We create the stories of the connected society

With her extensive experience on Capital Hill Ellen uses technology and the Internet to bring transparency to politics and make politicians and our government accountable.

Two projects featured at We Media ‘09 are leading the use of digital media and technology in Haiti’s rescue efforts.
Ushahidi, which was named a “Game Changer” at last year’s conference, is utilizing digital mapmaking technology and social media to map and verify vital information in Haiti. Ushahidi plots key information on a Google map of [...]

Among the many extraordinary efforts to provide aid and relief for the people of Haiti comes this one from The Extraordinaries, winner of last year’s We Media Pitch It! competition: the Haiti Earthquake Support Center utilizes crowdsourcing and facial-recognition to help locate the missing.
Anyone can post photos of a missing person or loved one, [...]

The future of the world’s news and knowledge system is on full display in and around the stories from the Copenhagen Climate Summit.

This is a true testimony to the magic of a system that allows for open communication and collaborative problem solving around public concerns. You can really see how media, industry, government and private citizens can work together to improve their communities:

The internet is a wondrous anomaly, a technical and creative achievement grander than the Tower of Babel, an infinite tangle of knowledge, ideals, data, entertainment, beauty, trivia, terror, news, noise, hubris, despair. It’s a cultural blender, a mixmaster archive crammed with visions, twits and everyday things.

There’s a media and technology feeding frenzy in Washington. Failing U.S. newspapers are looking for a bailout from the government; nonprofits, telecoms and policy wonks are scrambling to have their say and get their piece of the economic stimulus action – a few billion dollars – to expand broadband networks AND create more content and [...]

Technology and the internet have given us greater control over our own media experience – what information we get and share, how we spend our time, and to whom we are connected.  We are more diverse as a society, more informed as individuals, and more involved as communities.  So what?
This morning I read a column [...]

Czerina Patel is an inspiration. She spreads energy when talking about Yenza, a project about connecting people, building awareness and supporting change. “Yenza means ‘make’ or ‘do’ in Xhosa and Zulu languages”, said Czerina. She returned to work in South Africa -her birthplace- after a radio journalism career in New York.
“Czerina explained that believes [...]

My daughter Amanda took the above photo in Nepal. The picture on the right is of my new granddaughter, Elizabeth Jane. I thought of them as I discovered The Girl Effect, a project from the Nike and UN Foundation that stunned global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The big idea: unlocking the [...]

An agenda for smart capitalism.

As a part of the Entrepreneur’s Caucus at last week’s WeMedia conference in Miami, I asked Krista Van Tassel to share some insights about how to launch and sustain a successful social enterprise.  Her recommendations were solid gold — which wasn’t really a surprise, since Krista is surrounded by people who are pursuing social ventures [...]

We Media’s Brian Reich and I were wondering, based on the Game Changer Award winners, what would be the attributes that would not only win today’s Pitch It! presenters some of the available funding, but also see them be the Game Changers a couple/few years from now.
A few things have marked the Game Changers, based [...]

Most Americans believe small business, science and tech leaders will lead the U.S. to a better future – not the news media, government or large corporations
Note: This week we’re holding our fifth annual We Media conference in Miami. Along with our research and other projects at iFOCOS, the We Media conferences, awards and community explore [...]

WeMedia is podcasting!
Beginning today, WeMedia will produce a regular podcast that features in-depth interviews with prominent media, technology, and social change figures, as well as distinguished experts on current affairs and news. Our goal is to provide the WeMedia community understand the roots of the changes taking place in our society, hear from the thinkers [...]