The Robin Hood Tax campaign is a movement bringing together dozens of organisations that work to reduce poverty in the UK and overseas, and campaign to tackle climate change. They have come together during the economic crisis to campaign for a new deal between banks and society.
If your organisation would like to join the campaign, please email membership@robinhoodtax.org.uk and we will send you details.
ActionAid: We campaign for tax justice – so that poor people in developing countries don’t pay for the global financial crisis.
Action for Global Health: We believe a tiny tax on financial transactions can radically improve the health of people in developing countries.
Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA): This tiny tax could go a long way to improve millions of people’s lives in southern Africa as they tackle poverty, climate change and HIV, and strive for a better future.
Africa Europe Faith Justice Network – UK
African Initiatives
Article 12 in Scotland: Eradicating poverty is key to creating a society where all can participate as equal citizens. This campaign can help achieve this. Aspect: We support the Robin Hood Tax to constrain risky and speculative financial transactions and raise funds for social and economic advance.
Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL): The proceeds from this tax amount to no more than small change for the financial companies yet can make a real difference to the lives of our children.
ATD Fourth World: Resources need to reach people in poverty who have been left behind by progress with their voices unheard and contributions unrecognised. Barnardo’s: Vulnerable children should not have to pay the price of recession; this would provide the money urgently needed to child poverty in the UK.
BECTU
Bond
The British Dietetic Association Cafod: A means to help poor countries fight poverty and climate change and as the first step towards a fairer financial system. Cardinal Hume Centre: We recognise that the root cause of the problems facing most if not all of our clients is poverty and subsequent lack of opportunity Centre for Alternative Technology: we aim to inspire practical solutions for a low carbon future. A tiny tax on bankers would provide much needed resources in the fight against climate change.
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy: We back the Robin Hood Tax because it will see banks contribute more to protecting public services, tackling climate change and reducing poverty.
Chigwell Justice and Peace Centre Christian Aid: Fighting global poverty plus climate change is urgent but costly. This will help plug the financial gap and get banks working for the poor. Christian Medical Fellowship: this tax will release finances to support health services for the poorest & most vulnerable people here in the UK & in the developing world.
Christian Socialist Movement: This tax isn’t robbing from the rich – it’s just asking everyone to play their part as a citizen of the planet.
Church Action on Poverty: We believe in all its fullness for all people: This tiny tax could help millions struggling with poverty here and abroad achieve this dream. Church of Scotland Church & Society Council: Like the widows mite, a little can go a long way. We are not asking much from those who have plenty to give to those who have little.
Church Urban Fund believes the campaign provides an opportunity to confront the scandal of poverty in our rich nation.
Comic Relief: We have a long term commitment to helping people at home and abroad. We should all get behind this tiny tax to make a real difference! Commonwealth HIV and AIDS Action Group
Communication Workers Union
Community: Bankers caused a crisis, but our members’ communities felt it most. A tiny tax could help repair the damage, tackling poverty at home and abroad. Compass: We campaign for a more democratic, equal & sustainable world, we enable people to take action & make change. This tiny tax can do just that. Compass Youth: Just a tiny tax on banks could have huge impacts on the poorest people in society both here and abroad. You should support too! Concern Universal: This tax would generate vital resources for tacking the two most urgent challenges of our time – poverty and climate change. Crisis: We support the Robin Hood Tax campaign because this idea could offer a fantastic opportunity to end one of the most extreme manifestations of poverty in the UK – homelessness. Crossroads Care Disability Alliance: We believe the tax could help in our aim to end the link between poverty and disability. A third of disabled people in the UK live in poverty. Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility: We believe that the tax will help bring about economic justice and environmental sustainability. Economic Governence for Health: The Millennium Development Goals will never be met without support for bold ideas like these. EIS: We are currently engaged in a major campaign against education cuts called “Why Must Our Children Pay?” We believe passionately that our children, our teachers and other public servants should not have to pay for the greed of the few. Ekklesia: We work for economic and financial systems worth believing in: ones that put people and planet first. Tax justice is key part to this. Every Child: The Robin Hood Tax is a great idea. A modest tax on bankers’ profits that could bring huge benefits to the vulnerable and poor, both here in the UK and in developing countries. Faith2Share Family Action: We support families in their homes and see the realities of UK poverty every day. This tax could help poor families everywhere. Forum for Stable Currencies: The Robin Hood Tax is an obvious solution to a problem that is deeply systemic. Friends of the Earth
General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches: Present trading damages the under-privileged and poor; we must act in all possible ways to create a fairer world.
GMB: High roller casino capitalists in banks and finance caused the crisis, but we are left suffering the pain. A Robin Hood Tax will begin to right some disgraceful wrongs.
Greenpeace UK: Reckless speculation by banks didn’t just ruin the global economy. Had that money been invested in clean energy, we might already be tackling the climate crisis.
Health Poverty Action: For the communities we work with – some of the poorest and most marginalised in the world – a Robin Hood Tax could transform lives. Hope for Children: This simple and imaginative idea has the potential to have a huge impact on the levels of poverty, bringing support to the most vulnerable of people. Housing Justice: There are more than two million people in need of decent accommodation in the UK. Interact Worldwide: A tiny tax on financial transactions can have a huge impact on supporting universal access to sexual and reproductive health worldwide. International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA): Current levels of funding are in no way sufficient to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Robin Hood Tax is a simple idea, rooted in social justice, that would make a huge difference in scaling up the response. International HIV/AIDS Alliance: Half of people in need of HIV treatment are still unable to access it. The campaign will raise funds to stop people dying needlessly. International Refugee Trust: This is a crucial opportunity for the UK to fearlessly lead the way for the international community towards corporate responsibilty on a global scale. Jubilee Scotland: We support the tax because it will curb speculation, and because we agree with JM Keynes: ‘When the capital development of a country becomes the by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done’. Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF): this simple idea could raise billions to tackle global poverty and climate change, and would be be a step towards a more just financial system. Musicians’ Union: We believe this would bring more fairness during a period of austerity where ordinary people are struggling and where all sectors including the cultural sector are seeing cuts in funding.
