Innovation, inspiration, and common sense for all
In Media Res is:
dedicated to experimenting with collaborative, multi-modal forms of online scholarship.
Each day, a different scholar will curate a 30-second to 3-minute video clip/visual image slideshow accompanied by a 300-350-word impressionistic response.
Dan McGuire tipped me to Superclogger. It almost makes me want to get stuck bumper to bumper. If you want to go drive on the 405 and find them, follow them on Twitter here.
The LA Times recently ran this story on Vittana
“a nonprofit tapping the microcredit market to fund loans for low-income college students in developing nations — a need that has been largely unmet by traditional banks.
Vittana, named after a Telugu word for “seed,” pools funds from Internet users all over the world and then partners with local microfinance banks in countries such as Nicaragua and Vietnam to provide loans to students when typical banks won’t.
Vittana is started by 27-year-old Southern California native Kushal Chakrabarti. They are “building a world where everyone can go to college”.
Time Magazine has given us their list of the Top 50 “bright ideas that just didn’t work out”. Check it out here.
But for those quick scanners out there, the list is:
Facebook now allows you to select which avatars or photos show up on your profiles as your “friends”. This is a useful tool, particularly if you want to drive new traffic to one of your associates. Twitter however does not allow this. Isn’t it about time that they did? Write to them and let them know you’d like this. I did. This is that tweet I wrote:
@Twitter Could you make it so I could select which avatars show up in my Twitter profile? Thanks. I would appreciate that.
In 300 square feet, this apartment has 24 rooms. It makes me want to get smaller.
MCN tipped me to this article in Barrons on Creative Capital’s practice of investing in the artist, and not the project.
BRENT GREEN WAS 25 AND ABOUT to relinquish his dream of becoming a filmmaker when he discovered Creative Capital.
Green had been looking high and low for a $14,000 grant to finish an animated film. Creative Capital, a nonprofit based in New York, sized him up and offered something entirely different: $43,000 to help support his career over the next three years. It would go toward everything from equipment to transportation to the cost of a publicist. In return, Green would give Creative Capital a small cut of any profits.
In the five years since then, Green’s work has been shown at the Sundance Festival and a number of museums and film festivals in North America and Europe. He has even found himself turning down galleries eager to represent his work.
