Citizen journalism

GroundReport.com is an open news portal that enables anyone to self-publish articles. As part of the OLPC, it would empower millions of children to transform the news landscape.

The way it work is that a user creates an account, signs in to GroundReport, and starts writing. She creates her title, writes the story, and can add images or links. When she's done, she hits "Submit"--and the article is instantly published.

In addition, readers rate articles, moving them up or down the page. Thus there is a bottom-up model for determining what makes the front page. Further, GroundReport is supported by advertising revenues, but shares them proporationally with writers. For OLPC, GroundReport could commit 100% associated ad revenues to help fund the initiative.

GroundReport is a tool for democratizing news coverage, and is meant to serve as an alternative to mainstream media outlets. It gives everyone a platform for self-expression. Children would practice written expression, feel a sense of empowerment as they track the popularity of articles, and harness to power of the internet to tell the world about their lives.

If you are interested in exploring this further, please contact me at: rachel at groundreport dot com