Community-Building Collaboration Tools
http://lone-eagles.com/toolbox.htm
The following web tour of community-building tools is a work in progress to
support the CTC VISTA volunteers and others.
Please send your contributions to Frank
Odasz Email: frank@lone-eagles.com
Today, Ebay, Yahoo, Amazon,
Google and other large corporations are beginning
to focus on providing localized services; free
collaborative tools, (
http://groups.yahoo.com)
free ecommerce web sites (
http://tripod.com ), free
resume-building with local job searches, (
http://monster.com )
local searches (
http://google.com ), local sales (
http://froogle.com
and http://ebay.com ),
local maps ( http://mapquest.com ), local classified ads (
http://craigslist.com )
local satellite images and GIS mapping
tools( http://earth.google.com ), and even local dating (
http://eharmony.com ).
The National Science Foundation offers free community networks with seven
collaborative tools
http://lone-eagles.com/inquiry.htm
Listservs
- full featured web-based
Listservs are the most commonly used
collaborative tool because the messages automatically
show up in your email inbox instead of requiring you
to remember to go to a site to read messages.
Free Blogs (Web logs - public
self-publishing)
Blogs are popular as a means of posting images,
videos, and text as public topical journals. Using RSS,
it is easy to subscribe to favorite blogs to have all
new messages automatically forwarded to either your
own blog or an RSS aggregator.
Blogger - Free Blogs
http://www.blogger.com/start
Well designed and very easy!
Blog Spot - Free Blogs
http://www.blogspot.com
Outstanding Examples of Blogs
Cowboys Use Blogs
http://www.elderbobonthetrail.blogspot.com/
Cowboy Bob sends audio and video to his blog from the saddle
via cellphone.
Andy Carvin - blogs from an exciting globetrotter renaissance man,
www.andycarvin.com and
http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog
Andy Carvin's favorite blogs
Use an RSS aggregator program will allow you
to automatically receive new information from as
many blogs as you wish. This seems to be a key trend
as an efficient method for staying current with many
peers without having to go to their blog sites.
The DIGITALDIVIDE list
(it's my ddn email list, but I like to receive it
via RSS rather
than have it fill up my in-box.
UNDP NIT Observatory
(ICT4D headlines from the UNDP)
YouthLearn News
Designing for Civil Society, by David Wilcox
KnowPROSE, by Taran Rampersad
Exactly 2 Cents Worth, by Dave Warlick
DailySummit.net
(about WSIS, currently inactive but should start
again in 2005)
RSS (Really Simple
Syndication) Readers
What's RSS and Why Should I Care About it?
By Andy Carvin
RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a way
of having new content from
websites, blogs and newsletters come
directly to you. If you're a
blogger or a online publisher, RSS feeds
make it a lot easier for your
readers to keep up-to-date. This short
tutorial includes directions for how to set
up your own RSS software at
http://myyahoo.com
Recommended is sage which is a reader for firefox
http://sage.mozdev.org/ and have been able to
subscribe to feeds that aggregate news for topics as
widely divergent as Renewable Energy, BBC news, Alaska
Headline News, a host of science news, follow a former
students blog on his adventure of the tip of South
America to Antarctica, rugby, and more. A list of
other readers can be found at
http://blogspace.com/rss/readers . What I like
about them is that you can quickly bring up a headline
list with summary to determine if you want to visit it
and the list stays with you as a sidebar until you
change feeds.
To extend what I know I have added both podcast and
rss capabilities to a web site that I am developing
for use in my classroom this coming year. It will
reside as an intranet offering with some publication
outside as appropriate. You can find the rss feed
which will also lead you to the podcast (which I
read as providing mp3 audio and/or video resources)
at
http://www.edulynx.com/mvsci/mvsci_rss.xml .
RSS Aggregator Software (newsreaders)
Software to allow you to subscribe to blogs and automatically receive all new
postings.
If you don't have a newsreader, here is a link to the recommended
newsreaders for several platforms.
Longtime AFCN member Gareth Shearman sends along a pointer to the
excellent, RSS-rich site used in Victoria.
worth a look as an example of how RSS can be used to provide a wide
variety of news and information on a home page.
For more information, including access to the portal software itself,
drop Gareth a note
(shearman@victoria.tc.ca).
