Future:Media:Change

We have a lot of snow in DC. Yesterday I saw people in snow shoes walking own the street. The grocery stores are empty and I haven’t seen asphalt for at least a week now. Trying to dig yourself out of the snow mess can be a major challenge, so the good people at PICnet devised a smart way of using crowd sourcing to help Washingtonians beat the winter.

The Super Bowl is hours away, but I’ve encountered one major problem as I make the final preparations for my soiree: nobody actually cares about the outcome of the game.I’m faced with the age-old problem of what to do when the Super Bowl features small/medium market teams. Sure, I love a good game, but football that does not involve the Oregon Ducks (heartbreaking season) just will not keep my rapt attention past one commercial break…and there will be many! Without some quick action, my big party could quickly devolve into poorly played game of charades, or far worse — talking about our jobs! Luckily, there is an age-old solution for this age-old problem. Gambling. Okay, gambling for a good cause. Follow the simple steps below and your party-goers will be as enthralled from kickoff to the final whistle as an Indy or NOLA local…Who dat? More importantly, they will help great local and global causes in the process. Enjoy the Super Bowl for Good Guide.

A tee from underground t-shirt website Threadless.com has raised over $90,000 for Haiti relief efforts according to the Threadless weekly video update. The Haiti tee was launched on Jan. 19 with the Creole phrase, “Men anpil chay pa lou” (Translation: “Many Hands Make the Load Lighter”). All proceeds from the $10 per shirt sales benefit the Red Cross.

via huffingtonpost.com

Oxfam America’s Coco McCabe is one of several Boston-based colleagues in Haiti to help with the relief effort. Here’s her latest update, dated January 27; this is part two of a two-part series.
Read part 1.
In December, about a month before the tragedy changed everybody’s lives, Janicia Dorval got a bank loan of 15,000 gourdes (about $370) to help her fund a used-clothing business. It was in full swing at the Petionville Club on Wednesday, with customers–mostly women–crowding around the shoes and purses heaped on plastic tarps next to the …

via guardian.co.uk
The Guardian Tech Weekly podcast team, discusses how the digitalworld has responded to the Haiti Earthquake. Five Minute spot, begins at 15:19 mins in.

Type “Haiti” into Twitter, Facebook or Youtube and you soon encounter a message from @redcross sent at 05:38 GMT on Jan 13.
In less than 48 hours, the American Red Cross had received more than $35m in donations – including $8m directly from texts.
“This breaks all world records for a mobile giving campaign,” says their spokeswoman, Gloria Huang.
“It’s been incredible. People have donated more to Haiti than to Hurricane Katrina or the tsunami in Asia.
“And Twitter has played an extremely significant part.”

via news.bbc.co.uk

HELP HAITI: DROP THE DEBT

As Haiti begins to receive desperately needed funds to cope with the earthquake, it still owes hundreds of millions of dollars in debt – a legacy of loans from global financial institutions and donor nations to unelected governments of years past.
If these debts aren’t cancelled, Haiti will be sending tens of millions to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IMF even as it struggles to rescue and rebuild.
Sign the petition, and Avaaz will deliver it …