Napo, the Trade Union and Professional Association for Family Court and Probation Staff: We represent staff in the Justice sector. We care passionately about fairness and equality and that is what the Robin Hood Tax is all about. It has our full support.
NASUWT
National Justice and Peace Network
National Union of Students (NUS) National Union of Teachers: We fully support this campaign. If financiers profit from speculation, it is right that society should benefit from some of those profits.
Nationwide Group Staff Union: Such a small tax, such a massive impact. This tiny tax would bring benefits both here in the UK and across the world – please join us and support our call for this tax.
National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO): We believe in the good society, which promotes fairness and social justice. This tax will help achieve our aim. nef (the new economics foundation) NUJ: A tiny tax – the least our financial institutions owe for the mess they’ve made without affecting tax payers who’ve paid the bankers’ bills. Oxfam GB: a tiny tax on bankers can make a huge difference for people living in poverty in UK and around the world. ONE: Bailouts shouldn’t just be for banks – the world’s poorest people have suffered too. That’s why we support the FTT. Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) People and Planet Plan UK: This will help the poorest and most vulnerable children and young people, who have had their opportunities limited by the global financial crisis. The Poverty Alliance: Money seems to be tight for everyone at the moment – except for the financiers! This tiny tax could help make a real impact on poverty in Scotland and the UK. Practical Action: A tiny tax on the fruits of innovation in the financial system could allow poor people to use innovations to challenge their poverty and adapt to climate change. (POA) The Professional Trade Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Pychiatric Workers Prospect: We support equality, fairness, respect and international solidarity. All these aims can be achieved with a simple effective tax process. We say yes to the Robin Hood Tax! Pump Aid: there are nearly one million people in the developing world who are living without access to clean water. A small amount of tax from bankers can make such a massive impact on development and help change this.
Results UK: We are committed to building a world free of poverty by supporting innovative financing that will save people’s lives.
RSPB: Innovative sources of finance are urgently required to help people and wildlife adapt to climate change in developing countries.
Salvation Army: This is a tax on the causes and symptoms of inequality.
Save The Children UK: This offers real hope of ending the scandal of child poverty in the UK while saving the lives of children in poor countries. SCIAF: We are Scotland’s leading aid agency, working to tackle global poverty and the challenges presented by climate change. This tiny tax is a wee step that could make a big difference to the lives of millions. Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations: We work to advance the values and shared interests of the voluntary sector and this tiny tax could bring much needed funds for our sector. Scottish Education and Action for Development (SEAD) Share the World’s Resources: We support this concrete proposal to raise billions to fight global poverty and promote sustainable development. Speak: We are a network connecting together students and young adults to pray and campaign for social justice. The Robin Hood Tax is just, so we’re campaigning for it! Stamp Out Poverty: We have worked towards this for many years – it is only fair that the financial world pay more to tackle poverty and climate change. Stop AIDS Campaign: World leaders promised universal HIV prevention, treatment, care & support by 2010. We’re less than halfway. Keep the promise – back the tax. Students Partnership Worldwide: We strongly support the Robin Hood Tax, believing that it has the potential to help save millions of the most vulnerable lives worldwide. TB Alert: We support the Robin Hood Tax – it’s a small price to pay for such a big return. Tearfund: This tax can raise billions urgently needed to fight poverty and protect poor people from the impacts of climate change. Together for Peace TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) Trades Union Congress: The banks fed the crash – a Robin Hood Tax pays back for the damage they caused and makes a fair contribution to jobs,justice and climate. TSSA
UNA-UK (United Nations Association of the UK): Innovative financing is urgently needed if the UN Millennium Development Goals are to be met by 2015.
Unicef UK: Millions of children around the world are denied their rights. This is wrong. A financial transaction tax could put it right for children. UNISON Unite: The financial crisis has brought insecurity to staff and damaged the reputation of this sector. We now see an opportunity to change the way the sector conducts itself. United Reformed Church: The aims of the RHT – to fight poverty and climate change and to move towards a fairer financial system – sit well with established aims of the United Reformed Church.
University and College Union: Speculators and gamblers of international banking have taken us for a ride, low paid public sector workers bear the pain. We must fight back.
Urban Forum: We have a chance to establish a more responsible and socially useful system – bank reform is too important to be left to the bankers. Usdaw: The time is right for a Robin Hood Tax that would bring much needed regulation and curb the reckless speculation that has damaged the country’s financial markets. v, The National Young Volunteers’ Service: We support the Robin Hood Tax as an innovative source of finance. Through volunteering, v helps disadvantaged and marginalised young people to stay engaged and acquire skills at this time of high youth unemployment. War on Want: We support the Robin Hood tax as a practical way for the banks to repay their debt to society. An idea whose time has come! WaterAid: A financial transaction tax will raise funds that could transform lives in the poorest communities through improved access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. The Web of Hope World Development Movement: The financial sector has become self-serving and destabilising. The Robin Hood Tax could help control reckelss speculation and provide billions for poverty eradication and low-carbon development.
World Wide Robin Hood Society
YCI: Young people should not have to pay the price for the greed of the big banks. We support the Robin Hood Tax Campaign and call on governments to make global finance fairer.
YWCA: The Robin Hood Tax would make a huge difference to the girls and women we work with who face poverty and disadvantage.
Z2K: Justice demands immediate help for those on the lowest incomes who did not benefit from the economic boom and suffer even more in the bust. 38 Degrees: It’s time that banks paid their fair share towards protecting the
world’s poorest people and fighting climate change.
Church of Scotland Church & Society Council: Like the widows mite, a little can go a long way. We are not asking much from those who have plenty to give to those who have little.
- Share this on Facebook
- http://bit.ly/cXXL1b+(via+@robinhood)" title="Tweet This!" rel="nofollow">Tweet This!
- Subscribe to the comments for this post?
- Share this on del.icio.us
- Digg this!
- Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon
- Share this on Reddit
You can't solve the problems of capitalism with capitalism. What we save with the left hand, we destroy with the right.
The banks want to own everything. This would enable them to do that by giving us 0.05% of every transaction. hmmmm!