The Association for Community Networking (AFCN)
Web site
www.afcn.org now provides an RSS news feed, for those of you that
like to get your news via an RSS newsreader, rather than visiting
twenty sites a day to see if there is anything new.
If you have a newsreader, simply click the "Syndicate" button on the
AFCN home page to get the URL for the news feed, and pop it into your
newsreader.
Andy Carvin <acarvin@edc.org> wrote:
One of the feeds we've just
created is an RSS feed that
> aggregates all the latest blog posts that have
been posted by DDN
EDU_RSS
If you would like to become acquainted with
wikis, podcasts, and blogs log
Steve Downes' edtech blog aggregator
You can subscribe to Stephen's OLDaily here
Many of the best educational blogs can be found
listed
in the 2004 edublogs awards at
Digital divide network's paul chenoweth's blog, chasing
the dragon's tale, is included within the honorees.
read about paul's wide-ranging interests at
Video Blogging (Vlogging)
From Andy Carvin
http://www.andycarvin.com
Video tools listing
http://www.rocketboom.com/extra/video_tools/ from the popular Vlog
www.rocketboom.com
Speaking of video blogging,
http://MeFeedia.com
has set up a simple way for podcasters and video
bloggers to add a link to their blogs so that
users can subscribe to their content using iTunes.
In case you hadn't heard, the newest version of
iTunes (
www.apple.com/itunes)
lets you subscribe to both podcasts and video
blogs. Over the coming months, more and more
people will be switching to this version of iTunes,
which will make it worthwhile for podcasters/vloggers
to add a one-click subscription link on their
blogs.
I've just posted a blog entry about how to do
this:
If you're a podcaster or vlogger, here's how to do
it:
Step 2: Mefeedia will then bring you to a page
with several links on it. One of them will invite
you to get an iTunes 1-click subscribe button on
your blog. Click the link.
Step 3: Mefeedia will show you some HTML code. Add
it to your website, tweaking it if you like.
And that's it. Once you've put it on your site,
iTunes users who click the link will be able to
have your audio or video sent directly to them and
managed with the iTunes software.
Model video-blogger: rynanne hodson, in new york,
is doing work that is paving the way
for the rest of us. see the quicktime file at the
bottom of
and the video pieces on her blog at
Free Video Sharing Sites
Free video sharing
http://blip.tv
www.vimeo.com
www.youtube.com
www.clipshack.com
http://video.google.com
http://ourmedia.org
http://videoaddon.com/
http://archive.org
Imaging Innovations
N
etwork
Visualizations!!!
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm
Must See!
This is a new application where Tokyo inhabitants post
photos which are mapped on a satellite image of the city.
You might need broadband for this. It loads slowly at first.
http://www.tokyo-picturesque.com/v1/UK picture wall
http://www.neukol.org.uk/media/whitby/view_items.php
people in over a dozen countries have committed to
convening
> "peace tiles" workshops where children will create
collage tiles that
> capture their personal reflections on HIV/AIDS.
More information at
>
> So one of the things I'd really like to be able to
create is a clickable
> "image" map, maybe something like
www.mappr.com, through which users can
> access information and documentation about tiles
workshops. This could
> include facilitating introductions so that workshop
communities can organize
> their own tile "swaps."
Wikis - More full-featured than blogs with
peer-editing capabilities
Spreading Knowledge, the Wiki Way
Wikipedia
Here's where you can set up your own Wiki, it is a fun collaboration tool
http://bridges.netunify.com
Audio: Sound editors, podcasting
Has built-in audio recording capabilities.
PodProducer
www.podproducer.net
One of the best applications that not only provides all the
tools you need to create your Podcast but the
interface is intuitive, easy to use, and it’s
free at the moment. You can download a beta copy
Audio Activism
http://audioactivism.org/
Listen to an example of the call quality via a
recording
http://www.audioactivism.org/category/ctcnet2005/
Audacity Sound Editor
http://audacity.sourceforge.net One of the best Open Source Sound
Editors.
Audible.com
http://audible.com
Commercial site for audio books and podcasts.
Podcast site
www.odeo.com
"Sonic Postcards is concerned with the impact of
sound on our lives and as
with an ordinary postcard it offers the opportunity
for people to exchange
information about their local environments with a
view to providing windows
into a variety of other places, lives and cultures."
