Brokekid.net

Just got this in my inbox –

The campaign to Send Karl Rove to Jail just took a huge step forward! In a stunning action just minutes ago, the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Rove in contempt.

Brave New Films and our partners have been working steadily to maximize the impact of the petition. And we want to continue this fight, so please contribute so we can.

Let’s take a look at the campaign so far:

12 Days Ago: We launched Send Rove to Jail. You immediately recognized a crucial chance to hold Rove accountable for flagrantly breaking the law and you seized it, raising over 40,000 signatures in 24 hours!

9 Days Ago: CREDO Mobile took note of your efforts. They hopped on board and sent the petition to their subscribers, garnering tens of thousands more signatures.

5 Days Ago: We hit the 100,000 signature milestone, causing even more progressive groups to get involved, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, The Nation, Campaign for America’s Future, Progress Now, and People for the American Way, the last of whom alone generated another 15,000 signatures.

Yesterday: Brave New Films Editorial Director ZP Heller hand delivered three petition boxes containing over 127,000 signatures to the House Judiciary Committee in Washington D.C. Together with our partners, we took our message directly to HJC member Linda Sanchez (D-CA), who was impressed by the sheer number of signatures. “I think it’s ridiculous that Karl Rove thinks that he doesn’t have to follow the law,” Sanchez said. “And nobody in this country should be above the law.”

Today: Sanchez led the HJC in a vote of contempt for Rove!

In just 12 days, your ability to sign and spread our petition led us from merely pointing out Rove’s lawbreaking hubris to helping convince the HJC to vote him in contempt.

Now help us take this fight to the full House. Contribute here so Brave New Films can remain vigilant in this battle. For it is not just about Rove; his case raises larger critical issues of holding lawbreakers accountable and advocating justice within the framework of our legal system.

Microformats

The next phase in the evolution of the internet is commonly referred to as the semantic web, which will enable computers to take advantage of structured content to better search, analyze, reference and reuse data in limitless ways. Web data is already parseable to some extent but the current structuring limits it’s uses. What’s missing is context and this is where microformats come come in.

Microformats are a set of tools that will enable computers to more efficiently process events, dates, locations, relationships between contacts, reviews, ratings and on and on. It standardizes how the data is displayed, enabling computers to efficiently process the information.

Below are formats that have been specified -

• hCard – for publishing the contact details of people, companies, organizations, and places
• hCalendar – for publishing event information
• hReview – for publishing reviews of books, films, music, businesses, restaurants and so on
• hAtom – for publishing blog entries and other chronological content
• hResume – for publishing résumés
• XFN – provides a simple way to represent human relationships

What are the possibilities? Some examples below -

You see the bio of a person on a webpage you wish to remember, so you drag their name out of the browser, and drop it into your Address Book (e.g. Outlook). As the data in the hCard is machine readable, the Address Book can easily interpret it.

New variations on searching may appear within engines like Google. For example, when searching a place (Herb’s Happy Pizza), the search results could reveal reviews of the venue and upcoming events there, using hReview and hCalendar.

You see an event on a webpage you wish to attend, so you drag it out of the webpage and into your Calendar, or a web service like Upcoming.org. The system could even tell you, at a glance, whether that particular event already clashes with something else you have planned

Suppose someone stumbled across an article, “Case Study of Mongolian Hamsters.” The browser could automatically reveal the author and their other web pages.

Microformats are incredibly useful but it’s up to the people building the websites to implement the standards before we’re truly able to gain from their benefits.

(via flickr.com/photos/brianglanz/)

From Obama Art

I got this in my work email today –

Subject:School Board Adopts Gay-Ass Uniform Policy

Ronald Reagan Prime Suspect In Bank Robbery

Jimmy Carter was right –

• He was right in seeking to raise the fleet auto mileage standard to 48 miles per gallon by 1995. (Even U.S. automakers admitted at the time that they could easily achieve 30 mpg by 1985.)
• Carter was right in exhorting Americans to turn down their thermostats, even if he did look nerdy in a cardigan while urging us to do so.
• He was right to encourage fuel conservation by proposing a 50-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and a fee on imported oil —- in effect, a floor for fuel prices.
• Invoking the pioneering spirit of the 1960s moon mission, he was right to recommend a tax on windfall oil profits to finance a crash program to develop affordable synthetic fuels.
• Carter was correct, too, in setting a goal of obtaining 20 percent of our energy from solar power by the year 2000.

Sweet…I’m the featured Changemaker of the week! Thanks Change.org!

http://www.change.org/people

(via obeygiant.com)

From Obama Art

I remember a conversation I had with my dad a couple of years ago where I bet him that by the end of the decade there would be a million television channels.

“No way.”

In the traditional sense, television is nowhere near that number, but if you step back and think about the advances made with online video, we may have already surpassed the million channel mark.

Users can set up their own channels on YouTube, organizations like TED have their content on Miro and Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo has used video to great effect.

Until YouTube’s launch in 2005, web-based video had been languishing in a mess of proprietary formats and large, messy file downloads. Streaming Flash video through YouTube sparked a change in the way users engage video and how developers build online apps. Creating, editing, storing and distributing video has never been easier than it is now.

Below are three different models for distributing content that bypasses the top down style of traditional media.

Miro

Miro is both a bittorrent client and a new medium for distributing online television that uses the bittorrent technology to showcase new channels on the Miro platform.

“There’s an opportunity to build a new, open mass medium of online television. We’re developing the Miro internet TV platform so that watching internet video channels will be as easy as watching TV and broadcasting a channel will be open to everyone. Unlike traditional TV, everyone will have a voice.”

getmiro.com

Joost

Joost works similarly to the Miro platform but distributes their channels through the p2p technology developed by the founders of Skype.

“Joost is packed with internet tools such as instant messaging and channel chat, allowing people to really share the TV experience. It’s a completely secure platform for content owners that respects their rights, while protecting and enhancing their brands.”

joost.com

Revision3

Revision3 content is professionally produced and targeted at users who want more than what traditional media offers. Users can download the content in multiple file types that work on varied mediums – cellphones, iPods, laptops and so on.

“Revision3 covers technology, comedy, modern culture, music and more. Our hosts don’t come from Hollywood. Instead, they come from the same passionate fan base as our audience. They are engaging, personal, smart and connected – experts with the insight and acceptance that naturally puts them at the center of the community.”

revision3.com

Idealist Uses

I would love to see a nonprofit channel, spearheaded by Idealist, on each of these networks. The channel would be a continual stream of news and events showcasing the works of nonprofits and individuals from around the world.

The upside is that creating this content isn’t difficult and crowdsourcing production is rather simple when you consider the enthusiasm and creativity inherent in the nonprofit world.

The new media platforms are perfect for inspiring change while engaging people with an interest in the changing the world.