In 2011 the Republic of Honduras became the most dangerous country in the world. With the murder rate rising and wages plummeting, the miitary have now been granted extraordinary police powers. Multinational mining, agribusness, and textile corporations pay poverty wages while the government cooperates closely with the objectives of the US military. The result is what human rights observers like Gilda Batista have described as an unsustainable situation where something big is about to happen. From the streets of Tegucigalpa to the mines of the Siria Valley, something terrible is going on in Honduras, something the internaitonal headlines have been afraid to address.

When three friends set out on a journey through West Africa, they knew an unpredictable but potentially wonderful adventure awaited them.  And sure enough from Senegal through Mali, BurkinaFaso to Ghana and finally to Togo, they experienced the joy and witnessed the struggles of everyday life there.  As radio journalists and documentary film makers, they observed and reported, but some things even an interview can't capture properly.

Thomas Wiegold was there in Somalia even before the German military arrived back in 1993. And he has been there ever since, reporting on what is a unique situation for both a country and its military. As the decades have passed Thomas has continued to both report about as well as look critically at the decisions that are made and how those decisions are carried out by a military that has quietly engaged in a significant number of international interventions over the past 20 years.  

In this podcast I get the chance to sit down with Thomas at the PresseHaus in Berlin and to talk about his work, how he got started reporting about the military and where this work has taken him, both physically and mentally.  Besides a list of newspapers and magazines, you can also find his work on his blog, Augen Geradeaus (similar to the military command - EYES FRONT!), which is mostly in German with a few items for the English speakers as well.  Download, sync it, listen to the discussion, you're sure to learn something new, just as I did. 

Personal media empires aren't a new concept, but with every year that goes by and every advancement that helps individuals produce original content- they rise.  Media commentators used to predict a media revolution or the collapse of traditional media institutions, but recent history shows us that it won't exactly unfold that way.  Instead, personal media producers like Tim Pritlove are hard at work producing programs, exploring topics, engaging with audiences in ways that a big media outlet could only dream about.  In different parts of the world, using a magnificent range of styles and approaches, personal media empires are on the rise.  In this podcast, we get into why and how this is happening, with help from personal experiences and observations.

Beyond his many podcasts and online work, you can also follow him on twitter.

"If my grandmother knows Kosovo is a country… everyone knows Kosovo is a country"  Flakitza repeats in an attempt to help me understand what is going on in the Serbian community of Kosovo.  In her home city public school teachers get pay checks from the Serbian government, which are substantially larger the the salary Kosovo pays them.  A confusion situation that you'll hear me get lost in several times as Flakitza explains how even her university diploma is now considered worthless, as jobs do not recognize what was then officially Serbian University. The list of obstacles would be enough to make a person quit and run off to a country where things make more sense, but instead she is dedicated to making a life in Prishtina, together with her Albanian partner. A Serbian-Albanian-Kosovar love story that many people, including family, are not willing to accept.  "Who cares what people think.. I certainly don't"…. in this podcast I spend time getting to know Flakitza's story, her family, her problems as an ethnic Serbian of a young Kosovo, and her love of radio.  An extra-ordinary individual living in some extra-annoying circumstances.

Gent Thaçi is a rare bird in Kosovo, even he would admit it.  At 17 years old he devotes most of his energy to making Kosovo a better place, specifically to the cause of Free Software.  He knows not everyone understands and he is interested in engaging people, about what may very well help them in the workplace and at home in the already difficult dance that is living in Kosovo.  

Çelik Nimani is well aware of the difficulties his young country faces.  He is also well aware of the tremendous creativity and potential that can be found here as well as throughout the international Kosovar diaspora.  His goal is to help unleash that potential with a resounding call for everyone to get involved, take initiative, and be the change the nation needs to see.  He's not just a business man, he's an ideas guy who enjoys being inspired just as much as he himself inspires.  

It is often assumed that in order to be successful and realize your dreams you must go to university. Year after year people of all ages apply to institutions of higher education and go to great lengths to afford the high costs that come with such schools.  Increasingly people are realizing that the costs to attend such schools far outweigh the benefits.  Beyond that, with the dawn of interest networks online and the availability of information and instruction, there is a real opportunity to learn what you want to learn, without going back to school.

Kio Stark is a grad school dropout.  Yet she loves to learn.  Her writing and research has brought her to the topic of informal learning. How does it work, what do different informal learners do to meet their goal and stay focused. These questions and more are part of a new book she has proposed to be published next year: "Don't Go Back to School - A Handbook for Learning Anything." 

To make it even more interesting, Kio has put the proposal for the book up on kickstarter as a project which people can choose to support financially with the promise of being credited, receiving a copy of the book, and more. What is a refreshing new approach to education is matched by an innovative new approach to funding your work.  

How did this project begin? What experiences has Kio had that led to her interest in learning outside of schools? These topics and more are explored in our podcast together. Give it a listen.

Support and Read more about Kio's Project

Her novel "Follow Me Down" available now.

Unrecognized by many countries, unable to secure their borders, a struggling economy in world already in crisis, the laundry list of problems that Kosovo faces can easily be called daunting.  But in the face of so much adversity there are some exciting things happening and one source of excitement in Prishtina is the new media project called Kosovo 2.0.  

I visited  some of the talented people at K2.0 a few weeks ago during a brief visit this month.  As a first time visitor, I had many questions about almost everything, from politics, to history, from education to entertainment.  It may be a small place but it left a big impression on me. 

In this podcast I sit down with the editor of Kosovo 2.0, Besa Luci, a clear thinking journalistic mind who gave me the impression that no question was out bounds.  I was also joined by another key player at the magazine, journalist and global wanderer Nate Tabak.  Together as my two guests, they tackled all my sometimes elementary questions that many people around the world are also wondering - what is happening in Kosovo today and what needs to happen for a better future?  

After listening please to go and read and experience Kosovo 2.0.

He was podcasting before there was podcasting. Looking to the online conversations and connections between old and new media long before any media company understood what was going on. He's a global citizen who has a talent for finding inspiring voices and teaching us about our world. His is a voice I hear in my head whenever I turn on a microphone or ask a question. Who better to talk about the past, present, and future of this thing we do on this website and beyond, than Christopher Lydon. He was there making podcasts long before anyone else back in 2002, when I starting recording my own program in 2004, his Radio Open Source was my constant companion as I made my way through my new life here in Amsterdam. In honor of my 400th we go back to the origins, back to the mindset that brought us this media revolution that is still unfolding. We're not here to say its all great, nor are we here to declare it as disaster, but we are here to talk about what it has been like, what we see, and foresee, for ourselves as independent voices who make media, and for the bigger picture of us as citizens of this world.