If you haven't found it already, here is a link to
Protools Free. It is a
VERY good program (free) for recording/producing
multi-track audio and MIDI,
but only works on 'older' operating systems (Mac OS
9 and Windows98/ME)
It's bigger (expensive) counterpart - Protools LE -
is an industry standard
in music/audio production.
World Forum for Acoustic Ecology
http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/WFAE/home/
We've build a system where people can,
essentially, email mp3's into
your mp3 player. Users can either email the
audio via a mp3
attachment (username@podomatic.com) or create
it on our site using a
flash recorder. I believe it is a good alternative to
call in messages that
are often at the end of podcasts and a good
alternative to regular
email if you are emailing mp3s. The site is
also free.
Could be useful for people with only web access to
start building audio
blogs and podcasts. A very fast way to create
audio emails, saving a huge
hassle setting up MP3 conversion software.. All
it needs is a mike and
you're in business.
They store 250 MB free for each podcaster with
upload facilities and a
Sources of Community Media Expertise
Free Press launched a new resource where you can
search by state and find out if any of the
hundreds of community media projects all over the country are near
you.
·
Main section:
www.hearusnow.org/connected
·
Press Release:
http://www.hearusnow.org/other/newsroom/internetbroadband
/groupsunveilnewcommunityinternetresources/
* Community Media and Social Movements
* Media Activism and International Solidarity
Efforts
* Community Media and/as Cultural Politics
* Media and Community Development
* Innovative Cultural Forms & Practices in
Community Media
* Community Media & New Technologies
* Indigenous Peoples’ Media
* Communication Policy and the Public Interest
* Media Literacy, Pre-professional training and
Community Media
* Tactical/Autonomous/Community Media
* Community Journalism And Investigative
Reporting
* Community Media and Civil Society
* NGOs and Community Media
* Community Media & Local Cultural Production
* Media Reform, Media Activism and Community
Media
* Community Media and Collective Memory
* Production and Distribution through Global
Networks
Digital Bicycle
http://www.digitalbicycle.org
Media Tank
www.mediatank.org
Our Media
http://ourmedia.org
CCTV
http://cctv.org
Taking It Global
http://takingitglobal.org
tools and ecards Get new video?!
Go to
http://www.pcmg.tv and "Click
Here To Watch On Demand." Hopefully, future shows will feature
community networking projects from across the country. If your
community is interested in staying connected to this initiative,
please e-mail Bill Hammerman ....
whammer@petalumanet.org
This week's "Tech Corner" Live Internet TV Show
Wednesday, March 30th, 8:00-8:30 p.m. (PST)
the first online edition of its quarterly journal,
Community Media Review -
The People's Guide to the Telecommunications Act of 2006
This weekend I completed a short Web documentary on my visit to a mobile
computing lab in Baramati, India last week. The video, called Baramati Bus
Stop, is about six and a half minutes long. It explores the mobile lab,
which features two dozen thin-client computers installed on a bus. I also
show my visit to a rural primary school classroom, and meeting some of the
local village children who aren't enrolled in school -- and thus have no
access to the technology.
I've made two versions of the video, one without captioning and one with
captioning.
Without captions:
But as Allen Ginsberg said “Whoever
controls the media—the images—controls the culture.”
(http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/media/)
It will likely continue to be an uphill battle.
techatlas helps nonprofits map out technology
The Communications Initiative
http://www.comminit.com/
MIRA conclusions, stories, and evaluations
http://www.onlinearc.com/mira/mira2/conclusions.htm
Tokyo inhabitants post
photos which are mapped on a satellite image of the city.
http://www.tokyo-picturesque.com/v1/
You might need broadband for this. It loads slowly at first.
It has a built in call recording feature, security
features, uses a VoIP
standard called SIP, better sound quality, and is
free.
April 9, 2005 - The 100 Second Film Festival is the festival for
everybody. It's so short that anybody can create a video and
participate. There are no restrictions on theme or subject matter -
whatever you have in mind - you can do it! Why participate? All the
entries we receive will be published to the web as full quality video
files and catalogued so that you can hand pick your own favorites and have
a 100 Second Screening in your community. By using a Creative Commons
license this festival can go anywhere - and through the power of the
Lowell Telecommunications, LTC, is truly a festival like no other - a
dynamic stream of content which is ever evolving, where
public access mingles with the avante garde and we want you to be a part
of it. So get going!
