by gregoryheller | Nov 16, 2010 | Uncategorized
“You Invent. We Fund it.” That is the promise of the Knight News Challenge, the innovation contest that “aims to advance the future of news by funding new ways to digitally inform communities.” This year, the Knight Foundation is giving away as much as $5 million for fantastic ideas that use open-source technology to distribute news in the public interest, in one of four categories. Do you have a fantastic idea that you want to propose, but don’t have the technical expertise to build it? Or maybe you are already on track to submit your proposal, but don’t have a team in place to build out your idea if you are selected? CivicActions is here to help. We support the global movement of people and organizations building a sustainable future by providing Drupal, CiviCRM and mobile application development. Our team has deployed more than 100 free and open source web projects since 2005 for progressive organizations in the areas of social justice, environmental sustainability, and the media. Knight is currently accepting applications in the following categories: Mobile: Seeks projects that use mobile devices to produce, deliver, consume, share and otherwise engage with news. The category reflects the fact that the mobile phone, with 5 billion units in use, has become an important tool for news. Authenticity: Looks for projects that help people better understand the reliability of news and information sources. We’re hoping to identify promising ideas for helping citizens negotiate our oft-chaotic media world. How can we help news users better evaluate the validity and trustworthiness of news and information? How can we better filter and assess the credibility of what...
by gregoryheller | Nov 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
<p>On Wednesday evening I went to Town Hall Seattle to see Alex Steffen of <a href="http://worldchanging.org">Worldchanging</a> talk about carbon neutral cities, and I guess, specifically Seattle and our future. In 2009 after we had local elections Steffen also spoke on this topic at Town Hall, for two nights. Both nights the house was basically sold out. Not so on wednesday. Steffan spoke to a half empty (or perhaps in his case a Half Full) auditorium.</p> <p>Last year Steffen's presentation and slide deck was strikingly familiar to the one he used at the Seattle Green Festival earlier in the year, and this year his slide deck was strikingly familiar to the one he used last year. In fact, his talk was surprisingly devoid of any seriously new ideas — ideas that he did not talk about one year ago.</p> <p>While I like many of his ideas, they have become, quite frankly, pretty main stream, and I think in many respects he would agree, that quite a few of the ideas he has been stumping for have made their way into the general discourse, and are supported by many Americans:</p> <ul> <li>As a nation we need to address the energy crisis</li> <li>We need to move beyond fossil fuels</li> <li>Smart Grid, and smarter use of energy resources are both important</li> <li>Sprawl sucks, and we need to re-concentrate in cities</li> <li>It is time to dial bag our reliance on the automobile regardless of its method of propulsion (hybrid and electric are not going to solve our problems)</li> <li>We need to innovate more, China and India are going to eat our lunch</li> <li>The population...
by gregoryheller | Nov 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
<p>Yesterday was rough. I am not usually an electoral optimist — well maybe I actually am, having worked for many underdogs I held out hope even after returns started to come in showing by candidate slipping behind — but in the last few weeks I really could not believe that the Republican party energized by Koch brothers funded Tea Party activists and candidates like some crazed frat boys hopped up on Redbull and Vodka would stand so victorious on election day. I was certain that they would crash and burn across the board. It does look like the worst candidates were defeated, but that is small consolation. </p> <p>It is not that I am sad to see so many centrist "Blue Dog" Democrats loose seats that they won on Obama's coat tails just two years ago. As I read one Democratic Party official in a battle ground state said, I'd rather have real republicans to organize against that fake Democrats. What upsets me is the shift in the narrative, the loss of whatever scraps of momentum progressive legislation may have had, and the complete and utter failure of the Obama administration and campaign apparatus to convince the American public of its accomplishments.</p> <p>I hope to never hear the car and ditch analogy ever again. It didn't work. I can understand the temptation to really simplify things for an American electorate that can barely remember last month, let alone last year or back to the last administration, but I'm sure there were folks scratching their head trying to make the connection suggested by the analogy. The president and the Democrats did...
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