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Zeega was founded in 2010 by journalist Kara Oehler, media artist Jesse Shapins, and creative technologist James Burns. The team first started working together while developing Mapping Main Street, a collaborative documentary co-created with radio producer Ann Heppermann and funded through the Association of Independents in Radio's MQ2 initiative with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. We built Mapping Main Street from scratch while also producing stories for NPR. But ultimately, to pull it off, Kara had to put her stuff in storage and live out of her car for the summer. Afterwards, we decided people shouldn't have to give up their homes to make collaborative documentaries.

Zeega will enable anyone to create participatory projects that combine original content with photos, videos, text, audio, data feeds and maps via APIs from across the web. But Zeega is not just an online documentary toolkit. Integral to the project is the ability to bridge physical and digital worlds through tangible media such as signs, stickers or even networked receipt printers. Zeega will be a community and framework for creative invention, making it possible for people to pioneer new forms of storytelling that have not yet been imagined. Our mission is not only to give voice to individuals, but to create a platform that empowers individuals to give voice to others.

Kara Oehler is a Peabody award-winning audio documentarian, Editor-in-Chief of the non-profit Media And Place (MAP) Productions and a Co-Founder of metaLAB (at) Harvard, where she is Documentary Arts and Media Innovation Fellow. Her work has aired on shows such as RadioLab, Hearing Voices, Studio 360, and been exhibited at venues such as MoMA. She is also co-creator of the interactive documentary Capitol of Punk. More at: karaoehler.com.

James Burns is Chief Technology Officer of Media And Place (MAP) Productions and Co-Founder of metaLAB (at) Harvard, where he is Creative Technologist and Relational Knowledge Fellow. He built the API-driven website Mapping Main Street, constructing a system that automatically interrelates media feeds from across the web into thematic and geographic pathways. He holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. More at www.matroidblues.com.

Jesse Shapins is a documentary artist, media theorist and social entrepreneur whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Metropolis, and Wired, and been exhibited at MoMA, among other venues. He is Chief Strategy Architect of Media And Place (MAP) Proudctions, Co-Founder/Associate Director of metaLAB (at) Harvard, and is co-creator of Yellow Arrow, the groundbreaking platform for location-based storytelling, among other projects. More at: www.jesseshapins.net.

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The Civic Media Thursday lunch series welcomes those working in the civic media field, who share food and company with staff, researchers, and visitors at the Center's headquarters in the MIT Media Lab.