Google Earth
<http://earth.google.com/>
"Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google
Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power
of Google Search to put the worlds geographic information at your
fingertips."
http://groupserver.org
www.groove.net
Social Bookmarks
http://del.icio.us
Setting a "post to delicious" shortcut on the
bookmarks toolbar on firefox
Community Survey Tools
Ever wanted to create your own blog? You can
try out our free,
noncommercial, easy-to-use blogging tool.
How to Create Your Own DDN Community:
DDN users can create their own online
communities, featuring bulletin
boards, document sharing, news and events
listings, blog entries and RSS
feeds.
Washington Internet Project
Digital Storytelling
Digital Story Telling Manual
www.storycenter.org/memvoice/pages/cookbook.html The
idea of digital story telling is a wonderful way for students to
present and publish their “stories.” This website gives
step-by-step directions on how to implement this with your class.
Digital Story Telling appears to be the latest development in portable
video. Now that we can edit without cumbersome tape based editing
systems, the medium is liberated for lots of different kinds of people
(seniors in particular) to use.
www.bbc.co.uk/wales/capturewales/ is a
good one to look at.
posted on the Digital Divide Network. She
gives six suggestions for implementing
digital
storytelling in the classroom.
Also, I created an Internet TV channel for
contributing VISTAs at
http://portal.nettrice.us/bm/. Christy
Park/SCAT submitted some great youth-created movie
clips. Some of those clips are now available
as video podcasts through iTunes (by invite).
Main Portal
http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/pa/digital-media/
"In the Executive Summary of the NAMAC Deep Focus report there
is mention of a "new generation of media makers and viewers"
that may drive the field towards emerging technologies. They
are tech-savvy, connected, and mobile..."blurring the
boundaries between producing and consuming media, gaming, and
all the while multi-tasking." Apple calls them "digital
natives", Deep Focus refers to them as "the Millennials", and
they are the generation born between 1982 and 2000.
Her youth media resources handout
http://portal.nettrice.us/digital_media/intro.html you can download it
I just uploaded the course syllabus for media lit. My
college course begins right after Labor Day.
Another link I will soon add to my web pages/syllabus is The
Art of Visual Storytelling at
http://www.visualstorytelling.com/. I referred to the
book when developing the curriculum for my computer animation
classes with youth this summer. It was very helpful...and
covers all the areas for Digital Media/Creativity, including
the more traditional media forms.
The Digital Art Youth Program guide includes a chart of tools
and applications, as well as how to get started with
developing DAY programs. I will reference it during the
orientation/overview next week, as well as use some of the
materials for handouts.
Also, I plan on developing the new pages with new content and
material for practitioners. Your support and feedback is
greatly appreciated.
http://www.makemovies.co.uk/stories/stories_frame.htm
...and let me know what you think. I will be adding resources
in the coming weeks such as a forum for Digital Creativity but
I also started a blog at
http://www.mixxnmash.blogspot.com/.
Check out:
National Alliance for
Media Arts and Culture
(NAMAC) 2005 Conference
I am teaching a few computer animation classes this
summer and I thought I'd share with you the web site
I am developing for the class, esp. since it relates
to "digital media for youth". One of the groups is
from Mission Works (also known as Mission Main).
They have a Technology Goes Home program. My class
will be part of the Youth@Art Tech program sponsored
by the Mission Hill Fenway Technology
Collaborative. The aim of the Youth@Art Tech
program is to fill the gap for young people who are
too old for summer camp and too young for summer
employment. Many of the young people who graduate
from Tech Goes Home enroll in the Art Tech program.
By the end of this summer these young people will
have some interesting projects to showcase. Here's
a link to the computer animation class web site (you
need Flash player to view):
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated
Best,
Nettrice
Here's a list of some interesting youth art/media sites
I've found:
The last site is my own but needs to be updated (coming
soon) and NAMAC has some "hot topics" relating to youth.