And in his early form, something rather lost in later years, Robin Hood was also an enemy of the Church, an organisation that was viewed by the highly-taxed peasantry as being both unbearably sanctimonious and a drain on their income. The political-media-welfare complex is the 21st century equivalent of the Church, a monster that encompasses the taxpayer-funded Left-wing media, taxpayer-funded charities, quangos and our enormous and bloated local government and welfare system.
And, behold, look who is supporting the Robin Hood tax (most figures are from 2008, the latest year for accounts):Action Aid – which received 16.5 per cent of its £67,727,000 income in 2008 from taxpayers, including £5,967,000 from the British government and £4,939,000 from the EU.
Barnados – in 2007/08 it received £10,507,364 from taxpayers.
Christian Aid – Another 18m from taxpayers, some 20.8 per cent of all its income.
RSPB – which receives an incredible £19,731,000 a year from Johnny Taxpayer.
Unicef – another £5,454,000 from the pot
Can it be implemented in Ireland/ Irish banking system?
Who administers the funds raised?
Big business has continued to announce huge profits throughout the economic down turn. Why are they not contributing? Why were they not asked to bail out banks? It is their country society too.
Visit the www.SackYourMP.ORG/scandal site to find out more, look at the evidence www.SackYourMP.ORG/evidence where we have video, radio and online articles.
If you have questions about our campaign visit www.SackYourMP.ORG/faqs
Visit the www.SackYourMP.ORG/invite to invite your own friends and use our secure widget to select friends easily from your email address book.
Visit the link below to register with the Sack Your MP! site and be kept informed about the progress of the campaign.
http://www.SackYourMP.ORG/register/
Please visit our site and see how you can make your vote count.
The Sack Your MP! Team
PS Please Follow us on Twitter http://bit.ly/twitmp and be a fan on Facebook http://bit.ly/fbsack
how about linking up with these guys very interesting
Assholes :(
However, it doesn't change the need for it as the world economies attempt to get back to "normal" and the next meltdown.
The definition of insanity is doing them same things as caused the problem and expecting a different outcome.
Hi ALL can I share some good news with you about TAX, and that is our Greenwich Council in SE10 is telling us all that there's Going to be NO INCREASE IN COUNCIL TAX again this year, which is explained in their Council Tax booklet covering 2010-2011, which just happens to have a photo of me along with some of the children and helpers on the front cover, taken at the opening of our Neighbourhood Pride Community Garden in Abbey Wood SE2 last year, which I'm pleased to say is still up and running.
To find out more about my many Community Garden Projects please visit my website www.recycling.moonfruit.com Thank YOU.
May you and yours and what you grow live long and happy. John.
In my very humble opinion of course.
Or are you one of those who gives a pittance of their generous salary and believes that absolves them of any further responsibility or guilt?!
However, I'd like to suggest that this tax falls on the rich's heritage or income, not on the banking transactions.
Thanks.
Ken Wimbor
Thanks!
Had you planned to actually tax the bonuses bankers receive perhaps then I could support that idea.
I am cancelling my standing orders i have to two charities listed above.
Autonomy Positioned in Leaders Quadrant of the 2010 Web Content Management Magic Quadrant - AlphaTrade Finance
Autonomy Positioned in Leaders Quadrant of the 2010 Web Content Management Magic Quadrant
Sep 1, 2010 3:00:00 AM
Share this story: 
Save This Page
CAMBRIDGE, England and SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU. or AU.L), a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today announced that it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management.(1)
"We consider Gartner's placement of Autonomy in the Leaders quadrant as further confirmation of our unique and transformative vision for the web content management market," said Rafiq Mohammadi, CEO of Autonomy Promote. "Autonomy's Meaning Based Marketing platform is built for the next-generation of marketers looking to understand, act on, and optimize all forms of information – linking together internal systems with external data in order to deliver the most compelling and targeted content to customers across every channel. By taking a meaning-based approach to web content, Autonomy provides an unparalleled platform that enables businesses to engage with customers and ultimately drive revenue and gain market share."
About the Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About Autonomy
Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU. or AU.L), a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, spearheads the Meaning Based Computing movement. IDC recently recognized Autonomy as having the largest market share and fastest growth in the worldwide search and discovery market. Autonomy's technology allows computers to harness the full richness of human information, forming a conceptual and contextual understanding of any piece of electronic data, including unstructured information, such as text, email, web pages, voice, or video. Autonomy's software powers the full spectrum of mission-critical enterprise applications including pan-enterprise search, customer interaction solutions, information governance, end-to-end eDiscovery, records management, archiving, business process management, web content management, web optimization, rich media management and video and audio analysis.
Autonomy's customer base is comprised of more than 20,000 global companies, law firms and federal agencies including: AOL, BAE Systems, BBC, Bloomberg, Boeing, Citigroup, Coca Cola, Deutsche Bank, DLA Piper, Ericsson, FedEx, Ford, GlaxoSmithKline, Lloyds Banking Group, NASA, Nestle, the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters, Shell, Tesco, T-Mobile, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. More than 400 companies OEM Autonomy technology, including Symantec, Citrix, HP, Novell, Oracle, Sybase and TIBCO. The company has offices worldwide. Please visit www.autonomy.com to find out more.
Autonomy and the Autonomy logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autonomy Corporation plc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
(1)
Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management" by Mick MacComascaigh, Toby Bell, and Jim Murphy, August 19, 2010
Autonomy Editorial Contacts:
Randy Cairns
Autonomy (US)
+1 408 953 7111
randy.cairns@autonomy.comLouise Kehoe
Ogilvy PR (US)
+1 415 677 2739
louise.kehoe@ogilvypr.comEdward Bridges
Financial Dynamics (UK)
+44 207 831 3113
edward.bridges@fd.comDavid Vindel
The Red Consultancy (UK)
+ 44 207 025 6529
david.vindel@redconsultancy.comSOURCE Autonomy Corporation plc
Related Quotes
Last Change % Change AUTNF
25.00 0.99 3.96 IT
29.34 0.05 0.17
Great African Singularities
The singularity is defined by futurist Ray Kurzweil as being the point at which technological advancement exceeds human capacity to control and fully understand it. It’s the point where artificial intelligence and replication converge and machines can strategically produce other machines without human direction. Movies like TERMINATOR and THE MATRIX are all about the horrible ways such a scenario might play out.
