Amy Gahran writes on E-Media TIDBITS about JD Lasica (Socialmedia.biz) plan to build a Citizen Media Toolsbox
"When online-media tools are user-friendly and versatile, it's more likely that more people will figure out how to use them creatively and well. Longtime blogger, author, and social media pioneer JD Lasica is on a continuous quest for better online tools. His effort just got a boost with a $15,000 Knight News Challenge grant ..."
Tools planned:
- Out-of-the-box community publishing solution based on an extension of either the base code for Drupal or ArmchairGM
-Set of widgets that are customizable and of particular value to sites publishing community news, political events and related topics.
- Customizable templates (sleek, CSS-ready) with mastheads, themes and graphic icons
- Multimedia publishing tool (free, cross-platform) for distributing videos, podcasts and photos
- Instant feeds: RSS and Media RSS.
- CMS modules or capabilities: Advancedsearch, navigation controls, social networks and groups, community chat, customized blog posts, comments, forums or message boards.
- Resource directory: Public domain and Creative Commons-licensed images and clip art.
- Wiki plug-ins so wikis can be integrated into the local sites
- Tutorials and screencasts: Detailed guides on how other local sites successfully use Web 2.0 tools and databases in their communities ...
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