Finally, here's my personal web site:
http://www.nettrice.usNettrice Gaskin's forums
http://cpcs.umb.edu/vista/forums/
You can still get the handout by going to
portal.nettrice.us/digital_media/intro.html and
clicking on the "handout" link towards the bottom of
the page. It's part of the text.
On your digital media guide, I'd like to see more
specific links "in
context" to guide me to where I can learn more
step-by-step.
The guide I shared is part of the development of the
technology workshops I am in charge of at Mass College
of Art. At some point there will be a portal to go
along with the catalog of free workshops we offer to
students, faculty and staff. Already there are links
to online learning resources such as
atomiclearning.com and lynda.com.
Right now I am really into machinima and playing The
Sims 2.
http://www.videomachete.org/
video blogging at
UMass Boston/CPCS as part of a media literacy course I
am teaching this semester. If you type "video blog" in
Google Steve Garfield's name comes up as the first
item. Here's what Steve covered today:
http://offonatangent.blogspot.com/2005/09/vlogging-literacy.html
http://stevegarfield.blogs.com/videoblog/
Learning how to create a video blog is not too difficult
and it might be a great way for you all to show some of
the youth media that people are creating. Here's a link
to a tutorial:
http://www.freevlog.org/
Funders often want to see that
you have a plan for assessing the outcomes of your youth
and programs. The challenge is finding a good tool to
use for assessment. A good resource for this is Youth
Learn:
http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/planning/evaluation.html
www.dvcreators.net
Phil Shapiro's storytelling links
for free digital storytelling tools i like
for free blogging i like
you might want to think about starting your own podcast. your podcasts
can include your own thoughts and commentaries along with interviews
conducted via
skype or in person, using a portable audio recorder (analog or digital.)
--
Phil Shapiro pshapiro@his.com
"There's just so much more creativity and genius out there than
our media currently reflect." FCC Commissioner Michael Copps
hi everyone -
my niece, who is turning seven next week, is very creative. i
wanted
to give her a present that recognizes and encourages her creativity.
so i composed this song and created this web multimedia
presentation.
Unfortunately my Quicktime is bust, but I followed the link to your
great "Ways of Promoting a Creative Mindset Using Email" essay <
http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/creative.mindset.html>
- when I was a child, I also had an uncle - otherwise a very serious
EU law specialist - who invented fantastic stories for us kids, as you
do with your nephews and nieces.
(Actually, the title should be "Grammar of Imagination": by some odd
quirk of language evolution, fantasia in Italian = imagination and
viceversa phantasy in English = immaginazione).
Rodari was also a commited communist, and it comes through at times as
a proto-political-correctness in Grammar of Fantasy. But not too much,
in his ditties and tales: he also wrote "Favole al telefono", "Tales
on the phone", btw - no e-mail back then. One of them - an update of
"The Little Mermaid" is translated by Bernie Libster in <
http://storyteller.net/articles/73>
- not Rodari's best one, unfortunately.
check out
www.mediatank.org.
Other Extensive Collections of Collaborative Tools
National Science
Foundation’s FREE “Inquiry Labs”
A ten-year grant provides the following
outstanding free collaborative tools. You can create a private community network
in just minutes. A Youth project model for showcasing the potential of these
tools for community leaders is at
http://lone-agles.com/inquiry.htm
The Inquiry Page
http://inquiry.uiuc.edu
Learning begins with questions. Welcome! The Inquiry Page is more than a
website. It's a dynamic virtual community where inquiry-based education can be
discussed, resources and experiences shared, and innovative approaches explored
in a collaborative environment.
Here you can
search a growing database of inquiry units, and you can also
build your own inquiry units. You can
see pictures of inquiry-based activities and learn more about some of
our partners who use inquiry methods. Learn how to
assess and evaluate inquiry-based education or look for more inquiry
resources to support what you're doing. Or you can simply find out more
about what
inquiry and
The Inquiry Page are all about.
The I-labs represent an easy-to-use, free, community network incubator. A good
place to start for those who are unfamiliar with how a community network
actually functions using collaborative tools to gather and share new knowledge.
“The Inquiry Labs” (I-labs) are at
http://inquiry.uiuc.edu/cil
Browse the collaborative projects of others to
see how they are using the free tools.