This post is about a different singularity. A point at which technology, progress, wealth and modern advancement converge without the inclusion of an entire continent of nearly 1 billion people, with no discernible disadvantages. This scenario is also difficult to understand and hard to control.
In this scenario, companies also often fail to represent people from the continent in their staff. Boardrooms across the world forget to mention market strategies aimed at engaging the continent’s consumers. I could tell you we hit this singularity over two decades ago but instead let’s look at the websites of a handful of leading technology companies, the corporations who are literally shaping our collective futures…
Yahoo
Yahoo! is among the most popular destinations to visit on the African continent. The image below is from their international page, where they showcase how they target viewers by region. Hrmm…looks like they covered all their bases…
Google has country offices all over the world. I know for a fact they operate staffed offices in Kenya and South Africa. And to be fair they’ve got an intensely involved philanthropic arm here. But on their corporate website? Hrmm…odd.
It’s hard to believe a company that lives on numbers would make such an obvious mistake, so we’ll have to assume they have their reasons. Nonetheless, since they actually do have African offices I’m not sure what message this sends the Google Kenya or Uganda teams. At least they didn’t forget…
Apple
Hrmm… which flag to I click for Kenya? Nigeria? Cairo? or South Africa?
Facebook is both the fastest growing internet destination and social network across Africa. They’re in the midst of a global expansion, specifically targeting BOP markets with apps like Facebook Zero. They have several positions open: India, Singapore, Dublin, Brazil, London and Austin, TX. There’s actually a couple missing pieces here: the Middle East, Australia and of course…
We can chalk this one up to Facebook’s being a young company. Although they claim half the users of the entire internet (500 million), this absolutely tells you where they see potential growth and markets worth chasing. A longer list of job opportunities with Facebook’s internationalization team.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud enterprise platform that makes doing business easier. They pride themselves on their international sites. In fact, they’ve got an international site for every continent in the world accept Antarctica and…
Sony and Oracle
Two more power houses. One basically tells you to learn Arabic if you live in Africa, the other has something called “Africa Operations”. Sounds very Jack Bauer, Oracle. An indicator for a systematic, innovative approach, perhaps? Unfortunately not, clicking on that link takes you a site that has information that’s in no way different from their other sites.
Hey Africans, Oracle has an important message for you:
In my opinion, the reasons behind these oversights don’t matter at all. The reality is these choices aren’t aren’t actually putting any of these companies at a disadvantage. What matters to me is the greater implication of the scenario that’s playing out. The fact that these companies can rest comfortably as some of the biggest companies that history has ever known with little input from Africa paints a bleak future. The fact of the matter is, if one sixth the planet is being shut out of controlling or, in any meaningful way, contributing to the technologies and tools that are re-defining the future of the human race. Then they are in-turn being shut out of the future. It’s not systematic, it’s not organized; it’s happening without anyone even noticing. It’s indeed the road to technology perdition.
This is something that should scare the
via appfrica.netTheatr Harlech Blog
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4Annwyl Gyfaill
Mae’n siŵr gen i eich bod wedi clywed na fydd Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru yn parhau i ariannu Theatr Harlech. Afraid dweud eich bod chi, fel ninnau, yn poeni am ddyfodol ein theatr annwyl.
Wrth reswm rydyn ni’n siomedig na lwyddodd y Cyngor Celfyddydau i ganfod yr arian i gefnogi’n cynllun, ond rhaid cofio ein bod mewn cyfnod o ansicrwydd ariannol. 'Rydym yn gwbl ymroddedig i barhau i gynnal digwyddiadau yn y theatr ac mi fyddwn yn rhoi gwybod i chi o'r hyn sy'n digwydd.
OND…. dros y tair blynedd ddiwethaf rydyn ni wedi bod yn mynd â digwyddidau’r theatr allan i’r gymuned ac rydyn ni ar ben ein digon bod y Cyngor Celfyddydau’n cydnabod hynny - “rydych wedi dangos nad yw digwyddiadau celfyddydol o’r radd orau yn dibynnu’n llwyr ar adeilad y theatr, ” medden nhw.
Mae Bwrdd a Staff Theatr Harlech wedi bod yn prysur baratoi a HEDDIW rydym yn lansio cynllun gwaith newydd o’r enw CYTSER. Y bwriad ydi mynd â’r celfyddydau o’r adeilad ac i’r gymuned. Dros y chwe mis nesaf byddwn yn cydweithio gyda Chyngor Celfyddydau Cymru a Chyngor Gwynedd ar y cynlluniau yma gan ddatblygu theatr gymunedol, corau cymunedol, grwpiau dawns, gweithdai ffilm ac animeiddio a pherfformiadau gan berfformwyr o fri. Bydd y rhain ar gael nid yn unig yn Harlech ond ym Mhorthmadog, Blaenau a Dolgellau hefyd.
Mae cynllun CYTSER wedi ei ddatblygu gan Jacqui Banks, y Gyfarwyddwraig dros dro, a Clare Williams, cyn Cyfarwyddwraig y Theatr. Disgrifiodd Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru y cynllun fel “menter gyffrous ac arloesol a ddylai fynd â gwaith rhagorol y Theatr allan i’r cymunedau cyfagos.”
Yn yr adeilad, tu allan i’r adeilad, yn y Castell neu ar drên i Abermaw – does dim celfyddyd yng Ngwynedd hebddoch chi. Byddwn yn cysylltu gyda’r diweddaraf.
Rydym yn gobeithio gweld chi yn rai o'n digwyddiadau Haf!
Yn gywir
Tîm Harlech
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Dear Friend
You will probably have heard that last week Arts Council Wales decided not to continue funding Theatr Harlech as it has in the past and you – like us – will doubtless be concerned about the future of our lovely theatre.
Naturally we were disappointed that the Arts Council couldn’t find the money to support the programme but these are difficult times. We are committed to keeping events in the theatre and we will keep you informed about what is happening.
