understand it, Ĝangalo aims to be a more professional and international news outlet, and Raporto aims to be a more open and personally lively place for reports. Allow me to explain with an anecdote: in February 2003 I sent Ĝangalo a news item about four indigenous chiefs murdered in Panama, because I considered it important for my country and for the human rights of indigenous people. They replied that Ĝangalo would not publish that item in its news section, because it was local news without major international interest. Then I felt that Esperantujo lacked a place where one could put any news item one feels is important from a national or personal perspective, even if it is not important to everyone. In that way, Raporto and Ĝangalo are unalike. I greatly respect the Ĝangalo team and congratulate them on their work.

What kind of collaborators are you looking for?

All kinds of collaborators are welcome. Our site is open to all news written seriously on any subject. Above all, we are looking for reporters: people who, according to their ability and willingness, will send us reports on news (not only from their own countries) that they consider important. Another way of reporting is to summarize, when possible, important news from international media in order to mention it on Raporto.info. For each reporter we will set up an account, and they can then report whenever they like. But reporting is not the only way to help us. We need, for example, the one-time collaboration of an RSS expert who will help us with technical matters. It would also help if an experienced Esperantist checked the linguistic quality of the texts and pointed out to us what needs correcting, or if someone gave us advice on how to improve the graphic layout of the site.

Are there plans for the technical development of the site?

Yes, of course. In many respects the site has only just begun, and it will always remain a site in continuing development. The graphic layout will be improved, more images will appear, and news will even be shown automatically straight from national blogs. But I need help to make these improvements: I started the project, but I know very well that it is bigger than my technical, artistic and linguistic abilities. I will do everything as well as I can, but I remain open to receiving linguistic and technical help from experts to improve this site that belongs to all of us. Raporto.info is not a personal project but a common one.

How many collaborators do you have now?

Within the first three days alone, six people signed up as reporters, including the president of UEA, Renato Corsetti. But I believe that soon we will have dozens more.

How did the number of visits develop in the initial period? How many visits a day have you had in recent days?

During the three days following its launch, the site received an average of 120 visits a day, from a surprising number of different countries. It is not yet easy to see a trend in the number of visits, because only three full days have passed since the site was presented and the weekend has already arrived. But on Friday there were 140 visits in a single day! Perhaps the number will keep growing when people tell their friends about the site, and when its web address soon appears in the magazine Esperanto.