I-lab collaborative tools are called “bricks” and are listed at
http://inquiry.uiuc.edu/cil/bricks.php
Two Example Inquiry Lab Applications
SisterNet: Participatory Design
http://sisternetonline.org/ourinquiry.html
A model project using the community inquiry lab above.
Puerto Rican Community Projects
http://www.prairienet.org/pbclp/community_inquiry_lab.htm
This page describes how this group is using the community inquiry lab.
Open Source Content Management Systems (CMSs)
*What Does a Content Management System Do?
Three article series with links to free CMS systems
customized for various Non-profit applications.
Learn about the major features ofa CMS, and how it can help
your
organization manage its Web site.
CMS Comparision Charts
http://opensourcecms.com/
Article
http://www.opensourcecms.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=139
This may be helpful for folks trying to pick a content management system as the
basis of a community network:
http://www.svpal.org/~grantbow/groupware.html
Grant Bowman does an excellent job.
CMS comparisions
http://cmsmatrix.org/
Drupal CMSs
http://www.drupal.org Sample site
http://www.civicspace.org Drupal
Distance learning
www.drupaled.org
Plone Distance Learning
Eduplone
http://eduplone.net
Postnuke CMSs
http://www.postnuke.org Sample site:
http://lone-eagles.knet.ca KNET host details
http://lone-eagles.com/indigenous_resources.htm
Moodle distance learning
http://moodle.org
http://thinkingdistance.org/mission.html
Moodle for distance education is free,
open source and extraordinarily versatile for
developing online courses. Colleagues who
have used it more extensively love it.
http://www.moodle.org It's free
at the Literacy Tent.
gina stevens and frances long are both expert moodlers and would enjoy
hearing from you.
gina will be presenting at the MoodleMoot conference in massachusetts
at the end of june, 2005. the designer of moodle will be flying in
from australia for this conference.
Drupal CMSs
Civic Space
http://www.civicspacelabs.org/
A drupal content management system with a clean
design.
Purdue university, in indiana, is leading
the way with an interesting
documentation writing project for drupal, a
powerful and popular
no-cost open source content management
system (cms).
Your new Association For Community Networking membership
also enables to you to login to other Drupal powered
websites (e.g.
http://www.drop.org/) without registering. Just use
the following Drupal ID and password:
password: afcn
will say that the ability to alter the front end, if you get to a
point of
wanting or needing to cookie cutter sites, this would be the *one*
tool
required to customize off the top. I cringe at theme editing as I
was
hoping beyond hope that a theme would just fall out of the sky. Not
quite.
And I just don't want to muck through css style sheets in
Dreamweaver, which
you can do, but that like working on a car with generic tools.
Possible,
but takes 10 times longer.
There is a theme tutorial
Amazing Collection of Postnuke Site Themes,
note the animated Flash graphics of nature scenes
with mist rising and birds and butterflies.
Spidean Pinnacle of Excellence PostNuke, PHP-Nuke, MD-Pro, eNvolution Themes and
Modules Home of the AutoTheme HTML Theme System.htm
Frank, here is a site that really uses the resources of PostNuke.
It is a
PostNuke support site, but if you really take the time, you will see
how
well it does this. It is as always, very busy and can be confusing,
but for
instance, hit Topics and you will see how he segregates his site
out. This
can be really beneficial to see all this stuff.
In the center, part way down, find the selection More News. Hit
that and
fasten seatbelt. This gives the best listings of modules and blocks
I have
seen. I've been trying several to see if they work, how they work,
and if
they have a future.
Check this out. PostNuke Internet TV. The only one that worked was
http://www.photographyblog.com
Online course module
www.moodle.com
http://moodle.oldcolo.com/
There are a couple of theme editors but I have not
used them, preferring to root around for a suitable theme. Here's a
site
that offers a few to preview....
for an intro manual for Moodle and creating courses
play with moodle.oldcolo.com it's a test site and hard to break
course mgnt tools, course authoring aids, etc are all explained here
the gallery interface is a php module in
Excellente photogallery model!