BUT ... over the last three years we have been reaching out to a broader community and were absolutely thrilled that the Arts Council recognised this saying “you have demonstrated that high quality arts activity is not solely dependent on a theatre building”.
The Board and staff of Theatr Harlech have been preparing and TODAY we are launching a new programme of work called CONSTELLATION which aims to take the arts out of the building and into the community. Working with Arts Council Wales and Cyngor Gwynedd over the next six months these plans will be developed to include community theatre, community choirs and dance groups, film and animation workshops and professional performances not just in Harlech but also in Porthmadog, Blaenau and Dolgellau.
The CONSTELLATION programme has been developed by Jacqui Banks Interim Director and Clare Williams previously Director of the Theatre. CONSTELLATION was described by Arts Council Wales as “an exciting and compelling initiative that should take the venue’s excellent work out into nearby communities”.
In the building, out of the building, in the Castle or on a train to Barmouth there is no arts in Gwynedd without you and we will keep you informed.
We hope to see you at some of our Summer events!
Yours
Team Harlech
2010-09-01
If You Build It, They Will Come: SeenReport and Mobile Citizen Journalism in Pakistan
- Post Date
- 09.01.10
- Author
- | melissaulbricht
The devastating floods in Pakistan have been covered by trained reporters and mainstream media outlets around the world. Citizens, often on the front lines of the flood, have also been contributing thousands of reports though mobile phones, in part enabled by the citizen journalism service SeenReport.
SeenReport (from “see ‘n report”) is a citizen journalism service through which users can submit photos, videos, and text accounts of news as it is happening via SMS, MMS, or e-mail. SeenReport won a 2010 mBillionth award, a first-ever contest which recognizes mobile content in South Asia. A YouTube video explains more about the service.
The SeenReport platform is designed to augment stories on online news sites. The platform has been purchased and customized by other media organizations in Pakistan, which helps to both promote citizen journalism in the country and to create a revenue stream for SeenReport.
MobileActive.org talked with Sharjeel Qureshi, a founder of the service. Here is what we learned about SeenReport and citizen journalism in Pakistan.
How does SeenReport work?
A citizen reporter captures an event on a mobile phone and sends the content to SeenReport. There is no manual intervention at this stage - the content is automatically published on the SeenReport website to better ensure real-time reports which augment larger ongoing events. Further, citizen reporters can register personal information on the site after submitting material.
The system accepts content via SMS, MMS, and e-mail. If images or photos are sent, some basic text is required as far as description and location. The SeenReport platform is intelligent enough to detect this text and suggest related content and news stories. So, if several citizen reporters are submitting reports from the same event on their mobiles - the floods, for instance - the system will make a single thread from the incoming reports.
Some users create detailed online profiles. One freelance journalist, for example, includes his picture, email address, phone number, professional membership affiliation, and has established a subdomain on the SeenReport site with tabs for all of his uploaded content. Qureshi refers to it as a version of LinkedIn for freelance journalists. Others can post anonymously if they choose and are not required to create complete profiles.
The service has been integrated with social network sites so that when stories are published on the website, they are automatically posted on Twitter and Facebook for SeenReport. If a citizen journalist registers personal social media accounts, their reports will be automatically posted in those locations, too.
In general, mobile citizen reports open the door to spam, offensive content, and potentially non-newsworthy posts. SeenReport deals with this through a self-policing or "social censoring" system. Whenever content is posted, readers can comment on it, rate it, and flag it if they find it offensive. SeenReport administrators then remove the flagged content. This topic has been an ongoing discussion for the group behind SeenReport: the idea of how news stories are authenticated, how best to integrate citizen journalism into mainstream media, and what is good journalism.
A strong initial boost
Qureshi and his team began working on the SeenReport platform in 2007, at a time when there was a media blackout in Pakistan. Heavy censorship was imposed on media organizations at the time. The Internet was the only free medium of information, Qureshi said. During this time, the mobile market in Pakistan had proliferated and “we thought it would be a great idea to empower people to report news right from the cell phone and broadcast to the world in real-time,” he said.
When the site was launched in April 2008, it came on the heels of Pakistan’s Long March, the social unrest following firings of the judiciary. During this time, media coverage was heavily censored. SeenReport, Qureshi said, provided an alternative medium to cover the scale of the event and enable citizens at home to witness the historical moment.
SeenReport allows every mobile user in the crowd to become a reporter. In terms of the Long March, SMS reports provided minute-by-minute and mile-by-mile updates from eyewitnesses. The role of SeenReport in the march was a boost to the fledgling service and was covered by many international news outlets, including Global Voices, the BBC, and CIO Pakistan.
SeenReport is more than a single "people powered news" site
The SeenReport software, a cloud-based, open-source technology, was created in-house by a small team of engineers. SeenReport also sells this software-as-a-service to other media organizations interested in developing their own citizen journalism initiatives.
This software provision helps to generate income: the monthly recurring license fee model for adopters is the most significant source of revenue for the “modestly funded start-up,” Qureshi said.
SeenReport was designed in such a way that it can be adapted and customized by other users. Several news and media sites have purchased the platform, including Samaa, GeoDost, Aaj, and PlayTv. The first three use the technology for citizen journalism purposes while PlayTv, an entertainment and music channel for youth in Pakistan, uses it to engage young viewers through mobile interaction.
Because organizations have their own policies for driving citizen journalism, adopters can customize the functionality and tweak the editorial control. Some sites, for example, require a thorough review of content before it is published, unlike SeenReport’s system of instant posts and social censorship.
By providing the software to others, SeenReport contributes to citizen journalism in Pakistan. Across the spectrum of organizations using the platform, there have been over 10,000 news reports relating to the floods. GeoDost, for example, has established a unique section on the main page for natural disasters and an "initial flood portal". More than 500,000 citizen reports have been submitted by all users across all organizations, Qureshi said, which gives “an idea of how strong citizen journalism is in Pakistan.”
