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6/01/09 |
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Participants : 1803 |
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Donations : $260,044 |
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Median Donation : $56 |
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Newsletter V.1
MEDIA VENTURE COLLECTIVE
Working Capital for a Media Revolution
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Hello all,
This is our first newsletter, and we promise they’ll be infrequent. This will be followed in about a week to go into more detail on a couple of imminently launching projects mentioned below, and then we hope to settle in to about one a month. We know your attention is valuable.
Attention Conservation notice - this newsletter addresses:
1. A bunch of housekeeping notes since this is our first newsletter;
2. Support the Talk to US project - it’s now or never to bring international voices into the election dialogue;
3. updates on existing and imminent projects.
details below.
HOUSEKEEPING
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A refresher: Media Venture Collective is a fund of the Rudolf Steiner Foundation, in collaboration with a coalition of independent media, eco-social activism, and digital liberty organizations like Alternet, Global Exchange, Planetwork, Link TV, Organic Consumers Association, etc.
Our mission is media revolution, fertilized by low-cost “patient capital“ for high-impact, public-benefit (non- or for-profit) media enterprises. (Enough hyphens for you?) Funds come from donations and grants, large and small, from viewers like you. For more detail, see Media Venture Collective .
You’re on this list if you registered or donated at our website, or one or more of our founders or partners thought you might have something to contribute in pursuit of that mission.
If you’d like to get more involved, and/or connect directly with others on this list, add yourself to our Shared Rolodex at MVC Rolodex .
We have a new blog called Media Burn. Use the “Suggest a Link“ option if you know of something we should cover. MEDIA BURN blog
If you have a project you want to promote, post it at MVC Open Mike blog . We’re still small potatoes right now, so help make the projects below successes so we can grow.
If you’d like to volunteer skills, we could use in particular: a few hours a week of PHP/MySQL programming, maintenance of our blogs, PR, etc.
As important, spread the word, by forwarding this, and/or pointing friends to this URL unique to you, http://www.mediaventure.org/?t=7147 , so we can credit you for any results.
To unsubscribe, forward this to unsubscribe@mediaventure.org . If you opted “no“ for the newsletter on the donation page, this is the last you’ll get.
WHAT WE’RE UP TO
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INTERNET BOOKMOBILE - Our prototype project in Uganda is just finishing, with great success, we have follow-on projects shaping up in Ghana and Macedonia, and we have a nice franchise model coming into focus.
 Anywhere Books / Internet Bookmobile
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Talk to US - bringing global voices to US election dialogue
We’re helping promote Talk to US, which is focused on giving the international community, the “Second Superpower“, a voice in the first election that truly affects the whole world. It connects with mainstream America by collecting 30-second video messages from around the world over the web, and airing them on Link TV and on bought airtime in swing states.
Talk to US
Being non-partisan, it’s a clean, legal way for foreign donors to pitch in (MoveOn turns down foreign donations because they’re associated with the Democrats.) LA Times, The Guardian, Utne, Ode are all covering it, and it’s part of a great consortium called The World Speaks, The World Speaks .
Please copy and email the letter at the bottom to friends, especially anyone in your international circles who wants to submit their “voice”, in the form of a 30-second video. And everyone who can, please donate $10 to $20. The money will be used to support videographers in developing countries to ensure they’re heard. Donate to Talk to US
OTHER PROJECTS ABOUT TO LAUNCH
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 Most of the following are part of our new Signal Hill initiative, focused on earning income through “constituency marketing“.
A People’s Marketplace for Books - In collaboration with Alternet, we have developed a fun, simple, but powerful online book recommendation system and marketplace that facilitates purchase through any online bookseller, collects commissions on those purchases, and distributes all profits to our MVC projects, Alternet, and our other independent media partners. Email bwl@mediaventure.org if you’d like to be a beta-tester.
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ODE Magazine co-promotion - We are partnering with ODE to help them build a US subscriber base, where half of all revenues from subscriptions we get for them goes to Media Venture Collective, which we then share with our partners for helping get the word out. Check them out at Ode Magazine but wait til our next newsletter to subscribe.
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BE THE MEDIA book - We are working with David Mathison on a great new book he’s going to be publishing late this year. BE THE MEDIA helps independent artists create and distribute content without selling their royalties, rights or souls in the process. It is the result of a decentralized, collaborative effort by some of today’s leading media activists, educators and experts. Be The Media
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Identity Commons I-NAMES - MVC has been intimately involved in the development of Identity Commons, public interest developer of I-NAMES, a universal private identifier that effectively becomes your electronic name and calling card on the web, a necessary condition for digital liberty and privacy. Simplistically, you can think of it as “domain names for humans“. Among many other uses, an i-name can be viewed as the ultimate SPAM filter, since you will never again need to put your email address on the net. They are launching a special offer for early adopters, $30 for 50-year registration of your I-NAME, of which MVC gets $10. More on that shortly, meanwhile see Identity Commons
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FILMS TO SEE BEFORE YOU VOTE - Peter Broderick has put together a great site promoting screening of important films relevant to the elections. Films To See Before You Vote
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That’s all for now. More detail on some of the projects above when they launch.
Brad deGraf
Here’s the Talk to US letter. Copy and paste it into an email to your friends.
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Subject: Talk to US - the world speaks directly to America by video.
Talk to US is focused on a huge problem, and opportunity: American policies affect the whole world, yet non-Americans have few ways to communicate directly with mainstream America. As the US approaches an historic election, the “Second Superpower” - international public opinion - is unheard.
Talk to US is a non-partisan public benefit organization seeking to expand US-international dialogue by inviting the opinion of all those affected by our decisions. We are collecting 30-second video messages from around the world, with the most powerful to be broadcast nationally, starting with Link TV (which reaches more than 20 million homes).
We need your help with two things:
1. SPEAK UP - Encourage your friends overseas to submit 30-second video messages to the project for TV and web broadcast.
Talkt to US videos
2. DONATE - Help people of the world be heard by America with a tax-deductible donation to Talk to US. Your donation will ensure that we have high quality video from people separated by the digital divide - in Asia, Latin America and Africa especially.
Donate to Talk to US
The US election is not far off. Talk to US:
- constructively channels international concern about America’s engagement with the world;
- can grow to something significant in the limited time we still have; and
- communicates to the mainstream.
Americans: Tell the world we are listening.
International friends: Communicate directly with the American people.
Thank you!
*******************************
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"A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both."
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- James Madison |
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