From the community

In a project funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, students (and others) are invited to put nodes and links on a graphical map of Boston's organizations, issues, and people. This map becomes a resource for research, volunteering, recruitment, and activism. It will also be accessible via Facebook and MySpace applications.

Kings Cross Environment is a suite of simple blog-based civic websites run by volunteers in a deprived area of North London. We have a team of about six writers and 20 or so contributors. We use the blogs as information and campaigning platforms in an area overlooked by trad. media. The sites have coalesced social action by better information sharing and acting as a rallying point. Two examples: a campaign against Network Rail extracted £1million for the community, A campaign using youtube video against Cemex the world's biggest concrete company forced them to capitulate and change their operations.

DOTCOM is a program for media-savvy and civically-engaged youth, designed to offer training and opportunities for young people to create socially conscious media that will impact communities across the U.S. and the Caucasus. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, and supported

7iberDotCom is an independent media outlet that is youth-orientated and Jordanian-based. Pronounced hiber - with a hard ‘h’ that is virtually non-existent in the English language – 7iber looks to provide an online platform that allows young Jordanians to become more actively engaged. Essentially, it is a place for citizen-generated content to flourish, fostering a critical and informed civil society through an independent and participatory new media. 7iber offers a model for free speech in Jordan by offering an alternative to mainstream and state-run media, while attempting to provide professional, ethical and fearless journalism.

The Banyan Project is a group of senior journalists, technologists, researchers, strategists and advocates for strengthening democracy who are devoted to creating a new large-scale model for quality journalism that can thrive in the digital future.

Tom Stites, founder and moderator; see Advisory Board at http://www.banyanproject.com.

People’s Voice Media is a new and innovative social enterprise, based in Manchester UK that works in local communities. We believe in the power of social media to get communities talking to each other, to spread news, and to give everyone a voice and a platform from which to use that voice. We offer a range of services that offer a complete package of media development opportunities, primarily to people living in digitally excluded communities.

Edhat Online Magazine is a local news and information community for Santa Barbara, CA. Edhat started in November 2003. The site includes links to local online news, citizen submissions, columnists, pets of the week, contests, local interest articles, photo galleries, local running race results, comments, breaking news, and other fun stuff.

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society's Media Re:public paper series -- News and Information as Digital Media Come of Age -- was put together over the course of a year of examining the news media in the U.S., engaging with journalists, bloggers, citizen journalists, public broadcasters, publishers, advertising networks, researchers, technologists, and many others. It builds on previous discussions and highlights the need for a new public conversation about reinventing journalism in the public interest. This inclusive conversation should aim to build on the best from all areas -- the energy of participatory media and the expertise of professional journalists, the competitive drive of commercial media and the commitment to excellence of public broadcasters, the dedication and deep knowledge of community organizations and advocacy groups and the interests and energy of the public. The Media Re:public project’s research process benefited from a large and varied group of contributors, authors, and interlocutors.

Citizens Market, Inc. is an exciting new nonprofit organization in Cambridge, MA, that is developing a user-generated website for ethical consumption, where information about corporate behavior is organized into scores that consumers can see while they shop.

Citizens Market will invite anyone to contribute information – i.e., a review and a rating – for any company’s performance on a certain issue, such as treatment of minorities, political lobbying or toxic emissions. Submissions will be reviewed and rated for quality by peers, so that persuasive reviews have a higher impact on the company’s final score. For each company, the website will automatically generate a “report card” of issue scores. Each company’s profile will be linked with its brands and products’ barcodes. We’ll post our algorithms and code base to ensure total transparency and encourage feedback.

Cancha Ciudadana (www.canchaciudadana.org )is an effort to promote civil participation among citizens in México. Using the new technologies available -social networking, blogging (http://canchaciudadana.blogspot.com/ ) and an internet site- Cancha Ciudadana promotes discussion, debate, reflection, and enhances civic responsibility in the uses and production of valuable information.