If You Build It, They Will Come: SeenReport and Mobile Citizen Journalism in Pakistan Locations
You need to upgrade your Flash Player
Categories
If You Build It, They Will Come: SeenReport and Mobile Citizen Journalism in Pakistan data sheet 40 Views Website URL: http://www.seenreport.com/ Organization involved in the project?: SeenReport Project goals: The SeenReport platform is designed to augment stories on online news sites. The platform has been purchased and customized by media organizations in Pakistan, which helps to both promote citizen journalism in the country and to create a revenue stream for SeenReport.
Brief description of the project: SeenReport is a citizen journalism service through which mobile users can submit photos, videos, and text accounts of news as it is happening via SMS, MMS, or e-mail.
Target audience: The target audience is any individual in Pakistan with a mobile phone who wishes to submit news content for broader dissemination.
Status: Ongoing What worked well? : SeenReport is highly customizable, which allows purchasers to adapt the service to their unique needs. It has received 500,000 reports across the spectrum of adopters.
What did not work? What were the challenges?: Funding is a challenge, though the monthly recurring license fee model for adopters is a significant source of revenue. At launch, there were technical issues because the initial response was beyond expectation. The SeenReport group had to scale the technology, rebuild it, and roll out additional features.
Global Regions: Asia Countries: Pakistan First Name: Sharjeel Last Name: Qureshi State/Province: Lahore Country: Pakistan Email: info@seenreport.com
Associated Users
- melissaulbricht : Reviewer
Top Gear's The Stig unmasked as Ben Collins by his own company accounts | Mail Online
Most recent stories related to this article:
Cam off it! Cameron Diaz treated to a birthday dinner by A-Rod but they're still 'just friends'
The Stig's book publishers 'a bunch of chancers' blasts Top Gear BBC executive
The Stig unmasked... by his own company accounts
By Tom Kelly
Last updated at 12:50 PM on 23rd August 2010Speculation about his identity has ranged from former Formula one champion Michael Schumacher to Mr Bean creator Rowan Atkinson.
But the seven-year mystery surrounding top Gear's masked test driver the Stig appears finally to be over.
Financial documents have been unearthed which link 35-year-old racing driver and stuntman Ben Collins to the secret role.
Unmasked: Top Gear star The Stig with special guests Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise. The Stig's true identity has been revealed as Ben Collins
Out of character: Ben Collins, as he looks without his helmet and visor
The Stig's unmasking comes after the Daily Mail last week revealed how he was locked in a legal battle with the BBC over plans to reveal his identity in his autobiography.
Lawyers warned that secrecy was essential to his role in the BBC2 programme.
The clue to his identity emerges in the accounts of his company, Collins Autosport.
It recorded a 'cornerstone year' in December 2003, a month after the white-clad Stig's first appearance on TV.
This was partly down to 'driving services provided for the BBC, mainly in the Top Gear programme', the accounts said.
Directors noted the work offered 'good long-term prospects for continuing income,' the Sunday Times reported.
Collins, who has doubled for Daniel Craig for stunts in a James Bond film, was named as a possible Stig after a builder claimed to have seen the distinctive white outfit at the driver's Bristol home.
But he has always refused to answer questions on the subject. Asked about it at the weekend, he said he was on his way to Hungary before adding: 'I can't speak to you. I'm going into a tunnel.'
More...
- BBC lawyers fight The Stig's bid to lift lid on his identity for autobiography
- I'm not moving up North, says BBC HR boss: �190,000-a-year executive quits as he joins growing number of BBC 'refuseniks' who want to stay in South
- Flipping Clarkson blamed for prank: Reliant is tipped on its side after Top Gear stunt
Until now only a handful of BBC executives and the programme's presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May knew the identity of the Stig.
In June last year the seven-times Formula 1 champion driver Michael Schumacher dressed as the Stig and removed his helmet on the programme.
Team: The Stig with Top Gear presenters, from left, Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson. The BBC is trying to stop The Stig revealing his true identity in an autobiography
The BBC refused to confirm or deny if Schumacher really was the mystery driver, but the scene was widely regarded as a hoax.
A BBC spokesman said: 'It's no surprise that Ben Collins's company accounts show that he was driving for Top Gear as he has appeared on the programme as himself, for exam-example in the Mitsubishi evo challenge.
'Ben supplies his services as a driver himself and his company also supplies other drivers.
'There is nothing to be read into these company documents.'
Share this article:
Comments (257)
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not debate this issue live on our message boards.
The comments below have not been moderated.
ben collins is one of the uk's finest sports men he is a top driver across the world in europe and usa getting to f1 is not all about talent its opportunity and cash !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- rhodri edward williams, swansea, 24/8/2010 19:38
given the track times he has posted why isn't the Stig driving in formula one....
- james walton, oxford england, 23/8/2010 18:27Perhaps he is? Or do I mean "perhaps they are", because I'm not convinced there's only one person doing the job.
- Chris, Lichfield, 24/8/2010 10:47
I'm the Stig, and so's my wife!
- Brian Cohen, Jerusalem, Israel, 24/8/2010 09:18
My grandson Jonathan aged 9 told me who the stig was about 6 months ago. So what, we still watch Top Gear!
- Peter Collins, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, 24/8/2010 08:35
Clearly this guy isn't the stig......the stig is female...we all know women are the best drivers!
- Sme, Leeds, 23/8/2010 22:29
Never lived near a school then and saw women drivers drop children off..- SONIA, WARWICKSHIRE, 24/8/2010 00:04
Clearly this guy isn't the stig......the stig is female...we all know women are the best drivers!
- Sme, Leeds, 23/8/2010 22:29
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
We are no longer accepting comments on this article.
Equity - NEW:Join the campaign to save our theatre
NEW: Join the campaign to save our theatre
Equity has launched a campaign to resist cuts to the UK arts budgets. Cultural spending represents less than 1% of the NHS budget however the Government is proposing cuts of between 25% and 30% as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Members have told us that we must protest long and loud about cuts that will make hardly a blip on Government finances but will seriously damage the arts and also, we believe, the future strength of our economy.
Now every Equity member is being asked to play their part in campaigning against these cuts. Get your supply of campaign postcards to distribute to fellow members and friends. These postcards are aimed at local MPs and give key facts about why cuts to the arts are bad for the UK.