Hospital private patient status community site
www.thestatus.com
couple of things.... as you may
remember, our daughter Jennifer's baby was born with some severe
difficulties in his brain. He just had surgery and while I was
there, found resources at Providence Hospital in Anchorage for a
really neat and free website building opportunity, to keep friends
and family "up" on his condition. It's an excellent example of what
is out there for use within a community and you are welcome to use
his website as an example, if you wish. It's at
www.thestatus.com where you
click on "Visit a Patient page" and then type in
Patient: Hickerson
Password: NOVA-OVAL
COMMUNITY JOURNALISM BLOGs
Free Press
http://freepress.org
Site dedicated to the new media
Dan Gillmor, reporter for the San Jose
Mercury News, has written a book on this subject and maintains blogs at
www.bayosphere.org and
http://wethemedia.oreilly.com This
community will share news and ideas about the
citizen journalist movement. Read his book
"We, the Media"
Dan Gillmoor
dgillmor@sjmercury.com
This week saw the very-soft launch of
Bayosphere,
created by veteran technology journalist Dan Gillmor, who left
the San Jose Mercury News last year and wrote a book
We The Media, in which he espoused many of the tenets
of this new form. Bayosphere joins a small community of sites,
such as Wiki News, Backyard, and Newstrust, dedicated to
getting people to work together to chase their own stories,
comment on stories from the mainstream media, and track which
news they think warrants their attention. Collaborative journalism is so far
falling into three distinct approaches. There's the local news approach,
offered by such sites as
Backfence.com and Gillmor's new project, where the
community focuses on stories happening in a specific
geographical area. For privately owned Backfence.com, which
launched on May 3, it's two cities in Virginia. For Bayosphere,
it will be the Bay Area in California.There's the broader-focus approach,
practiced by South Korea-based
Oh My
News and
WikiNews, which cover a wide array of topics, issues, and
locales.
And, finally, there are the
community-based media-vetting efforts, something sites such as
Newstrust will offer when it officially launches.
Newstrust
will use specialized software that it's building to help
people "select the news they can trust," says co-founder
Fabrice Florin.
www.craigslist.org
The business strategy is if we can get a
critical mass of very local content and a
local audience, then we can target ads better
than we ever could down to a town level," said
Jeff Jarvis, president of
http://Advance.net , the Internet arm of
Advance Publications.
One intriguing experiment started in May when
the Bakersfield Californian, a daily newspaper
with a circulation of about 65,000, launched a
community Web site called the Northwest Voice
(www.northwestvoice.com).
When fire destroyed a historic building in
Brattleboro, Vt., in the wee hours of
Saturday, the local daily newspaper had
already been put to bed. But by dawn, local
residents had posted photos and their own
stories about the blaze on
http://iBrattleboro.com , a local Web site
where anyone can write the news.
Locally, an Internet start-up called
Backfence LLC is planning to launch
reader-generated news sites in Reston and
McLean by April. The plan, according to chief
executive Susan DeFife, is to develop eight to
10 community sites in Fairfax and eventually
go national, creating similar sites in 16
metropolitan areas within three years. Unlike
Advance.net or Northwest Voice, Backfence
plans no companion print products and won't be
hiring reporters. (The company's co-founder,
Mark Potts, is a former Washington Post
reporter.)
Community builder businesses
Eharmony
http://eharmony.com
Fill out their survey and they will match you with your
soulmate. They claim 10,000 marriages resulted from their
first year and predict 100,000 in 2005. They just received
$100,000 in venture capital. Expect many spinoffs from this
hybrid search engine dating service.
http://friendster.com
www.i-neighbors.org
http://dodgeball.com
http://touchgraph.com
http://citizenspeak.org
http://ci-journal.net/viewissue.php
http://ci-research.net
-COOL Community Networking PROJECTS
CTEP- The Community Technology Empowerment Project
http://www.technologypower.org
Catherine Settanni, Project Coordinator
The
Community Technology Empowerment Project Resources
http://www.technologypower.org/links.html
C-CAN, with
partners St. Paul Neighborhood Network, The City of Minneapolis, and the MN
State Dept. of Human Rights has been awarded a three year AmeriCorps grant!
http://wiki.cuwireless.net/wirelessWiki/AustinSummit
Canadian Community networking Innovations
http://lone-eagles.com/canadian-links.htm
Other projects
Ecommerce Incubators
Arkansas State University has
begun this endeavor through their
incubator and are looking for up
to 50 centers nationwide.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/03/19/WesleyBrown/156214.html
MISC
techatlas helps nonprofits map out technology