The Equity Council has already sent an open letter to David Cameron arguing that with the downturn in the financial and manufacturing sectors the arts and creative industries are one of the few bright lights on the horizon.
There are also details of how you can join the campaign against the abolition of the UK Film Council and add your name to the petition to protect the BBC Licence Fee.
You can also make an appointment with your local MP at Westminster or attend a constituency surgery to raise your concerns about the cuts. Included below are a number of facts that you may wish to use in your own lobbying and campaigning work.
Contribution of the arts to the economy
• The Department for Culture Media and Sport estimates that the economic contribution of the performing arts is around £3.7 billion a year in terms of GVA (Gross Value Added).
• In 2003 it is estimated the sector’s exports were worth £240 million.
• For every £1 that the Arts Councils invest, an additional £2 is generated from elsewhere totalling £3 income.
• The sector covered by DCMS accounts for 10% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
Public investment generates a huge return
• The arts budget is tiny; according to the Arts Council England it ‘costs 17p a week a person – less than half the price of a pint of milk’.
• The public investment of £121.3 million for theatre is thought to generate in the region of £2.6 billion annually, split between the West End (£1.5 billion) and the rest of the country (£1.1 billion).
• The National Theatre, now open seven days a week, played to 93% capacity in 2008/09, selling 817,000 tickets and achieving its highest attendance in the decade.
• The core UK film industry contributed over £4.5 billion to UK GDP in 2009 and over £1.2 billion to the Exchequer gross of tax relief and other fiscal support, from a turnover of £8.6 billion.
The arts are successful
• The talent nurtured in our theatres and music venues win record numbers of Oscars, Tonys and Grammies.
• In 2009 the 52 major theatres in central London had their best year ever with box office receipts of £504.7 million and attendance numbers of 14.2 million, up on the record year of 2008.
• In 2009 UK films and talent scooped 36 major film awards, 17% of the total available.
• The BBC generates over £1bn through worldwide sales.
The arts and culture are popular
• 79% of the population agree that the arts should receive public funding.
• 77% of all adults in England, 90% of adults in Scotland, 76% of adults in Wales and 76% of adults in Northern Ireland attended or took part in an arts or cultural event in 2007.
• 85% of adults say they’d miss the BBC if it wasn’t there and 77% believe it is an institution to be proud of.
• In 2009 HSBC asked 500 entrepreneurs and business decision-makers what they thought business in Britain should be about and world class creative industries were the most important priority at 56.5% ahead of the 46.2% emphasising the need for a top class education and training system.
If you need any other assistance, would like to request an additional supply of postcards or want to feed back your own ideas on how to take the campaign forward please get in touch by emailing saveourtheatre@equity.org.uk.
Site Navigation:
Accessibility · Terms and Conditions · Photo List · Text Only · Site Map Site designed, developed and managed by Indeprod-->
Jonathan Takiff: Radio-chips in cell phones debated | Philadelphia Daily News | 09/01/2010
THE GIZMO: A phone tech tug-of-war.THE BIG DEBATE: Should every mobile phone sold in the United States contain a tiny chip that enables FM radio reception? That's a proposal now being pushed at Congress by the National Association of Broadcasters and the recording industry trade group musicFirst.
The benefits, they argue, are twofold. Having a tuner in a device that almost everyone carries will offer a lifeline to news and guidance in times of emergency.
And the NAB wants this mandate so badly, it's finally offered to pay performance royalties to recording companies and artists in return for the music industry's support (and successful passage) of radio-chip legislation.
Sound like a win-win?
The game plan is meeting significant resistance from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the wireless industry trade group CTIA (formerly the Cellular Telephone Industries Association).
DON'T TREAD ON WE: Like other businesses, the consumer electronics and wireless industries don't appreciate a government dictating features or standards - except when the legislation meets a favored goal. Like forcing the nation's conversion to digital TV.
In the 1990s, the CEA fought unsuccessfully against the mandatory inclusion of two chips now found in all televisions. One brought closed captioning - a boon for the deaf, for foreign language speakers and for folks trying to follow a ballgame in a noisy bar.
Six years later, in 1996, a Clinton-era Congress pushed through inclusion of the so-called V-chip in all new TVs so parents could control their kids' viewing. By all reports, that feature is seldom used.
So what say these electronics industries about requiring an FM tuner chip in all phones?
"It's a bit absurd," declared CEA president Gary Shapiro. It's "as if a century ago the horse and buggy makers got Congress to require that every car be led by a horse . . . If consumers want radios in phones - which very few apparently do, since it's not been a popular feature when offered - then they'll ask for them."
Added CTIA vice president Joe Carpenter, "The market has evolved in a different way than I think the broadcasters would like it to, to an Internet-based delivery mechanism."
He noted that "competition for space on the circuit board on the device is fierce. I don't think that the broadcasters or public policy makers ought to be dictating the form and function of these devices to that degree."
FOLLOW THE MONEY: Just 25 cents today buys a radio chip for a mobile phone. Just such a tuner is already hiding inside "about 35 percent of U.S. cellphones," according to Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis Communications, which owns 25 radio stations.
But U.S. mobile service providers often demand that their phone suppliers deactivate the circuit. Why? When customers are listening to FM radio, they're not using up their mobile phone minutes and not buying Internet radio "apps" and music downloads.
However, broadcasters could potentially save beaucoup bucks (streaming fees, extra royalties) if they could get people currently listening to Internet streaming versions of their stations (on a mobile phone or computer) to tune to the broadcast FM version. And they'd be operating in a much less competitive environment.
On a Motorola-made, Verizon-sold Droid X - one smart phone that does have a usable FM chip - tapping the activate icon opens a listener to maybe 30 local station choices.
On an Apple/AT&T iPhone, using an Internet radio app like Tuner, a music buff is just as likely to tune in a station from Quebec; Kingston, Jamaica; or Cape Town, South Africa. The options loom in the hundreds, even thousands.
Assuming successful passage of legislation to require FM tuner chips in all mobile phones, U.S. radio stations would begin to pony up performance royalties equal to 1 percent of their annual net revenue, or about $100 million total nationwide.
This isn't nearly as good a deal as the one the music industry has been trying to get through the Performance Rights Act, which would create new royalty rules netting as much as $2 billion annually for artists and labels.
But the NAB's been fighting this legislation hard, and it's yet to come up for a full congressional vote. So the music industry's willing to compromise.
Plus, musicFirst spokesman Martin Machowsky noted that another $70 million to $100 million in annual performance royalty payments from overseas terrestrial stations would also be dropped into the needy music industry's pot. That money is now being withheld, due to the lack of reciprocity in royalty collection here.
IT'S ALL ABOUT SECURITY: The Warning, Alert and Response Network Act implemented by the Federal Communications Commission in 2008 set up a framework for cellphone service providers to blast emergency messages to all subscribers.
The mobile industry's response was a text-based system of 90 characters, enough to tell you "seek higher ground" or "tune to a local radio station." And even that limited solution has yet to be deployed.
There's another fly in this ointment. I've suffered with mobile services that fail to deliver text messages and drop calls in merely calm but crowded settings - say at 30th Street train station, or during intermission at a Mann Center concert. So it's difficult to imagine such a system functioning in a true emergency, when everyone is reaching for the phone.
Radio, bless it's antiquated heart, blasts its signals almost everywhere at any time, even during hurricanes and Martian invasions. And if one antenna tower and station goes down, dozens of others are standing by, ready to deliver the time, temp and bad news.
So Congress, do your part. Put a radio chip in my phone, will ya?
Send e-mail to takiffj@phillynews.com.
Appfrica | Ideas, Development, Data and Design
There was an interesting discussion over at Megan McArdle’s blog about whether or not NGOs retard entrepreneurship in developing countries. Her post was in response to this from Matt Rognlie…
“Africans don’t see a reward system in place for being entrepreneurial. In fact, they view it as a matter of survival, not an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty. Rather, what they learn at a very early age, is that in order to make good money, they should learn to speak English incredibly well and then maybe, just maybe, they can get a job driving for an NGO. In a few years, if they play their cards right, they might be able to land an NGO job as a project manager and even advance further.”
Sammy’s point was simply this. As a struggling businessman creating new start-ups, he could not compete with what NGO’s were paying for some of the best and brightest. And even worse, he said, “by the time the NGO’s are done with them, there isn’t an ounce of entrepreneur left.”
I can definitely echo this fro firsthand experience. As a small private sector company in Uganda, the danger isn’t so much having your staff poached by big multinationals like MTN or Google, but rather the equally large NGOs who, in their mandate to hire local want to ensure they find the best and brightest. Thus skewing the market because it suits their short term needs.
Megan writes…
On the one hand, it’s terrible to think that aid is keeping economies from developing–and this isn’t the only such critique; there are also fears that aid acts like a “resource curse”, insulating political leaders from the need to win public support for their spending, and breeding corruption. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’m quite willing to walk up to a woman dying from malnutrition to tell her that I’m sorry, we’d like to help, only unfortunately it would distort the local economy and so I’m afraid you’ll need to lean into the strike zone and take one for the team.
On the third hand, I’m conscious that in this scenario, I am biased towards the seen harm, rather than the unseen…
Everyone in the sector tends to be biased towards the ‘seen harm’ and good because most donors don’t fund longterm, indirect or implicit results. The adverse effects, as long as they aren’t obvious get ignored. This includes inflation of salaries in the private sector.
SwiftRiver | Verifying and Filtering News (FOSS
SwiftRiver is an open source platform that helps users manage realtime data.
In the above videos: Patrick talks with Robert Scoble, Jon Gosier talks media curation, Anil Dash at CHIRPIN THE MEDIA
UX Magazine, TED 2009, BBC, Computer World, GigaOM, TED 2010, CHIRP 2010, Scobleizer, Appfricast
ABOUT
SwiftRiver is a free and open source platform that helps people make sense of a lot of information in a short amount of time. The SwiftRiver platform was born out of the need to understand and act upon a wave of massive amounts of crisis data that tends to overwhelm in the first 24 hours of a disaster. Since then, there has been a great deal of interest in this tool for other industries, such as news rooms and brand monitoring groups.
In practice, SwiftRiver enables the filtering and verification of real-time data from channels such as Twitter, SMS, Email and RSS feeds. This free tool is especially useful for organizations who need to sort their data by authority and accuracy, as opposed to popularity. These organizations include the media, emergency response groups, election monitors and more. This might include journalists and other media institutions, emergency response groups, election monitors and more.
How Does it Work?
Although the general concept is simple, Swift relies on three incredibly complex technologies: Natural Language Computation, Machine Learning and Veracity Algorithms. The sum of these parts allows an emergency response organization to track and verify the accuracy of reports during a crisis, or a team of journalists might use Swift to track specific topics they happen to be researching. Swift helps surface authoritative sources, while suppressing noise (like duplicate content, irrelevant cross-chatter and inaccuracies.)
But how? When users begin monitoring a topic, they enter several related feeds. Swift begins aggregating these feeds, taking multiple channels, mashing them together and outputting one unified feed. To clarify, the user may be tracking Twitter, various Blogs, as well as a dedicated phone number (SMS), email, and news media. Swift then mashes those differing channels together into one feed, keeps track of where each item originated (it's source) and assigns a score to each source. This score is determined partly through user behavior and partly by our algorithms.
Meanwhile, our natural language computation service SiLCC, is used for what's called 'persistent tagging'. This is important because the act of tagging content is tedious and humans will often fail to do it. By using this natural language service, Swift can examine content and extract the keywords that are most relevant. For the headline "Major Earthquake in Chile", the important keywords are going to be 'earthquake' and 'chile'. These keywords can be used to find other content referencing the terms 'earthquake' or 'chile'. In essence that is 'predictive tagging', where algorithms try to extract meaning to help improve sorting. Users can vote on these tags to help our algorithms improve. Using these features, Swift users can determine the relevance of and relationship between content, regardless of the source.
-->
FRIENDS
Thomson Reuters/Open Calais, Meedan, GeoCommons, Appfrica, Ushahidi
!!!!!!!!!!!!